Compress and reduce PDF files. How to reduce the size of a pdf, detailed instructions

In this lesson we will learn how to compress a PDF file in various ways and with different quality (corresponding to different PDF file sizes)

Our task: reduce the size of an existing PDF file in order to send it by mail or if we simply need a smaller document size.

What we have in stock: the actual PDF files themselves or the file that needs to be reduced in size.

What we get at the end:

In our case, I suggest using online services for working with PDF files (that is, all manipulations with PDF files will take place on the websites of the services we need).

From the large abundance of services and sites, I would recommend 2 of them, with the help of which we will reduce our PDF files to a minimum size with maximum compression or to “decent” compression but while maintaining the normal quality of photos in the PDF document.

So, I present 2 services for working with PDF files: and . In principle, one service would be enough (SMALLPDF.COM), but the PDF-DOCS.RU service has something that I will talk about a little later in this lesson;)

SMALLPDF.COM

Let's start with the SMALLPDF.COM service. By clicking on the link above we will see something like this:

This service has an intuitive interface, in my opinion, it won’t be difficult to figure it out, and you won’t be able to get lost in the functions. Therefore in our case it is great option solutions to our mini-problem.

Let’s say we have a “compress PDF” folder and it contains all the files or one PDF file that needs to be reduced in size (I have 1 PDF file in the folder):

In order to compress the required PDF file, click the “Select file” button:

After selecting the PDF file we need, the file selection window will close and the service will begin manipulating the PDF file. The next thing we will see is the process of preparing and compressing the PDF file:

After passing the “100% Loading” stage, the page will refresh and we will see a block with the result of compressing our PDF file “big_file.pdf”:

From this data we learn that our original file “big_file.pdf” is compressed by 71% (a good result) and that now it “weighs” 2.84 MB, and was originally 10.14 MB. Below we are offered a link to download the already modified file:

Click “Download PDF” and the download of the compressed PDF file will begin:

Finally, in our “compress PDF” folder there are 2 files - an uncompressed file “big_file.pdf” and a compressed PDF file “small_file.pdf”:

With this service for compressing PDF files “SMALLPDF.COM” the lesson is completed, let’s move on to the next service with its distinctive capabilities “PDF-DOCS.RU”.

PDF-DOCS.RU

So it goes to . At the time of writing this lesson“Compress PDF files” the main page of this service looked something like this:

Why did I choose this resource to solve our problem: in this service we can achieve higher compression ratio of PDF file compared to SMALLPDF.COM, but the quality of photos and images in the final PDF file (compressed) will be noticeably worse accordingly.

Let's start using the service. What we have at the initial stage: 1 PDF file in “raw”, uncompressed form:

First, we need to indicate to the service the PDF file that we want to compress. Click on the “Select file” button:

As a result of this, a new window will open in which we will indicate the path to the PDF file. In our case, this is the “compress PDF” folder and the file located in it “big_file.pdf”. Next, we need to set the compression level of the PDF file; for this, there is a special field in the “PDF-DOCS.RU” service:

We click on this field (I highlighted it in the figure above), we are asked to choose from three options the degree of compression of the PDF file:

In our case (for maximum PDF compression) we use the “best compression” item. Now all parameters for compression are configured, click the “Forward!” button. and the service will begin downloading our source file and compressing it:

After clicking the button, the service will begin its work and a message will appear while the work is being completed:

After some time, after the “PDF-DOCS.RU” service has completed all necessary work above the compression of the PDF file, we are informed that the compression has been successfully completed:

Based on the data presented, we see that our compressed PDF file now weighs only 1.7 MB. This, in my opinion, is a very good result in terms of the quality of the drawings in the PDF file.

Now we need to download our compressed PDF file. To do this, click on the link below in the “Download file:” field. In our case, the link to the file will be called “new-314_big_file.pdf”, click on this link to download the file:

Clicking this link will begin the process of downloading the PDF file. In some cases, depending on the browser and settings you are using, clicking on the download link may cause it to open in the browser. If the file opens in a browser, simply save it to your computer.

As a result of our manipulations to compress the PDF file, we have 2 PDF files in the “compress PDF” folder:

As we can see, the source file weighs only 1.7 MB, which is very convenient for sending via email or uploading to the server.

It’s probably not news to you that the pdf format is widely used in all areas of activity due to its “weight” and its image quality. Why did I focus on “weight”? Because usually this file weighs a lot due to the many colored, bulky and bright graphs and so on. Therefore, today we will look at the question: “how to reduce the size of a pdf file,” since most people have questions about this very issue. Some people even prefer to use other programs because of this problem. Compressing PDF files is a process that requires the use of special software. To reduce the file size, you can use the following programs: Adobe Acrobat, using standard Windows compression. Adobe Acrobat can be downloaded from the developer's website.

How to compress a pdf file?

Method using Adobe Acrobat

In order to reduce a pdf file, open Adobe Acrobat, then click on the “File” - “Open” tab in the main menu - these actions give us the opportunity to open the file required for compression. Then repeat the steps “File” – “Open” – “Save as another” – “ Reduced PDF file size" In the window that appears, select the version compatibility setting and click “OK”; in order to apply the settings to several files, click “Apply for all”, to save you need to click “Save As”.

Method for reducing file size in Adobe Acrobat using PDF optimizer

As you noticed, Adobe Acrobat makes it possible to reduce the file size in a convenient way for us. First, you need to select the documents that need to be reduced in size. To do this, we need to click on the “File” – “Open” tab in the main menu. Then we repeat the same steps, then click on “Save as another” - “ Optimized PDF file" Then you need to adjust the settings to your taste and save the file by clicking on the “Save As” button.

Method for reducing the weight of a pdf file according to OS Windows standards

In order to achieve the best quality and lightest weight, OS Windows developers strongly recommend using standard file reduction before starting work on it. This can be done by right-clicking on the file you created – “Properties” – “General” – “Other” – then you need to check the box “Compress...”. This procedure takes no more than one minute and is one of the most effective.

Once a PDF document is created, it usually has a very large size To optimize it, you need to know how to reduce the size of a PDF file.

PDF– a very popular document format among users. Universal viewer of this format on all types of OS - adobe reader.

Advantages of the format:

The quality of file display is superior to compression types such as JPEG and GIF;
Standardization - documents with this format can be opened on all devices, while appearance the document will not change;
Ensuring security - when transferring PDF files online, you can always be sure that no one will gain access to edit the file. It is also difficult to embed a malicious virus script into such files;
Support large quantity compression algorithms;
Automatic detection of document authenticity.

Adobe Acrobat Pro for compression. Using Standard Features

One of the most popular programs for working with PDF files - Adobe Acrobat Pro. With its help, you can edit a previously created document and reduce its final size.

The application is paid, however, users can download a free trial version for 30 days or a portable version with reduced editing functionality.

The program allows you to significantly reduce the size of the final file.

Follow the instructions:

Open your document in Adobe Acrobat;
On the main panel, enable the File tab;
Find and select “Save as another document...” and then “Reduced file size”, as shown in the figure below;

Next, a window will appear in which you will need to specify the necessary parameters and the level of protection of the document being created;
After converting the file, click again on the “Open” – “Optimized file” tab and in the pop-up list, click on the “Save as another...” item;
Select a location on your hard drive where you want to save the document at a reduced size and click OK. This program allows you to perform compression without loss of quality.

In Adobe Acrobat, you can not only optimize a file, but also forcefully reduce its size.

To do this, follow the instructions:

Open the document in the program;
Now enable the File tab on the main toolbar of the utility;
Select “Save as another” and in the new list that appears, click on “Reduce size”, as shown in the figure below;

This method is perfect if, after optimization, the size has not decreased to the level you need.

In the new window, select the version of the program with which the final file will be compatible;

Click OK to apply the options to only one file or Apply To Multiple to save the settings for several PDFs at once.

You can compress a file using the built-in functions of the Windows operating system. If the document does not open or takes too long to open, emergency compression is necessary. To do this, you need to open the properties of the PDF file.

Then in general settings Find the “Others” button and in the window that opens, check the box next to the “Compress contents...” item marked in the figure below. Save your changes by pressing OK.

This compression method is the simplest, so after compressing files whose size is several GB, the overall image of the content may be slightly distorted.

After compression, open the document in Adobe Reader to check its quality.

If it is invalid, return the original properties and optimize the file using third-party utilities.

If you need to reduce the file size only for a certain time, use data archiving utilities.

For example, 7Zip or WinRAR. In the future, if necessary, you can quickly unpack the archive and get a PDF with the initial size.

Cute PDF utility

Let's take a look at the Cute PDF program. It is one of the most common applications for converting to PDF and optimizing the final documents.

The utility is free to download and includes wide range functions. Direct link to download the file: http://www.cutePDF.com/.

The program creates a virtual printer on the computer, through which the user interacts with the main functions.

To reduce the size of the desired file using Cute PDF, follow the instructions below:

Open the document in any reader for PDF format;
Now click on the “Print” button;

In the window that opens to configure print settings, indicate that the printer is named “Cute PDF”, find the “Properties” or “Properties” button and click on it. In the Windows operating system, this key is located opposite the printer name;

Pay attention! If the name Cute PDF is not in the drop-down list of available printers, the program may have been installed incorrectly or you did not restart your computer after installation.

In the window that appears, open the Compression tab, then select the desired quality level and degree of compression of the document. Save the settings and close the properties window;
Now in the printer settings window for printing, press the Print button;
Next, a window will appear to select where to save the document;
Wait until saving is complete and check the size of the final file. If necessary, you can perform all of the above steps on the compressed file to further reduce its size.

Using Google Drive storage and Adobe Acrobat

You can perform compression directly through your Google Drive. The computer must also have Adobe program Acrobat. Login to your drive account and upload the required PDF file.

Then you need to open the PDF in your browser. To do this, select a document from the list of previously downloaded ones, right-click on it and click on “Open” or “Open”.

Now you need to send the contents of the PDF tab to the print queue. To do this, open the print settings window in your browser settings. Select Adobe PDF from the list of available devices. Next, click on the OK button.

Instead of the usual printing process, the process of saving the document to hard drive computer. In this case, the program will automatically optimize it, which will reduce its size.

Remember! In order for the Adobe PDF item to be available in the print list, Adobe Acrobat must be installed on your personal computer. Otherwise, saving using this method will not be possible.

Compression using MS Word

The popular word processor Word from the MS Office software package will also help you reduce the size of the final PDF. Open the file using the Adobe Acrobat utility. Then save the document as MS Word (Figure below).

Now find the saved object and right-click on it. In the pop-up list, click on the “Convert to Adobe PDF” item, as shown in the figure below.

Wait for the process to complete. As a rule, it will not take more than two minutes. This way you can reduce the document size by approximately thirty percent without significant loss of quality.

The best online converters

Thanks to software With open source, many services have appeared on the Internet that replace some desktop programs.

To reduce the size of the document you need, you can use the following services:

Shrink PDF. Official link to the resource: http://shrinkPDF.com/ru/. This online converter allows you to reduce the size of up to 20 documents at a time without loss of quality.

To get started, click on the “Open” button and select documents on your computer for compression. Wait for the object to be loaded onto the service.

Now the file and the status of its compression process will appear at the bottom of the page. Wait for the process to complete and download the resulting file to your device. The figure below shows an example of using the service;

Also, using this service you can instantly compress JPEG and PNG files. To do this, switch to the appropriate service tab.

SmallPDF. Link to the main page of the site: https://smallPDF.com/ru/compress-PDF. With this service you can optimize popular formats, including PDF.

To get started, drag the file from your desktop to the red area of the open page in your browser. You can also open the file using cloud storage from Google or Dropbox.

Wait for your document to finish loading. The compression process will then begin automatically. As a rule, the service allows you to compress a file by 5% -20%. This is not much, but this method allows you to preserve the original quality of the document.

http://PDF-docs.ru/.

To perform compression, find the small window on the right side of the page. Then upload your file and select the compression type. Press the Forward key and wait a few minutes for the process to finish. Next, the file will automatically start downloading to your computer.

Video materials:

What You'll Be Creating

PDF format is a common format for creating digital documents and commercial materials, good quality, ranging from professional tasks to an invitation for mom to Christmas dinner.

While design elements make your document attractive, they also bloat its size. balloon, making sending and downloading it very difficult. Moreover, conventional compression tools create copies with blurry images, which reduces the quality of your pdf document.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to reduce the size of a large PDF file on any computer, without compromising image quality, so you can send documents high quality, without worrying about people receiving a file with blurry pictures.

For Mac: Using Quartz Filters

The Preview app built into OS X is designed to perform basic operations with PDF files, from viewing, annotation, to compression. To compress PDF, just click File > Export...>Quartz Filter (File → Export… → Quartz Filter) and select Reduce size (Reduce file size).

Although Preview can shrink your PDF, it will not preserve the quality of your images.

The problem with Preview's built-in compressor is that your images lose a lot of quality, causing them to appear blurry and sometimes unreadable in your PDF file.

The solution is to use custom quartz filters, which provide a balanced option by reducing file size while maintaining image quality throughout the document.

In this tutorial we will install and use Apple quartz filters from Jerome Colas to reduce a 25 MB PDF file to a more manageable size. You can also download the filter on this Github page.

Step 1: Place the quartz filters in the ~/Library directory.

The first step is to install Apple quartz filters on your computer, in the Filters folder in the system Library folder.

To do this, download quartz filters to your desktop and unpack the archive. Launch Finder and use keyboard shortcuts CMD+SHIFT+G to bring up the drop-down menu Go to folder. Press enter to go to the Library directory.

Thanks to Jerome Colas for creating these amazing filters for everyone.

Once you are in the Filters folder, paste the quartz filters into it. If you don't have a Filters folder, create a new directory and name it "Filters".

Clue: Some people prefer these filters to be available only for their account. To do this, you need to create a Filters folder inside the user's Library folder. To do this, click CMD+SHIFT+G, and type the following:

/Users/ /Library

and press Enter. If the Filters folder is not in this directory, create it.

Step 2: Launch Automator and Create an Automator Application

The next step is to create an Automator application that will compress any PDF file using the filters we just installed.

Launch Automator and create new document. Click on Application and then on the blue button Choose to create a process.

You can simplify the process of compressing PDF files using Automator.

On the left side is the Automator library. Use the search field to find Apply Quartz Filter to PDF Documents, which you will need to drag to the right side of the window to create a process.

I also recommend adding Copy Finder Items to your Automator processes. I'll show you now.

A message will appear in a drop-down window asking you if you would like to add to processes Copy Finder Items(Copy Finder). I strongly recommend that you do this because it will save you from the problem of finding the source file in case the compression result does not suit you.

You can choose either standard compression settings - 150 dpi or 300 dpi.

The final step is to select the quartz filter that you will use to compress the PDF file. If you installed the quartz filter I recommended in Step 1, you should see it listed when you click the Filter drop-down menu. Once you select a filter, give the application a name and save it to your desktop.

Step 3: Upload your PDF file to the Automator Created Application

From now on, file compression becomes a very simple task. To use the Automator app, simply drag the icon of your PDF file and drop it onto the app icon. It will generate a compressed copy of your file. The size will depend on the quartz filter you selected when creating the application in Automator.

For my 25 MB PDF file, I chose the 150 dpi filter, which comes as a standard option for almost all files. The compressed file was about 3 MB, and the image quality was quite acceptable, including small pictures.

Since the images in the compressed file are blurred just a little, overall the quality can be considered acceptable.

You can change the quartz filter to get higher or lower quality, depending on your preferences. Just save your changes in Automator and compress the original file for testing ( Copy Finder Items in this case it will be very useful to you).

On Windows: Resize Your PDF File with SmallPDF

On Windows, the easiest way to get a compressed PDF file is to create a new one Word document or Powerpoint presentation, select "save as PDF", and select the option Minimum size before saving the file to your desktop.

And while this works well for text documents, the quality may suffer significantly if you used any design to make your document more interesting. You can also then export them to a compressed format, but again, the quality of the document will suffer.

Windows users have a very limited set of PDF compression tools at their disposal.

A common method for optimizing and compressing your PDFs is to use commercial products such as Adobe Acrobat Pro and InDesign, both of which provide high-quality results and a range of options if you have access to them as part of a Creative Cloud subscription. Eat free apps for the computer, such as PrimoPDF, but when using them I noticed that either the quality suffers, or the program significantly changes the file compared to the original.

Instead, you can use an online tool called SmallPDF, an online application with a set of tools for working with PDF files that you can use wherever you are, whenever you need it (and since it's an online application, you can use also on Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computers). One of these tools is Compress PDF, with which you can significantly reduce the size of your file by dropping it into an application or selecting a file on your hard drive.

Besides its great design, SmallPDF can do a great job for a free tool.

I tested the app using my 25MB PDF file and it was compressed to 2MB, which is great for online publishing and mailing. The quality suffered a little, but it was quite acceptable, especially compared to how other Windows applications designed for a similar task cope with this.

What do you think

What do you use to compress PDF files to maintain image quality? Share your tools and techniques below in the comments.

Sources used: Document Icon - Designer

PDF files have been and still are an extremely popular document format for a long time. Moreover, the ability to edit pdf files is much weaker than other office documents, such as DOC or DOCX in Microsoft Word, ODG in LibreOffice Writer.

Yet PDF is used by a huge number of computer users. Sometimes the size of a pdf file takes several kilobytes, but more often the size can reach several tens of megabytes due to the large number of pages with heavy graphic elements. This can pose certain difficulties when trying to send pdf files by email or upload them to cloud file storage.

To help you downsize pdf file, I will review in this article free tools that will help you compress your file and reduce its size. Among such tools I will present online services and individual Windows applications. If you have your own options for cool pdf compressors, please recommend them in the comments.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to make your PDF files smaller without the need for complex manipulation, then Smallpdf is for you. This is an online service that is easy to use, allowing you to simply drag and drop files onto the service and perform compression. This is really handy when you need to be able to periodically compress files from anywhere.

Smallpdf online service

Although the service is quite simple in its functionality, it does have some additional features such as the ability to import a file from Google Drive or Dropbox and save it back to the cloud as soon as the compression operation is complete. The only downside is that there is a limit of 2 PDF compressions per hour. If you want more, you'll have to fork out $6 a month.

Compression results are mixed. The service is configured to compress a PDF file to 144 dpi without specifying any settings. From here different indicators compression. For example, a 5.72 MB source file can be compressed to 3.17 MB in size without any loss in viewing quality, which is not bad at all. However, it also happens that a file of 96.98 MB is compressed to only 87.12 MB. This once again proves that the Smallpdf service uses the simplest algorithms to reduce the size of a pdf file. However, if you just want a smaller file size, then Smallpdf is definitely for you.

iLovePDF

Platform: online

Another online service, but one that offers a little more compression options. iLovePDF allows you to upload a file from the system, Google Drive or Dropbox, and then choose one of three compression levels. The more compression you apply, the worse the quality of the output PDF file will be. But this also means that the output file will be smaller.

Online service iLovePDF

Using the same file as in the first case, 97 MB in size and applying extreme compression, I was able to compress it to 50.29 MB, i.e. cutting it by more than half is an excellent result.

I was able to download any pdf files; They compress quite quickly, and besides, I did not notice any restrictions regarding how many times the service could be used. The only limitation of the service is downloading one file at a time.

Files are automatically deleted from the service after about an hour. This limitation can hardly be called serious. During this time, you can have time to download the resulting pdf file to your computer or send it to the cloud.

If you are looking for an online PDF compressor that compresses PDF files with the highest quality without significant loss of quality, try iLovePDF.

Free PDF Compressor

Platform: Windows, offline

This lightweight compressor does what you need it to do and nothing more. Although it is not updated regularly, it works great on Windows 10 and previous operating systems up to Windows XP. If online tools are unavailable to you for various reasons, then Free PDF Compressor may be useful to you.

Free PDF Compressor

Free PDF Compressor allows you to choose one of five presets to compress a PDF file. Just select the compression setting, select the path to the pdf file where the output file will be saved and click the button Compress.

My 97 MB file was compressed to 50 MB using the first compression setting. The process was faster than online services. Although, perhaps this is due to the installed hardware in the computer.

PDF Compressor

Platform: Windows, offline

If none of the above tools suits you, try PDF Compressor. Judging by the information on the resource provided, the application is guaranteed to work on Windows XP/Vista/7/8. But after checking that it works on Windows 10, I was convinced that this operating system quite suitable for PDF Compressor.

Unlike competitors, you can compress more than one file at a time, and even more: you can specify a file with a list of PDF files that you want to compress, or specify an entire folder with files.

PDF Compressor

The only caveat to PDF Compressor is that sometimes the application in free mode can be ineffective in compression. Our 97 MB file lost just over 15 MB, which is not much compared to competitors. But it’s worth changing the compression parameters and a pdf file from 97 MB left only 46 MB - this is the best result. It’s a pity that all compressor settings are only in the paid version.

Other ways to reduce the size of a pdf file

Compressing a PDF by changing its quality is one way to reduce file size, but it is not the only way. You can delete pages or archive the pdf in ZIP. The 4 methods above will help you choose the most suitable one and reduce PDF files quickly and with minimal loss in quality.

What free tools do you use to achieve this goal?