Adding text to a saved pdf massively increases file size.

Question

Adding text to a saved pdf massively increases file size.

Teresa Fournier 0

First noticed on December 9, 2025. Editing a saved PDF, file size 149kb, by adding text. Upon saving the changes, the file size increased to over 19000 kb. This happened no matter what I tried, adding just 1 character to the PDF. Using the drawing tool only changed the size by 9 kb.

Not sure if this is the result of an update, but I don't know how to work around it.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

Deepraj Singh 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T00:50:54.65+00:00

I am having the same issue with my PDF editing. I was so proud of Microsoft Edge's PDF editing. But it looks like either this is intentional or a bug in the software itself. Microsoft, please help!
Jacob Mulquin 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T04:39:14.9766667+00:00

This is happening to my users as well. To follow on with what Lucky answered. If you open with the previous version, you need to click on any text fields and then click out of them to ensure that it saves as a regular filesize. If you just open it and save without editing the text fields the filesize will still be huge.
Eric Tay 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T07:49:52.91+00:00

I've the same issue. I opened the file in Acrobat and got a message that Font 'MicrosoftYaHeiUI' contains bad /Flags.

So the issue seems to be related to this font and perhaps a copy of this font is attached to every textbox added.

I remember a similar issue years ago in Edge.

Any flag we can switch for the embedded font in PDF viewer in Edge?

1 answer

Your answer

Deepraj Singh 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T00:50:54.65+00:00

I am having the same issue with my PDF editing. I was so proud of Microsoft Edge's PDF editing. But it looks like either this is intentional or a bug in the software itself. Microsoft, please help!
Jacob Mulquin 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T04:39:14.9766667+00:00

This is happening to my users as well. To follow on with what Lucky answered. If you open with the previous version, you need to click on any text fields and then click out of them to ensure that it saves as a regular filesize. If you just open it and save without editing the text fields the filesize will still be huge.
Eric Tay 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T07:49:52.91+00:00

I've the same issue. I opened the file in Acrobat and got a message that Font 'MicrosoftYaHeiUI' contains bad /Flags.

So the issue seems to be related to this font and perhaps a copy of this font is attached to every textbox added.

I remember a similar issue years ago in Edge.

Any flag we can switch for the embedded font in PDF viewer in Edge?

Answer 1

Lucky 4,865 Independent Advisor

Hi Teresa Fournier, I can imagine how frustrating it must be to see a simple text edit balloon your PDF from kilobytes to megabytes it feels like something so small shouldn’t cause such a big problem.

If adding text makes your PDF file size explode try these fixes: turn off Edge new PDF viewer by going to edge://flags use Print to PDF instead of Save switch to Acrobat or Chrome for editing and if you’re using Acrobat choose Save As or optimize the PDF to reduce unnecessary fonts and images.

Have you already tried disabling Edge new PDF viewer or using Print to PDF or should we start by confirming which editor you’re using to make the changes?

Best regards

Lucky

Deepraj Singh 0 Reputation points

2025-12-12T01:04:43.26+00:00

Thanks, Lucky, for the advice to turn off the new pdf viewer, which worked, and the file size is not increasing now.

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Adding text to a saved pdf massively increases file size.

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