Open Preview for me. In the Preview app on your Mac, open the PDF, then choose File Export. (Don’t choose Export as PDF.) Click the Quartz Filter pop-up menu, then choose Reduce File Size. See also Add effects to a PDF in Preview on Mac Resize, rotate, or flip an image in Preview on Mac Save a document as a PDF in Preview on Mac. Make your PDF smaller: You can easily reduce the file size of your PDF and make it smaller with this online tool - just in a few seconds and completely free. Cookies can be used to analyze traffic, for ads measurement purposes and for personalized advertising.
- The Best PDF Compressor. If you need to send a PDF to yourself or someone else but it’s too large to attach to an email, you can reduce PDF file size for free using our online PDF compressor without sacrificing the quality of your PDF files.
- This program is a free online PDF resizer in 100 kb and web-based program that can be employed when you are resizing your PDF files. This online tool is supported and can be accessed from any browser as well as any operating system; mac or even windows computer.
Conveniences come at a cost, PDF documents are no different. We benefit from PDF documents, but some of its features just lead to large PDF file size. Large PDF files sometimes are big problems, it makes annoyingly inefficient to email, upload or share your file, and it takes your storage space as well. We need to make a PDF smaller.
Here we will introduce several ways to make a PDF smaller on Mac for easy emailing, uploading, etc, without Adobe Acrobat. Please read on to find your way of making a PDF smaller on Mac.
Having a working PDF editor for your Mac or Windows computer allows you to do so much with your PDFs. PDFelement is a top adobe acrobat PDF editor alternative and highly rated software available for Mac and Windows users. Also includes an online PDF editor and PDF editor app for iOS and Android users.
#1 Using Cisdem PDF Compressor
Cisdem PDF Compressor is a powerful PDF compressor to make single or multiple PDFs smaller on Mac. It provides four modes to make a PDF smaller in size but with a preferred dpi. In addition, you can customize the setting to get a reduced PDF file, while keeping their original quality formats. It can help you free up storage space and makes it easier and faster to email and share PDF files. It is the most efficient tool to shrink PDF file without losing quality on Mac.
Advantages:
- Provides 4 compression modes
- You can tweak image quality setting for more customized compression
- Can make PDFs smaller in batch
- Fast compression
- Highly retains PDF quality
- Can work offline
How to make a PDF smaller on Mac with Cisdem PDF Compressor?
- Step 1. Download and install Cisdem PDF Compressor for Mac.
Free Download - Step 2. Drag the PDFs you want to make smaller into this Cisdem.
- Step 3. Customize settings.
There are 4 compression levels: Small, Medium, Large, Custom. Select an option according to your need. To apply the same settings to all imported PDF documents, just select the checkbox before Apply to all. Click OK. - Step 4. Start making a PDF smaller on Mac.
In the main interface, click Compress. Click the folder icon to find the PDF files with smaller size.
Note: Remember that there is always a tradeoff between compression/file size and good quality. There really is no magic solution for all documents, just try different settings and see which give the balance that you like best.
#2 Using Mac Preview (Free)
To make a PDF smaller on a MacBook or iMac, Preview can be a good solution. As the built-in app of Apple, Preview is undoubtedly the most convenient way to reduce PDF file size for Mac users, though it does not support making batch PDFs smaller at one time.
Advantages:
- Easy to use
- Can work offline
- A solution built-in to macOS
- Provide decent result most of the time
Disadvantages:
- You can’t control the compression level
- Sometimes fails, resulting in even larger size
- Preview doesn't support making batch PDFs smaller in size on Mac
- File quality is lost when making a PDF smaller with Preview
How to make a PDF smaller on Mac with Preview?
- Step 1. Open the PDF document you want to shrink with Preview.
- Step 2. In the top menu bar, select File > Export. A dialog box will appear. If you don’t want the processed PDF to replace and overwrite the original file, rename it in the Export As field.
- Step 3. Click the Quartz Filter dropdown list, and select Reduce File Size.
- Step 4. Click Save.
#3 Using Mac Archive Utility (Free)
Archive Utility is a hidden app on macOS to create and decompress ZIP files, while a Zip file is a collection of single or multiple files compressed into a single and smaller file. That’s why we can use Archive Utility to zip and make PDF files smaller on Mac without installing any 3rd party software.
Advantages:
- Easy to use, no need to launch the program in advance
- Compress one or more PDF files at the same time
- Compress images, videos, audios or other files
- Decompress Zip files easily
- Original file quality is kept
Disadvantages:
- Cannot make PDF files much smaller than original (5%~40% smaller)
How to make a PDF smaller on Mac with Archive Utility?
- Right click on PDF files.
- Choose “Compress XX Items”.
- (Optional) To decompress and view the PDF files, right click on the file and open with Archive Utility.
#4 Using Online PDF Compressor
You can also use web-based tools to make a PDF smaller on Mac as well as other operating systems such as Windows and iOS. Smallpdf is one of them. It also allows users to import PDF from cloud storage services such as Google Drive.
Advantages:
- Handy and easy to use
- Can work for all platforms
- No need to install any software
Disadvantages:
- Can’t work offline
- Can’t make multiple PDFs smaller at once
- You have no control over the compression
- Slow when compared with the offline solutions
How to make a PDF smaller on Mac with Online Tool?
- Step 1. Go to https://smallpdf.com/compress-pdf.
- Step 2. Upload the PDF you want to resize. Wait for the uploading. Once the uploading is finished, the shrinking will automatically start.
- Step 3. Click Download File to download the outputted file.
Just as with any web-based app, it requires Internet connection. You need to upload your PDF to its server to make the file smaller. The site will permanently delete your file from their server. That being said, if your document contains something confidential, the best choice is to use desktop software with utmost security.
To sum up
This article on how to make a PDF smaller on Mac talks about several great ways that can help you shrink big MB-sized PDF to small KB-sized PDF with good quality. If your work involves lots of PDFs, then desktop software like Cisdem PDF Compressor will be useful. If you only occasionally resize one or two PDF files, you can use online tool.
Printing a PDF file with pages that are too big or small doesn’t look great. But not everyone knows how to remedy this, and they wonder what the can do to resize PDF. Resizing a PDF is the best way of adjusting pages so that they print perfectly, and there are different methods that you can use to achieve this. Resizing, in some cases, also refers to reducing the PDF file size. In this article, we have solutions for Windows and Mac computers, as well as online solutions you can try.
Part 1. How to Resize PDF File on Windows Computer?
To start off, this section is going to explain the two methods that can be used for PDF resize on a Windows computer.
1Resize PDF File in Adobe Reader
If you are mainly looking for a way to change the page dimensions of your PDF then Adobe Reader is a sure solution. There are two ways to do this: either making pages “scale to fit”, or by percentage-based resizing.
For percentage resizing, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open the PDF file and go to “File > Print”.
Step 2. Find the Page Scaling section and click the drop-down menu to select “Tile all pages”
Step 3. In the “Tile Scale” entry, enter the appropriate resize percentage. For example, entering 110 would increase the size by 10 percent, and entering 90 would decrease the size by 10 percent.
Or for the other way of fitting pages so that they’re the perfect size for printing, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open the PDF in Adobe Reader and go to “File > Print”.
Step 2. For Page Scaling, set this option to either Fit to Printable Area (makes the PDF pages bigger) or Shrink to Printable Area (makes the PDF pages smaller).
Afterwards, your PDFs pages will be resized and ready to be printed without any size errors.
2Resize PDF File by Compressing
On the other hand, resizing to make the file size smaller might be your goal. If so, the quickest and most effective solution is PDF WIZ. This software comes packed with a lot of PDF tools, including a PDF compressor that minimises PDF file sizes.
PDF WIZ – Free PDF Toolkit
- Compress PDF files in bulk without affecting the quality
- Three modes are available to compress PDF files
- Entirely free to use! No registration or activation is needed.
- Can also convert & manage your PDF files
There’s no reason for not giving PDF WIZ a shot. It’s very simple to understand and use and to prove this to you, here’s how to resize PDF:
Step 1. Run PDF WIZ on your computer. On the main menu, click the “Compress PDF” tool.
Step 2. Drag and drop the PDF to resize onto the program’s interface. If you want to change the destination folder, do so at the bottom of the menu.
Step 3. Click the “Compress” button to process the file size reduction.
That’s all there is to it. In a matter of seconds, your PDF will have its file size considerably reduced and your hard drive will have more available space.
Part 2. How to Resize PDF File Size on Mac?
For users who are on a Mac computer, the methods are different than Windows. Here are two other solutions you can try instead.
1Using Preview
On a Mac computer, the most common way to PDF resize is with Preview. This is a built-in Mac application that is popularly used for PDF viewing/editing. Resizing is actually very easy this way:
Step 1. Launch Preview and open the PDF you would like to resize.
Step 2. On the top navigation bar, click “File > Export”.
Step 3. On the window that appears, give the new PDF a name and change “Quartz Filter” to “Reduce File Size”.
Step 4. Click “Save” to produce a new version of the PDF with a smaller file size.
The benefit of this app is that Mac’s have it installed by default. Therefore it’s easy to access and doesn’t require any additional installs.
2Using ColorSync Utility
An alternative way of PDF resize on Mac is with the ColorSync utility. This comes preinstalled on Macs too, so you’re ready to go without downloading anything.
Step 1. Go to the Applications menu and navigate to Utilities.
Step 2. Locate “ColorSync Utility” in this folder and open it to proceed.
Step 3. Next, go to “File > Open” and select the PDF to resize.
Step 4. Go to the “Filter” tab and from this menu, choose “Reduce file size” and adjust the settings accordingly.
Step 5. Once all the settings are done, click on “Apply” and you can then save a new PDF version.
This is very similar to using Preview and both will receive pretty much the same result.
Part 3. How to Resize PDF Online?
Last of all, this section is going to focus on resizing PDFs using online tools. These can be used on any computer platform.
Cons of Online Tools
The first thing to understand is that online tools come with a few issues worth addressing. These include:
- Privacy is not guaranteed (unsecured connections can cause sensitive files to be leaked)
- Websites have data transfer limits, so large PDFs cannot be uploaded and resized
- Data is often stored by online tools for a short while after being processed, making your data vulnerable
- Due to online tools having limited resources, they often produce low-quality PDFs
- Some websites are unsafe and infect PDFs with viruses, thus infecting your computer
General Steps to Resize Online
Reduce Pdf File Size
Those cons are cause for concern but sometimes an online tool is the most convenient type of tool to use. Although we’d recommend another option, the gist of using PDF resize tools is as follows:
Step 1. Go to the online tool of your choice.
Resize Pdf online, free Mac File
Step 2. Upload the PDF to the tool.
Step 3. Wait for the online tool to resize your PDF.
Step 4. Download the new resized PDF.
It seems really simple, and it is, but keep in mind those cons we mentioned when deciding which tool to use.
Conclusion
That gives you a total of five methods you can try and use to resize PDF, and all of them are as straightforward as possible. Adobe Reader is handy if you want to adjust the dimensions of PDF pages, but PDF WIZ is the best solution for minimising the file size.
Since PDFs can get fairly large, more so if there are images in the file, file size reduction is great for getting the most out of your storage space. With PDF WIZ, you can be assured of the file size being reduced significantly.
Your All-in-one PDF Management Tool