If you are wondering how to shrink a PDF using the most popular method, Adobe Acrobat is the answer. It is by far the leading name for PDFs, including file size reduction.
However, there are good reasons why we do not recommend the tool. Adobe Acrobat is very expensive. If you just want to reduce the size of the PDF files, there is no need to use Adobe Acrobat. It’s also a really cumbersome process. To reduce the file size of a PDF using Adobe Acrobat:
- From the Adobe Acrobat Pro menu bar, choose File.
- Choose “Open”.
- Select the file you want to open.
- Select “File” in the menu bar of this document.
- Select “Save as Other”.
- Select “Reduced Size PDF”.
- In the pop-up window, under the Make Compatible With selection, choose Keep Existing.
- Choose a location to save the file.
- Click on “Save”.
Compress PDFs online
There are many, many ways to flatten a PDF file online. One of the better options is AnyPDF. It’s a pretty straightforward, free process.
To download a file, you need to upload it to AnyPDF’s servers. This allows the program to compress the file; there is simply no way to remotely compress a file. So if you are not comfortable with having your file on someone else’s server, don’t use an online service, they all work similarly.
AnyPDF says your file will only stay on the server for an hour. This seems like a way to keep the file handy in case you need to retrieve it later for any reason.
Tips for compressing PDF files
A few things to keep in mind when compressing PDF files can save you a lot of time:
- Erase everything that is unnecessary. If your file doesn’t necessarily need the pictures or graphics that you included, eliminating those pictures or graphics can really help shrink a PDF file. Images and other visual materials take up a lot of storage space.
- Remove unnecessary pages. Think about why you are exporting the file. If someone is asked to read through a whitepaper, they may not necessarily have to look at the three pages of positive customer feedback at the end of the document. Think about which pages you can remove. Use AnyPDF to delete pages from PDF file online.
- Create multiple files. If you want someone on the team to look at a specific part of your PDF file, you can create a separate PDF file with just what you need and send it to that person. This is exactly what the batch reduction was made for!
- First, try exporting to other formats. Sometimes it works best to open a file in Word and then save it as a PDF – and then go with PDF file compression.