Best way to reduce pdf file size

Large PDF files have long been a problem for business users at any scale. These files may contain important information that the business needs to use or maintain, but sharing and storing them can be an issue. Many email services have attachment limits that can make sending these large files very difficult. Saving space on your local storage, especially in any cloud-based storage accounts, is also important. Are there any ways to reduce a PDF in size without losing quality?

With software built for the job, such as Kofax Power PDF, there are several ways to reduce the file size of a PDF while preserving the integrity of its contents. Explore how simple it is to exert more control over the size of your files.

How to Compress a PDF in Power PDF

PDF compression can maintain the quality of your contents if you select the appropriate settings. Reducing the quality of a document, especially its images, can save quite a lot of space on disk, but at the expense of readability and usefulness. Power PDF includes options that will help you find space savings without those trade-offs. Follow these three simple steps on your Mac or PC to learn how to decrease PDF size.

1. Open the file you need to shrink using Power PDF.
2. From the Home tab, locate and click the button labeled "Reduce."
3. Click "reduce current file." Power PDF uses lossless compression algorithms to make invisible changes to the document to save space without impacting quality.

By clicking the "Optimize" button in the Reduce dialog, users can fine-tune options relating to image quality and other compression options to ensure the optimum output.

Other Options to Reduce PDF Size

For the biggest documents, even compression might not yield the savings you need in terms of space. If your concern lies with the need for easy sharing, there is another option available: you could split the PDF instead. By breaking the document into two smaller chunks, you gain two advantages: a smaller file size for each and a more responsive experience opening and reading the documents. Here's how to quickly split a PDF to keep the same quality but reduce size:

1. Open the PDF.
2. From the Home ribbon, select "Split Document" located under "Tools."
3. Define the point in the document to make the split.
4. Define a save destination and save the file. Power PDF splits the documents at the specified points and produces new copies in your chosen destination.

Related Post: How to Merge or Split PDFs with Power PDF

Manage Every Aspect of Your PDFs With Better Software

At first glance, it might not seem easy to determine how to shrink PDFs in size. With Power PDF, the answers quickly become clear — and tapping into these solutions takes no time at all. Take full control over the way your enterprise handles digital documents and explore why Power PDF is the right tool to accomplish that goal. Download and use a free trial version for 15 days to evaluate firsthand what makes this software best for business users.

PDF files can be rather large and can cause the transport and saving of these files to be a problematic. In this tutorial we will show you how to reduce the file size using Adobe's Acrobat.

1. With Acrobat Pro open, go to File > Open.

   

2. After your file is open, Go to File > Save as Other > Reduced Size PDF....

   

3. Select the Acrobat version that is compatible with the features in your PDF file. To potentially reduce the file size greatly, choose later versions of Acrobat. We generally recommend two versions below the most current. If you happen to have embedded video in your PDF file, use the most recent version of Acrobat.

   

4. Re-name your file and Click Save.

   
   
   In the image below, you can see that we saved 18.1MB using this process. Depending on the initial size of your file, the amount reduced will vary.
   

Here are 5 ways to make your PDF smaller:

1. Re-save the PDF to reduce PDF size
2. Compress PDF with Adobe Acrobat or Nitro
3. Remove unwanted objects from PDF files
4. Clear unused space – Use the PDF Optimizer
5. Colors can be a problem in a file size

We’ll take them one by one and explain them thoroughly. We’ve also inserted some images, and hopefully, they’ll help you reduce PDF size easier. So, let’s start with the first one:

Re-save the PDF to reduce PDF size

We don’t mean that you have to redo it from scratch. A simple, yet handy trick to reduce the size of a PDF file is to strip out unwanted objects, remove tags, and compress images. You can do that with any program that has a “print to PDF” option, or with the free online software. With most PDF editing tools, the file size reduction can be done in just a few easy steps:

1. Open the PDF file
2. Choose the Export / Save as dialog
3. Select the PDF as file type
4. Click Save and you’re done

Compress PDF with Adobe Acrobat or Nitro

Whether you are using Adobe Acrobat or Nitro PDF Professional, you can reduce PDF size in a simple, yet highly effective way. The “Save” feature is often much faster than the “Save As”, simply because any additional changes to the file are appended at the end of the file, without a complete rewrite, so a bulk of info is just adding up. Instead, by using the “Save As” feature, you can forget about this and reduce PDF size.

All you have to do is:

1. Open the PDF editor
2. In Acrobat go to File – Save As – Click Save once again
3. In Nitro PDF Professional go to File – Save As – Choose the file you want to compress – Click Save

Remove unwanted objects from PDF files

There are many features that can help you decrease the size of your PDF files. Some of the best tools are Adobe and Nitro PDF. The size of a PDF file is increased by links, bookmarks, form fields, and JavaScript. But this shouldn’t be an issue. Whether you use the Nitro PDF Professional or Adobe, just follow the steps below. They’ll surely help you reduce PDF size:

1. Open the PDF in the PDF editor
2. In Nitro PDF Professional: Go to File > Optimize PDF > Click Custom
   

   Before you go, you should know that Flipsnack is always here at your disposal to help you share your PDFs in an elegant way and create interactive PDF flipbooks like an expert. Don’t wait any longer, try for yourself right now!

3 Comments

1. elvy September 30, 2012 at 8:48 pm - Reply

   good

2. Matt March 17, 2013 at 4:18 am - Reply

   Please also have a look at our tool: http://smallpdf.com – it’s a nice little tool and does a great job reducing your pdf.

   We appreciate every kind of feedback! Thanks!

3. Whitney Barone March 22, 2021 at 1:36 am - Reply

   As a print production professional, I must warn you to think of the final use of the PDF. I’ve seen so many ruined files, saved or exported for interactive or screen viewing only. Know the difference, know how to downsave rasterized linked images. Save your RAW files. It’s really easy to take away, but you can never add it back or resize. ” Enhance” only works in movies. .eps and vectors are your friend.

   How do I make a PDF file smaller?

   Reduce File Size of PDF File in Acrobat Pro.

   With Acrobat Pro open, go to File > Open..

   After your file is open, Go to File > Save as Other > Reduced Size PDF.....

   Select the Acrobat version that is compatible with the features in your PDF file. ... .

   Re-name your file and Click Save..

   How do I reduce PDF file size but keep quality?

   Here is a simple guide to doing so:.

   Open the pdf file in Adobe Acrobat..

   Once the file is open, click on the “File” menu at the top menu bar and select “Save As Other“.

   Now select “Reduced File Size PDF” to download the pdf file in a compressed file format..

   Select the destination and file name and click on “Save“..

   How do I reduce a PDF size by 50 %?

   To get to this, open your PDF in Acrobat, click Tools > Optimize PDF. The Optimize PDF toolbar will appear just above the PDF. If you click Reduce File Size, you can choose to reduce a single or multiple files.