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how to compress pdf

Importance of compressing PDF files

5 Ways To Reduce Your PDF Size Without Compromising Its Quality

The idea of sending any document electronically has picked great momentum these days. Be it sending an assignment to your teacher or sending a business proposal with the primary goal of enabling collaboration between parties, it’s easier to do so with a PDF – mostly because it doesn’t “garble” when it’s opened on any device. So, unless time isn’t of the essence sending large files via email or uploading them to websites isn’t the best of practices. This makes exploring ways to shrink files that retain their quality of utmost importance, so users can send documents and receive them as seamlessly as possible.

Why Should One Seek To Reduce The Size Of The PDF Files

It’s important to realize that files, irrespective of what they are, need space and sometimes that space can be scarce. Understandably, it’s important to strategize accordingly –

Firstly, we have to mention the “need to compress different files”, as otherwise PDFs take an awful lot of space and become burdensome  – “Compressing your PDF files not only saves storage space but also improves the efficiency of document sharing.”

Let’s Touch Upon Sharing Cycles Next –

The Benefits of PDF Compression

Let’s be real – In a world where time is billing, size matters the most. The smaller the files, the more effortless they’ll become to collaborate with.

  • Less Space Occupied = Reduced Costs: Even in the digital world size is key, and compressed files tend to take much less so all the devices and cloud storage – now do the math and see the difference.
  • Restricting Requirements = Quicker Emails: Let’s be real, email services have a cap on the size of attachments and no one enjoys exceeding expectations, Compression can allow you to remain compliant. Users have reported that compression makes it easier to share documents with others.
  • Better Texture Within Files: Smaller files can offer a greater degree of application performance.

How to Make a PDF File Smaller

We know how important compression is. Let’s look into the different methods available to achieve compression. Each has its advantages and situation where it may be the best choice.

1. The Use of Online PDF Tools

Online tools are ideal for compressing PDF documents into file folders. This is often times the quickest method since these websites compress the documents within a few seconds of them being uploaded. It is recommended to use multiple websites to upload one document at a time since this greatly reduces the strain put on the websites. Some examples of such websites are Smallpdf or PDF compressor.

Pros:

  • This method does not require you to install any software.
  • No accounts or subscriptions needed.

Cons:

  • An internet connection is a requirement.
  • There is a privacy concern when it comes to sensitive documents.

Recommended Online Tools:

  • Smallpdf
  • ILovePDF
  • PDF Compressor

2. The Use of Offline PDF Tools

If you want to have offline compression done and installed on your computer, Then programs like Adobe Acrobat Reader or Nitro PDF can be purchased. With these tools you are also given the greater ability to manage and compress PDF files.

Pros:

  • Compression settings can be adjusted according to your desire.
  • No internet is needed post the installation.

Cons:

  • As stated earlier, these tools are not free and require a license to be bought to allow the software to run on a computer.

Steps of Using Adobe Acrobat for Compression:

  1. Start opening your PDF on Adobe Acrobat first.
  2. Select “File” and click on “Save As Other.”
  3. From that tab select “Reduced Size PDF.”
  4. After that click on OK and adjust your settings and save.

3. Built-In Features of the Computer

Both Mac and Windows operating systems have PDF compressing tools but only in built-in capacity that is limited.

Windows

Print to PDF Technique:
  1. Open your PDF file.
  2. Click on ‘Print,’ after that in printers select ‘Microsoft Print to PDF’ and click again on print.
  3. Now make sure to save the new file because it would be quite smaller than the previous one.

Mac

Preview Application:
  1. Open your PDF in the Preview application.
  2. On your header, select ‘File’ and then ‘Export.’
  3. When you reach the quartz filter section, strip ‘Reduce File Size’ icon.
  4. Then save your PDF by clicking on the save button.

4. Mobile Applications

Because of the current trend of mobile first, in some cases, the situation dictates that you compress without a computer. There is a multitude of applications available for Android and iOS users. The tasks wouldn’t be much of a hassle if you have PDF Compressor or Compress PDF app on hand.

Pros:

  • Portable and handy.
  • Best for on-the-spot compressions.

Cons:

  • Desktop applications have better features.

Example Mobile Apps:

  • PDF Compressor for iOS
  • PDF Compressor for Android

Advice for Optimizing PDF Files Before Compressing Them

It is imperative that you adhere to these useful PDF tips if you are planning on maximizing your PDF experiences before jumping on the compression:

  • Throw Away Unwanted Objects: Eliminate unnecessary images or pages from your PDF first to make sure that the file is smaller before compression.
  • Improve How You Handle Images: Instead of adhering to silos of size limitation on image files, it is better to use image editing applications to alter the quality of the images on the PDF files.
  • Cut Fonts Usage: More the variety of font usage in the file, bigger is the file size, so ease yourself with the usual fonts only.

Conclusion

Learn how to reduce PDF files effectively and this will be a smart tool that will help reduce the complexity of your daily tasks on the computer. Whether using the online tools or offline and offline with special software or office utilities, it is now easy absolutely all of such compression tools are much easier to use than before. It is also good to keep in mind that compressing is just one way of alleviating the file sharing and storage problem, and the challenge is to achieve reasonable quality at low file size, which is the goal in most cases. The methods discussed above are designed to be used in the way that you think best meets your requirements.

“Use all possible tools available to you for optimal document sharing!”

When using these pages please send us your feedback on whether this zip PDF guide is appropriate for those interested in this topic, please tell us what interests you. Enjoy compressing the files.