How to reduce PDF file size

Before doing anything, work out which kind of PDF you have. It decides which method is right, and the wrong one can cost you more than the size it saves.

Diagnose first

Divide the file size by the number of pages. A few megabytes per page means images or scans. A few hundred kilobytes per page across a long document means text and vectors — and there is very little there to squeeze.

If it is image-heavy or scanned

Compression is the right tool and costs you almost nothing, because a scan never had selectable text to lose. Re-rendering the pages at a lower scale and quality is exactly the operation you want.

If it is a text document

Do not compress it. Dexta's compressor renders each page to an image, so your text stops being selectable, searchable or accessible — a serious cost on a report or contract for a saving that will be modest anyway.

Remove what is not needed instead. This is lossless: pages are copied as objects, so everything that remains keeps its text, links and sharpness.

1. 01

   Delete pages nobody needs

   Blank versos from a duplex scan, cover sheets, fax headers, appendices. Use Delete Pages.

2. 02

   Or send only the pages that matter

   If three pages of a hundred-page manual are relevant, Extract Pages is faster and smaller than any compression — and more private.

3. 03

   Or split it into parts

   For a large document that has to go somewhere with a size cap, Split PDF produces several files that each fit.

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Compressing a contract or report to save two megabytes. You lose the searchable text for very little.
• Compressing twice. The second pass re-renders an already-degraded picture.
• Compressing before removing pages. Delete first — it is free and reduces the work.