How to Reduce the PDF File Size on Mac

In this tutorial, you will learn how to reduce the PDF file size on Mac. The Portable Document Format or PDF is one of the most ubiquitous formats used universally across platforms. Whether a student or a professional, pdfs have made life easy in storing and sharing information across any platform, especially in the post-pandemic era.

These pdfs can include a wide range of data types within the content, such as texts, images, and links, making it an optimal format to use across any device. And because of this versatility and ability to be accessed, many started to prefer PDF over MS Word or other image formats.

However, in some instances, PDFs can be large as they include varied data types, which can consume a lot of space in your Mac or make it difficult to share data. This is where compression comes into the picture.

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But one thing you might worry about is the document’s quality after squeezing it, right? No worries, you can do that with ease without compromising on the quality. Here is how to reduce the PDF file size on Mac.

How to Reduce the PDF File Size on Mac Using Preview App

The easiest way to compress a PDF file on a Mac is through the preview app, the macOS’s built-in tool for viewing document and image files.

Step 1# Open the PDF

The first step is to open the PDF file you want to reduce the size on your Mac.

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Step 2# Go to File

Once you have opened the document, take your cursor to the top menu and click on the File option on the left side of the screen.

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Step 3# Scroll down and click on the Export option

Once you have clicked on the File option, a dialogue box appears, where you can see the Export As an option on the top. Name the file and location where you want it to be saved and scroll down to the bottom of the dialogue box.

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Step 4# Select the Format

Now, click on the Format and select the PDF option.

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Step 5# Click on the Quartz Filter, Select reduce file size, and save the copy

Later, click on the Quartz Filter and select the reduce file size option, and if you want to encrypt the File, check that in.

If not, you can leave it blank. Finally, click on the Save button. Once you save the document, the pdf file is exported to the selected location with a new compressed version.

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Advantages of reducing the size of a PDF

1. Saves Space

The most apparent reason you should compress a PDF is that it saves a lot of storage space irrespective of what you save on your Mac or a hard drive. With this, you can store more files without compromising the document’s quality. Since the compressed files do not use much of the space, they are much easier to archive for accessing later.

2. Faster Transfer

When you share a compressed file over an email, you might have noticed it allows you to transfer faster as it reduces the time for sending and downloading the file than the original one. It also saves your colleagues time, making the processes smooth for better collaboration.

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3. Cost Reduction

Yes, you heard it right. It cuts down the costs as you need not have to pay for additional storage that you should for storing the larger bandwidth files.

4. Increases Efficiency of your Mac

With work-from-home widely accepted these days, ensuring better productivity and efficiency is a must to access the documents from anywhere. Compressing your pdf files makes it unlikely for your laptop to freeze and load large documents. Thereby it increases the overall performance of the device.

Now that you know how to reduce the PDF size on Mac and its advantages, here are some tips that can help you save your space better.

While converting a document into a PDF, ensure that its images are in JPG format, which is relatively smaller than PNG.

See that you delete unnecessary pages, images, or multimedia in the document. Trying to convert the PDF into other formats, such as editable Word, can reduce the size of the document.

Instead of creating a 50-page document, splitting it into bits and bytes and sharing it could be a great option.

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Conclusion

As you can see, reducing a PDF size has many benefits compared to other file formats. It makes things easier to manage and work effectively, especially when you need to send, share, collaborate, access, and manage the files without compromising their content and quality.

Also, reducing the pdf size can be a good idea to safely send over the files on the web, preventing confidential data from leaking. I hope this blog helps you better understand how to reduce the pdf file size on Mac!