Compress PDF
Reduce the file size of a PDF so it fits an upload limit.
About the Compress PDF
Each page is re-rendered as an image at the quality you choose and rebuilt into a new PDF. That approach is very effective on scans, photos and exported slides — often cutting the size by 60–90% — which is exactly what you need when a portal refuses a file over 2 MB.
The trade-off is that text in the result is a picture rather than selectable characters. For a text-only document that is already small, the original is usually the better file, and the tool tells you when that happens.
Frequently asked questions
Will the text still be searchable?
No. Because pages become images, text selection and search are lost. Keep the original if you need those.
Why did my file get bigger?
Some PDFs are already highly optimised. The tool detects this and tells you to keep the original instead.
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Guides that use this tool
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Four different splitting jobs and the right approach for each — pulling one page, breaking into sections, cutting for size, and fixing a double-sided scan.
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Work out why your PDF is big before you compress it — and the scanner settings that stop the problem happening again.
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Combine PDFs in your browser with nothing uploaded, pick only the pages you need, and fix a merged file that is too big to email.