Guides / How to Compress a PDF So It's Small Enough to Email
How to Compress a PDF So It's Small Enough to Email
Hit an 'attachment too large' error? PDFs balloon when they contain scanned pages or high-resolution images. Compressing re-encodes those pages at a sensible quality so the file fits common 20–25MB email limits.
1. Open the compressor
Go to the Compress PDF tool and drop in your file. Everything runs locally — your document isn't uploaded.
2. Pick a level
Start with Balanced. Choose Strong for the smallest file (best for scans), or Light to preserve maximum quality.
3. Compress and check
Run it and review the before/after size. If it's still too big, try a stronger level.
4. Download or share
Download the smaller PDF, or create a 1-hour share link to send a download instead of an attachment.
Tips
- Compression flattens pages to images, so selectable text becomes non-selectable — run OCR afterwards if you need it searchable again.
- If your file is mostly text, it may already be small; a stronger level helps most with image-heavy scans.
Ready to try it?
Open the Compress tool