Tips & Tricks

How To Compress A PDF On Windows And Mac

How To Compress PDF

It is likely that your document is in its final format if it is in PDF format, ready to watch your audience. Here your graphs of the highest quality are used, and your last version is displayed, ready to be printed or distributed to others. It can mean large file sizes, particularly when a picture-heavy document is present.

You have to reduce quality to reduce the total file size while you can edit a PDF. Instead, you can compress your PDF via the integrated or third-party software on Windows and Mac and use the online compression service if you want to know how to compress your PDF.

Solution – How To Compress A PDF On Windows Using PDF Compressor

On Windows 10, no integrated methods are available for compressing a PDF unless you want it to be added to a zip file first. In order to compress the PDF file, you will need to use a third-party compression tool.

Although many tools exist, Free PDF Compressor is one of the best options. The free app has been around for years but is always one of the easiest and fastest ways to compress a Windows PDF.

1- Download, install and run the Free PDF Compressor software to begin. Here, In the Free PDF Compressor window, click the Browse button next to the PDF File option to select your file. Next, Provide a location and file name for the compressed file in the Output File box.

How To Compress PDF

2- Under the Settings section, you can set the preferred quality of your PDF file. The screen is the lowest quality, while Printer and Prepress are higher-quality options. Here, select the quality level you wish to use, then press Compress to begin the PDF compression.

How To Compress PDF

3- Free PDF Compressor will alert you when the file compression is complete. Press OK to close.

How To Compress PDF

As the compressed file is saved as a separate file by Free PDF Compressor, you can repeat the procedure in higher quality if you are unsatisfied by how the file happens.

Solution – How To Compress A PDF On Mac Using Preview

As for the Preview app for image and document viewing, macOS, in contrast to Windows, including an integrated PDF compression feature, you can see this app in your Launchpad app list on all Macs.

1- To compress a PDF file on a Mac, open the Preview app and select a PDF file to open. Here, Once opened, press File > Export from the menu bar.

How To Compress PDF

2- Next, In the Export option menu, choose a new file name (or you can leave the existing file name alone to overwrite the existing file) and the location to save the file. Then, from the Quartz Filter drop-down menu, select the Reduce File Size option. Here, Press Save once you’re ready to begin the compression process.

How To Compress PDF

A compressed updated version of your PDF document is immediately saved in Preview. However, in Preview, you will need to open it later to see what (if any) noticeable quality changes were made in the app.

Using Online PDF Compression Services

You may use various online PDF compression services if you do not want to download additional software to compress the PDF file. However, you should only use non-sensitive documents if you want to use an online service like this.

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These services require the file to be uploaded to a remote server where the file might be kept for a time. Therefore, it poses serious security risks for documents that can contain your personal information and only for files that you would like to share publicly should you use online compression sites.

A number of services, such as I Love PDF, have been available to compress online PDF files. However, most services function in the same way that you can upload the file, select the quality, and then download the compressed file.

1- Here, To use I Love PDF, press the Select PDF Files button to select the PDF files you wish to compress. Further, You can drag and drop the files directly into the website window to upload them automatically.

How To Compress PDF

2- Next, Once the files are uploaded, you can select the compression level from the right-hand menu. Here, The higher the compression, the lower the quality of your output file (and vice versa). Next, Select Extreme Compression for the maximum possible compression, Recommended Compression for medium compression, however with reasonable quality, or Less Compression for the lowest compression but for much higher quality. Next, Press the Compress PDF button to begin the compression once you’re ready.

How To Compress PDF

3- Next, The PDF compression process will complete on the remote server. Then, Press the Download Compressed PDF button to download the compressed file once it’s done. Here, The compression amount (with the amount of file space saved) will be shown underneath.

4- Here, If you want to save the file to cloud storage or distribute it to others using the I Love PDF service. Also, You can use the sharing icons to the right of the download button. Further, These include options to share to Google Drive or Dropbox, as well as to create a QR code or sharing the link to distribute to others.

5- I Love PDF provides a deletion option, allowing you to remove the file from its servers. To delete the file but, press the Delete icon. Meanwhile, this will disable the deletion link on the I Love PDF website. Here, This doesn’t guarantee that the file will be completely deleted from the site’s servers using this method.

As mentioned earlier, you should not use sensitive documents with services like I love PDF. You should instead use the software option to compress the file, such as the Preview or Free PDF Compressor apps shown above, for any sensitive document containing personal data.

Compressed PDF Files: Sharing And Viewing

Compressing a PDF can reduce the file size without reducing too much quality (unless you want to). This facilitates online sharing via email or other file-sharing services. In order to keep sensitive documents secure from snoopers, you can even protect your PDF files by password.

You have to install a good PDF reader like Adobe Acrobat or Foxit Reader if you struggle to open a PDF. However, you can convert PDF files to Google Docs if you want an online option to view, edit and share your web browser without first installing a third-party app.

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