How to Reduce PDF File Size on Mac

[Cowboy Denny]

Creating and editing PDFs is easy. However, the same isn’t true about storing or sharing them online. Thankfully, you can save yourself some trouble by reducing the file size of your PDFs.

OPTION1: Reduce the PDF File Size on a Mac Using Preview

Using the Preview is the easiest way to reduce the PDF size on a Mac. Preview comes pre-installed with macOS and has a built-in filter to help you resize file(s).  Let's walk through how to do this yourself.

1. Open Finder and find the PDF you want to resize.
2. Double-click the file, and it should open in Preview. If you’ve changed the default program to open PDFs, Control-click on the file and select Open With > Preview to open it in Preview.
3. Once the file opens, click on File in the menu bar and select Export.
4. In the pop-up window, click the drop-down button next to Quartz Filter and select Reduce File Size.
5. Hit Save to save the resized PDF file on your Mac.

OPTION2: Reduce the PDF Size on a Mac Using Adobe Acrobat

Sometimes, a small file size is your top priority. In such scenarios, you can use online tools. Adobe Acrobat’s PDF Compress tool is popular free tool for resizing PDFs. It’s easy to use and accessible on any device,. You can reduce a PDF’s size with it like this:

1. Visit Adobe’s PDF Compress tool in a web browser.
2. Click on Select a File, and when it opens Finder, select and open the PDF you want to resize. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the PDF directly onto the website.
3. Once the PDF is uploaded, select a compression level between Low, Medium, and High, based on your preference.
4. Click the Compress button to begin compressing the PDF.
5. After the PDF is compressed, click Download to download the compressed PDF file to your Mac. You may need to sign in to download the PDF.