Make a PDF smaller for email or a form
Choose a compression method, compare real file sizes and keep your original document.
Start with the actual limit
Check the attachment or upload limit shown by the receiving service. A limit on the entire email can include encoding overhead and other attachments, so leave some space.
Preserve text first
Use standard compression first. It reorganizes PDF storage without rebuilding pages as pictures. Already optimized PDFs may not become smaller.
Choose image compression carefully
Image-heavy scans may shrink substantially when pages are rebuilt as JPEGs. This removes searchable text, form fields, links and annotations. Compare legibility at normal zoom before sharing.
If the document is still too big
Delete unneeded pages, extract only the pages requested, or ask the recipient for another delivery method. Never delete required content just to reach a size limit.