1. Reduce the number of pages in a PDF file One way to reduce the size of a PDF file is to reduce the number of pages in it. This can be done by reducing the number of images, text, and other elements on a page. This can also be done by reducing the size of text files.
  2. Reduce the size of PDF files using compression software Another way to reduce the size of a PDF file is to use compression software. This can be done by creating smaller files that are compressed into more manageable sizes.

Method 1 – SmallPDF.com

SmallPDF.com is a free online tool that can help you shrink your PDF file. The site is super clean and it does a pretty good job of reducing the size of large PDF files.

The new Apple iPad is a great device that can be used anywhere, and it even supports the drag and drop feature of HTML 5. It was able to take a 500 KB file and shrink it down to about 368 KB. Not too bad, however, on the Mac (Method 2), I was able to get that same PDF down to only 82 KB.

Neevia Compress PDF is a tool that compress PDF files. It has a bunch of options and some presets like high compression, low image quality or low compression, high image quality.

To optimize your bookmarks, remove PDF layers, annotations, page labels and adjust the quality for color and monochrome image compression.

Method 2 – PDF Compressor

The free PDF Compressor program can help you reduce the size of PDF files by compression. This program can be used to reduce the size of PDF files by up to 50%.

The software supports lossless compression, so you should not see any reduction in the quality of the PDF. It also supports encrypted PDF documents and can work on a batch of hundreds or even thousands of PDF files at once. ..

Method 3 – OS X PDF Filter

If you have a Mac, there is an easy way to significantly reduce the size of a PDF file using the built in Preview app. Firstly, open your PDF file in Preview by just double-clicking on it in Finder. By default, PDF files will open in Preview unless you installed Adobe Reader or a third-party PDF viewer. In that case, just right-click and choose Open With. ..

On the Export dialog box, click on the General tab and then click on the Export button. In the Export dialog box, enter a name for your exported file and then click on the Save button. ..

The dialog will ask you to reduce the size of a file. Choose one of the options and click on the OK button.

After you’ve reduced the file size, you can save it as a PDF or JPEG. To save as a PDF, click on the File menu and select Save As. To save as a JPEG, click on the File menu and select Save As Image. ..

Here you can remove all values from Image Sampling and  enter a value for Resolution. If you only need the PDF to view on a computer, 72 pixels/inch will greatly reduce the size of your PDF if the images are large. You can also play around with the Image Compression and see what type of benefit you get.

Method 4– Print to Adobe PDF

The PDF printer prints the document at a smaller size, which can save you a lot of time when trying to shrink a PDF file.

Adobe PDF is a great option for printing because it will significantly reduce the size of your PDF file. ..

If you have a lot of images that are taking up a lot of space on your hard drive, you can try using this method to shrink them down. It doesn’t seem to be completely clear what it does, but it seems to work. ..

Method 5 – Adobe Acrobat PDF Optimizer

This new option is designed to improve the performance of PDF files by reducing the number of pages that are needed to create a complete document.

Now you’ll be brought to a screen with a variety of options to configure! ..

The Audit space usage button in the top right of the PDF file’s main window lets you see how much space is being used by each component of the PDF file. The components are: text, images, and fonts.

There are a number of ways to make a PDF file smaller, including optimizing or down-scaling images, reconfiguring scanned pages, adjusting fonts, adjusting transparency, discarding objects, and cleaning up the PDF file. ..

Under Images, you can reduce the quality and number of pixels per inch.

If you scanned a bunch of pages into your PDF, then clicked on the Scanned Pages option and messed around with the sliding bar, which goes from Small to High Quality. Adjust as needed.

If you’re working on a PDF file and you want to clean it up, the Discard Objects and Discard User Data options are two great ways to do it. You can basically get rid of all the extra junk that is normally stored in every PDF file. You can remove tags, flatten form fields, etc. ..

For Discard User Data, you can get rid of comments, document information, metadata, object data, file attachments, data from other applications, and more.

The Clean Up tab does a few more housekeeping tasks like compressing the entire file and optimizing the PDF for fast web view.

There are a few things you can do to shrink PDF files, depending on the file type and settings. If you’re using a PDF file that’s not being shrunk by one of the five methods, let us know in the comments and we’ll try to help you out.