Revolutionize Your Document Game with this Genius Hack on How to Shrink Your PDF into a Compressed Masterpiece!

In this era of digitization, where we have endless options to store our documents, Portable Document Format (PDF) is the most preferred format amongst them all. It is because PDFs are widely accepted, and the formatting remains the same, regardless of the device being used.

However, one downside of PDFs is that they can be quite large. This can lead to a host of problems, such as slowing down your computer, taking up too much storage space, and making it difficult to share over email.

But don’t worry, we have a genius hack that can help you shrink your PDFs into compressed masterpieces. With this hack, you can easily reduce the size of your PDFs, without compromising on quality. Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1: Compress the images

The biggest contributor to a PDF’s size is the images it contains. So, if you reduce the size of the images, you can significantly reduce the size of your PDF.

To compress the images, you can use any image compression tool, such as Adobe Photoshop or any online tool that is available for free. Make sure that you compress the images to a level that is reasonable without losing too much quality.

Step 2: Use the ‘Save As’ Option

Now, it’s time to save your PDF with the new compressed images. Instead of saving your work as usual, use the “Save As” option.

This option will allow you to select the “Reduced Size PDF” option. By doing this, the PDF will be automatically optimized and compressed without losing quality, and you can save considerable space.

Step 3: Use Online Tools

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, you can use any available online PDF compressor. Online tools do the same work you would do with Adobe, but they are easy to use, free, and accessible anytime, anywhere.

Some of the most popular online PDF compressor tools include SmallPDF, PDFcompressor.com, PDF.io, and ILovePDF, amongst others. Simply upload your PDF and let the compressor do the rest.

In conclusion, shrinking your PDFs into compressed masterpieces is a deceptively simple yet powerful hack that can revolutionize your document game. With this hack, you can reduce your PDFs’ size, making them more manageable, easier to share, and less of a burden to your hardware. Give it a try today and experience the difference for yourself!

This article explains ways to make a PDF file smaller using Microsoft programs, on a Mac, and on a smartphone when PDF file sizes are too large for a particular purpose, such as when uploading to a website or sending via email.

What to Know

  • In Word, go to File > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document > Create PDF/XPS > Minimum Size (publishing online) > Publish.On a Mac, right-click the PDF and go to Open With > Preview > File > Export > Reduce File Size > Save.On a phone, you need to install a PDF compression app.

Reduce Size of PDFs on Windows

When you create a PDF using Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, there is an easy way to ensure the file size is as small as possible. Here’s how it works in Word 2019, 2016, and 2013: 

  • Open your Word document. Select File.
  • Select Export.
  • On the next screen, under Export, select Create PDF/XPS Document.
  • To the right, select Create PDF/XPS.
  • In the dialog, select Minimum Size (publishing online) and choose Publish to generate the PDF.

In Word 2010:

Word 2010 works slightly differently. Here’s what you need to do:

Open your Word document. Select File.

Select Export.

On the next screen, under Export, select Create PDF/XPS Document.

To the right, select Create PDF/XPS. 

In the dialog, select Minimum Size (publishing online) and choose Publish to generate the PDF.

  • Open your Word document.
  • Select File > Save As.
  • In the File name field, enter your file name.
  • It may seem tempting to keep the same file name, but you should change it at least slightly so you still have a copy of the original PDF file.
  • In the Save as type list, select PDF (*.pdf).
  • Select Minimum Size (publishing online).
  • Select Save.

Compress the Size of PDFs on a Mac

This handy trick allows Mac users to easily reduce the size of PDFs.

Open your Word document.

Select File > Save As.

In the File name field, enter your file name.

It may seem tempting to keep the same file name, but you should change it at least slightly so you still have a copy of the original PDF file.

In the Save as type list, select PDF (*.pdf).

Select Minimum Size (publishing online).

Select Save. 

  • From Finder, right-click on the PDF you want to open and choose Open With > Preview.
  • Select File in the Preview menu bar and choose Export in the drop-down menu.
  • In the dialog box, in the Quartz Filter menu, select Reduce File Size.
  • Select Save.

Reduce Size of PDFs on Your Phone

To reduce the size of a PDF file on your phone, you need to install a PDF compression app such as iLovePDF, which is available for both Android and iOS. Each app is slightly different, but here’s how it works with this one:

Preview comes with each installation of macOS (since the days of Mac OS X). It will be located in your Applications folder.

From Finder, right-click on the PDF you want to open and choose Open With > Preview. 

Select File in the Preview menu bar and choose Export in the drop-down menu.

In the dialog box, in the Quartz Filter menu, select Reduce File Size. 

  • Open the iLovePDF app.
  • Tap Compress PDF.
  • Select the location (Device, Google Drive, or Dropbox) from which you will retrieve the PDF document.
  • Give the app permission to access each location.
  • Navigate to the PDF file you want to compress, select it, and tap Next.
  • Choose the level of compression you want: Extreme, Recommended, or Low. Tap Compress.
  • You will see a completion message. To see the compressed file, tap Go to File.

If you don’t have a Mac and you don’t have the Office apps on your Windows machine, you can use this same service (below) on your PC by going to I Love PDFs’ website.

Open the iLovePDF app.

Tap Compress PDF.

Select the location (Device, Google Drive, or Dropbox) from which you will retrieve the PDF document.

Give the app permission to access each location.

Navigate to the PDF file you want to compress, select it, and tap Next.

Choose the level of compression you want: Extreme, Recommended, or Low. Tap Compress.

You will see a completion message. To see the compressed file, tap Go to File.

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