How to reduce PDF file size for email and uploads

Most email services limit attachments to about 20 to 25 MB, and many upload forms allow only 2 to 10 MB. Almost all of a large PDF's size comes from images: scanned pages and photos.

Compress the PDF

1. 1Open Compress PDF and upload your file.
2. 2Choose “Recommended” for a good balance, or “Extreme compression” if the file still needs to be smaller.
3. 3Download the smaller PDF. The text stays sharp and selectable; only images are compressed.

If it's still too big

• Remove pages you don't need with Split PDF, and send only the important ones.
• Split a long document into two files and send them separately.
• For scans, scan at 150 to 200 dpi in greyscale rather than 600 dpi in colour.
• If the PDF was made from photos, resize the photos first, then rebuild it with JPG to PDF.

Text-only PDFs are already small. If yours is large, it almost always contains big images.