How to Reduce PDF Size

Margarete Cotty

2020-12-24 15:27:39 • Filed to: How-To • Proven solutions

PDF files come in different sizes, small and big. With small-sized PDF files, you can easily share them online via emails or a social platform like WhatsApp. However, when you have large files, and you want to share, they tend to occupy large spaces a bit slow and consume many data bundles. Therefore, a solution to this is to reduce PDF size using a PDF reducer. In this article, we will show you how to reduce PDF file size online and offline using different PDF reducers.

Part 1: How to Reduce PDF Size Offline Step-by-Step
Part 2: Top 3 Online PDF Reducer
Part 3: How to Reduce PDF Size Online for Free

The Best Solution to Reduce PDF File Size

To reduce PDF size offline, you need to install PDFelement software. It can batch upload PDF files and compress them easily. In this section, we will show you how to reduce PDF size using PDFelement after installing it on your computer. Let us get started.

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Way 1: How to Reduce PDF Size using the Optimize Option

Step 1. Open a PDF

On the home screen, click on "Open files" button at the bottom of the screen. The program will direct you to home explorer where you can browse and select the PDF file that you want to reduce. Click on it and open it with the program.

Step 2. Reduce PDF File Size

The PDF file will appear on the application. Now, click on the "Tool" menu and select "Optimize PDF" option from the submenu. Next, you can now optimize the size of the file either from high to medium or from medium to low. Check the final size of the file before reducing the file size by clicking on the "Apply" button.

Step 3. Check the Size of PDF after Reducing

After reducing the file, you need to check the final size. Again, click on "File" and this time select the "Properties" option. Under the Description, you can see the new file size of your PDF, number of pages, title, subject of the file among other properties.

Way 2: Reduce PDF Size Manually and Customized

What makes a PDF file size to be big are the images, objects and many texts in it. Therefore, if you want to reduce PDF file size offline, consider removing unwanted text, images, objects and pages to reduce PDF size. This is not as difficult as you might think. With PDFelement software at hand, you can easily remove texts, optimize pages, remove links, objects and objects within a few clicks. Here is a guide on how to reduce a PDF file size using PDFelement for Windows.

Step 1: Remove unwanted Texts

On opening the file on PDFelement program, click on "Edit" option on the main menu and click on the "Edit mode setting" icon. This activates the line or the paragraph editing mode. So, click on paragraph mode if you want to remove unwanted paragraphs. Right-click on the paragraph to remove and select the "Delete" option on the menu and the texts will be deleted.

Step 2: Resize or Remove Images or Objects

You can also delete unnecessary images and objects in a bid to reduce PDF size. Under the "Edit" menu, switch to "Edit" mode. Next, navigate to the image or object that you want to remove and right-click on it. You will see the option to delete, copy, replace, cut and also share. Click on "Delete" and the image or object will be removed from the PDF file. Do so for other unwanted objects and images.

Step 3: Remove Unwanted Pages

To remove pages, click on "Pages" and select the page that is not needed and delete it. At the top of the menu, there is an option to enter the page number manually, and then you can click on the "Delete Page" button to delete it.

Once you have deleted unwanted of the texts, images and pages you can now save your file or share it via mail.

PDFelement is a PDF utility by Wondershare that enables you to do all PDF functions offline. It can combine PDF files, create PDF files from different file formats, create interactive PDF forms, fill out PDF forms and protect PDF files with passwords. You can also redact the parts of your PDF, bookmark, annotate texts, edit texts, images, objects and pages easily. With pages of the PDF file, you can delete, replace and new pages or rearrange them. PDFelement is also built with an OCR technology that scans PDF files and makes them editable.

Moreover, it can convert PDF files to editable formats like Word, PPT, Excel, EPUB, HTML, Texts and images. You can also share PDF files via email or cloud storage. It is easy to use the interface makes it easier to perform all these tasks. The platform has no limitations once you go premium. You can give it a try with its free trial version.

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Top 3 Online PDF Reducer

Besides using an offline PDF reducer, you can resort for any of the following online PDF reducers.

1. HiPDF

One of the best online PDF reducers is HiPDF by Wondershare. The HiPDF website has a Compress PDF functionality that allows you to upload PDF files from your computer, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box. Once you have added the file to the program you can then compress it and download it to your computer. HiPDF online PDF reducer is very secure because once you have downloaded your compressed PDF file it will be deleted with 60 minutes. Also, this platform is free and if you have large files or if you want to remove the ads on the site you will have to go for a premium subscription. On this platform, you can also merge PDF, split PDF, crop PDF and edit PDF files.

2. iLovePDF

There is also iLovePDF online PDF reducer that allows you to reduce and optimize PDF to the desired quality. It allows you to add files from either your computer, Dropbox or Google Drive. With iLovePDF platform, it allows you to set compression output level and once you have compressed the file you can save it to your computer.

3. SmallPDF

Lastly, there is SmallPDF online reducer that also compresses PDF files for free. It is a secure platform that deletes your files when you are done processing. The maximum file limit that you can upload to this compressor is 5G but is free to use. Once the file is compressed, you can download and save it to your computer.

How to Reduce PDF Size Online for Free

Here is a guide on how to use HiPDF to compress PDF files.

Step 1. Go to All Tools

On the HiPDF website, click on "All Tools" menu and scroll down to "All tools" and click o the first option "Compress PDF."

Step 2. Choose File

A new interface will appear with the "Choose File" option at the middle of the screen. Click on it to be able to upload a PDF file from your computer that you need to compress. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop files to the area, and it will be uploaded.

Step 3. Reduce PDF Size

Now, on the window that appears position the cursor on medium or high and slide it to the low side so that you can shrink PDF file size. From there, click on "Compress" button and the program will begin to shrink the PDF file.