How to reduce a PDF’s size for email
Gmail and Outlook usually cap attachments at around 20–25 MB, and many job portals and government websites only accept files of 1–5 MB. Here is how to get a PDF under the limit without ruining it.
Compress PDFShrink file size for email. Free, private, nothing uploaded.
Open Compress PDFWhy PDFs get so big
- Scanned pages and phone photos are stored as large images.
- Images were added at full camera resolution.
- Files were merged many times and carry leftover data.
Shrink it with PDFCop
- Open pdfcop.com/compress-pdf and choose your file.
- Start with Lossless. It keeps text sharp and selectable and removes waste.
- If the file is still too big, choose Strong. Pages become compressed images — ideal for scans.
- Still too big? Choose Maximum, then download and check that it’s readable.
Strong and Maximum turn pages into images, so the text can no longer be selected or searched. Keep your original file.
More ways to get under a size limit
- Remove pages you don’t need with Delete pages.
- Split a long document into two files with Split PDF and send them separately.
- When scanning, choose 150–200 DPI and black & white for text documents.
Questions
How small can a PDF get?
A scanned 10-page document often goes from 10–20 MB down to 1–2 MB in Strong mode. A text-only PDF is usually already small and won’t shrink much.
Will compressing lower the print quality?
Lossless mode doesn’t. Strong and Maximum lower image resolution, which is fine on screen and usually acceptable for printing text.