Emberhop is loading slowly
A slow-loading Emberhop embed usually comes down to one of two things: the underlying PDF is a large file, or the visitor's connection is slow. In most cases, reducing the PDF file size is the most effective fix. Here is how to diagnose the issue and what to do about it.
Check your PDF file size first
The first thing to check is the size of the PDF you uploaded. Go to your Emberhop dashboard, click on the document, and look at the file size listed in the document details. If the file is larger than about 10 MB, it is worth trying to reduce it before re-uploading.
Emberhop processes the document into a web-optimized format, but very large source files can still result in slower initial load times, particularly on the first page view before any caching kicks in.
After the first load, the Emberhop viewer caches pages on the visitor's device. Subsequent page turns and return visits will feel faster. The slowness is usually most noticeable on the very first view of a large document.
How to reduce PDF file size
- Use a PDF compression tool. Services like Smallpdf, iLovePDF, and Adobe Acrobat Pro all have PDF compression features. A 30 MB document can often be reduced to under 8 MB with no visible quality loss at screen resolution.
- Reduce image resolution. If your PDF contains high-resolution photographs or diagrams, downsampling the images to 150 dpi (suitable for screen viewing) can dramatically reduce file size.
- Remove embedded attachments. Some PDFs carry embedded files or objects that add to the file size without adding to the visible content. Removing these via a PDF editor can help.
- Split long documents. If you have a 100-page document, consider splitting it into smaller chapters. Each chapter will load faster and readers can navigate to the specific section they need.
Browser and network factors
If your PDF is already small (under 5 MB) and the embed is still slow, the issue may be on the visitor's end rather than with the file itself. A few things to check:
- Test the embed on a fast connection to establish a baseline. If it loads quickly for you but slowly for some visitors, the issue is likely connection speed rather than file size.
- Open the browser developer tools and go to the Network tab while loading the embed. Look for any requests that are taking a long time or failing. This can point to specific assets that are slow to load.
- Check if other resources on the same page are also slow. If the whole page is slow, the issue may be with your web hosting rather than with Emberhop.
If it is still slow after compression
If you have compressed the PDF and the embed is still noticeably slow, contact Emberhop support and share the document ID. The support team can check the processing logs and CDN delivery for your document to see if there is anything unusual on the infrastructure side.