28 jan 2025
Struggling with oversized PDFs slowing you down? Whether it’s a file that can’t fit an email attachment or saving precious storage space, compressing PDFs is the ultimate solution. It’s simpler than you think and works seamlessly across Mac, PC, iOS, and Android. In this guide, we’ll explore quick and easy methods—including built-in features and other tools —that ensure your files are lighter, faster, and easier to share.
Compressing PDF files is a smart and useful step in managing your files. It saves storage, makes sharing files easier, ensures quicker loading times (especially on older devices), and allows you to upload files to emails, websites, and cloud storage that have size limitations. For instance, email services like Gmail have a 25 MB limit for attachments, which makes compression essential for large files.
To sum it up, understanding how to compress PDFs can save you time and solve inconvenience. The best part is that all the methods discussed in this article won’t take more than a minute or two. Let’s dive in!
If you need a universal solution both for Mac and PC, it’ll be an online compressing tool. There are plenty of options on the web, and you can test them all and find the one that works best for you. The flow is simple: simply drag and drop your file into the tool, and it’ll do the rest.
One of the popular options on the market is the iScanner tool. It’ll compress PDF files in no time and do it for free, with no ads or watermarks added to your document. No registration or subscription is required either. Arguably the most important feature of iScanner is its ability to compress PDFs by 60% without losing quality.
Moreover, iScanner offers a mobile app with a wide range of features, including compression. But we’ll talk more about it a bit later in the text.
Mac devices come with a built-in feature to compress PDF files. To use it, open the file in Preview and go to the File menu. From there, select Export and click on the Quartz Filter dropdown menu. Choose the Reduce File Size option. You can also rename the file in the Export As field and choose the future location of the file in the Where field. Once everything is set, click Save, and the compressed file will be saved to your Mac.
iPhones, like Macs, also have a built-in feature to compress PDFs. Simply open Files on your smartphone and find the file you need. Tap it and hold the file, choose Quick Actions, and then tap Optimize File Size from the dropdown menu. That’s it! However, if the file is exceptionally large, your phone might struggle a bit to handle the compression.
Another option is to use the online tools we’ve already touched upon, which are also accessible on mobile devices. Some of these tools offer dedicated mobile apps with more extensive functionality. For example, the iScanner app not only compresses files (by up to 60% while maintaining initial quality) but also allows you to share them directly from the app, edit the compressed file, add signatures, convert documents to popular formats, add annotations, insert images or other graphic elements, blur sensitive information, and much more.
That’s it!
On Windows, you can do this with the help of Microsoft Word. Open your file in it, click File, then Export. Choose Create PDF/XPS Document and click the similarly-named icon. In the Save as type field, choose PDF. Just below, you’ll find the Optimize for setting with two options available. The one you need is called Minimize size (publishing online). Here you can also change the name of your file and select a save location. When you’re ready, click Publish.
The biggest drawback of this option is that a PDF opened in Microsoft Word might not retain its original formatting. So the best option to find it out is to try it. In case of an issue, you can always search for an online tool.
Unlike iPhones, Android devices don’t have a specific feature for compressing PDFs. However, you can still reduce the size of your files on this operating system.
One option is to use the Files by Google app. However, this method compresses your files into a ZIP format rather than directly reducing the file size. To do this, open the Files app, tap More next to the file you want to compress, select Compress, and name the ZIP file.
An alternative and simpler method is to use an online tool or a mobile app designed for PDF compression. For example, the iScanner app offers an easy way to compress your PDF files directly. It’s user-friendly and efficient (compresses PDFs by 60% without quality loss), similar to the compression tool available for iOS.
