How to Compress PDF to Send via Email? – OneStop Guide
Outline: Want to compress a PDF to send via email? Here is a step-by-step guide to achieving successful compression with several methods.
These days, Portable Document Format (PDF) has become a shareable medium for multiple users. It is because it contains images, text formatting, portfolios, and more. People often work with large PDF files with too much text and graphic images. But for sharing the PDF files via email, it gets difficult to send such big PDF files which mostly exceed size limits and cause delays. Due to this, compressing PDF files becomes essential to ensure a swift and hassle-free transmission.
Let us understand the topic better with the help of some queries:
Query 1: “I have a lot of large PDF files. I am struggling to send them via email due to their size limitations. Can anyone recommend the best methods or tools to compress PDF files without damaging the quality of the content? Moreover, regularly, I need to send detailed reports and presentations to clients for a prompt query redressal system. Any software suggestions would be greatly appreciated!”
Query 2: “Being a student, it is very challenging for me to handle large PDF documents and send them via email such as research papers, project reports, and more. Unfortunately, at times the file size exceeds the email attachment limits. Could you please suggest some free or reliable approaches to compress these PDF records? Putting a refill to my extensive hunt for ease.”
Table of Contents
Benefits of Compress PDF Files to Send via Email
Compressing a PDF file before sending it via email can cater you several benefits such as:
- Reduced File Size:
- Easier to Email: The general size of email attachments to send via email is typically around 20-25 MB, managed by different email providers.
- Faster Upload and Download: Smaller PDF files tend to upload faster and download quicker, saving time for both sender and recipient.
- Improved Email Performance:
- Less Likely to Be Blocked: Sometimes the email servers block the sender’s emails due to exceeding the size restrictions. On the other hand, compressed PDF files are likely to be rejected.
- Reduced Server Load: Sending optimized PDF files could lessen the load on email servers, which thereby can improve the overall performance of the email system.
- Increased Compatibility:
- Easier to Open on Mobile Devices: Usually, mobile devices have constraints over the limited storage and processing power. Due to this, the Smaller files are easier to handle on such devices.
- Better Compatibility with Email Clients: Even some email clients show indifferent behavior in managing large email attachments. Thus, compressing the large PDF file could increase the likelihood of an uninterrupted workflow.
Compress PDF Size to Send via Email – Different Methods
There are three different solutions to pare down large-size PDF documents to send via email. Here, are the following techniques by which you can easily minimize the PDF files without installing any additional plugins or addons such as Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Google Drive, or more.
Shorten Large PDF to Send through Email using the Command Line
In Windows, the command line is a powerful tool to run commands and scripts. Usually, it is available in a text-based format for interaction. Particularly for PDF compression to send via email, the CMD uses the Ghostscript – an open-source PostScript interpreter. This approach comes with batch processing and automation, making it suitable to handle PDF files in bulk.
- Open the Command Prompt (cmd) by pressing the Windows key + R, typing “cmd“, and pressing Enter.
- Navigate to the directory using the cd command in CMD, where your PDF file is located.
- Use the following command to compress PDF to 200kb size: gswin64c -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=compressed.pdf input.pdf
Replace gswin64c with the path to your Ghostscript executable if it’s not in your system’s PATH. By default in Windows, the installation location of Ghostscript is C:\Program Files\gs\gs[version]
– check the version of the script.
Change input.pdf with the name of your PDF file.
Alter compressed.pdf with the desired name for the compressed PDF file.
- Press Enter, and the compressed PDF file will be created in the same directory.
Compress PDF Length to Send via Email using PDF-XChange Editor
Using the PDF-XChange Editor, you can compress PDF documents to send via email, or even less. It was founded by Tracker Software Products. Since 2001, the company has offered robust PDF solutions for individuals or enterprises. Moreover, it provides a wide range of compression options to bridge the gap between downsizing files and retaining quality.
- Open PDF-XChange Editor and click “File” → “Open” to load your PDF file.
- Click “File” → “Optimize PDF” or press Ctrl+Shift+B.
- In the Optimization Options window, select the desired compression settings under the “Images” and “Other” sections.
- Click “OK” to apply the compression settings and save the optimized PDF file.
Compress PDF Size to Send via Email using Photoshop
Abode Photoshop is well known for its standard image editing software. Since its inception, it primarily focused on unmatched image manipulation. Besides this, it also works well for PDF files. This solution leverages the built-in Photoshop mechanisms to optimize or narrow down PDF file size to send via email. However, the effectiveness of Photoshop’s compression settings is not as good as other PDF tools.
- Open Adobe Photoshop. Then, navigate to “File” → “Open” for adding the desired PDF file.
- In the “Import PDF” dialog box, choose the import options as per your needs like pages and resolution.
- Next, tap on the “OK” button to import the PDF file.
- After that, once the PDF file is successfully imported. Go to “File” → “Save As“. Here, pick the location where you want to store the file with the file name.
- In the “Save As” dialog box, From the given format types choose “Photoshop PDF” and click “Save“.
- Controller – Here, the “Photoshop PDF Options” dialog box holds the key to adjust the compression settings under the “Compression” tab.
- Lastly, tap “OK” to save the compressed PDF file.
Scale Down PDF File to Send via Email using Google Drive
In 2012, Google launched a cloud-based storage and management service known as Google Drive. Apart from file management, it can also compress PDF files to Send via Email without losing quality. Mainly, during the conversion (system-to-cloud) of PDF files the automatic compression of PDFs is done. However, this PDF optimization may not cater to the same results as other PDF minimization techniques.
- Sign in to your Google Drive account and upload the PDF file you want to compress.
- Right-click on the PDF file and select “Open with” → “Google Docs“.
- In the Google Docs viewer, click the “Print” button (or press Ctrl+P).
- In the print dialog, choose “Save as PDF” from the Destination dropdown menu.
- Click “Save” and choose a location to save the compressed PDF file.
Compress PDF files to Send via Email or more using Canva
Currently, the most renowned online designing platform. It not only contains graphic design tools but also basic PDF editing and compression potentials. Now, users can compress PDF files to send via email without installing any extra plugins and software.
- Log in to your Canva account or sign up if you don’t have one.
- Click on “Create a design” and select “Custom Dimensions“. Set the dimensions to match your PDF.
- Click on the “Uploads” tab, then click “Upload media” and select the PDF file you want to compress.
- Drag and drop the PDF onto your design. Canva will automatically optimize the file size.
- Download Compressed PDF – Once the PDF is added to your design, click on the download button to save the squeezed PDF file.
Compress PDF to Send via Email on Windows – Smart Tech
In the case of Windows OS, you can take the help of a third-party tool for a fast and reliable solution. SysTools PDF Toolbox is one such utility that can compress PDF to send via email at once.
To perform high compression of PDF file size follow these simple steps:
- Download & launch the utility on the local machine to compress big-size PDF
- After that, click on the Add button to upload the PDF file that you want to compress
- Now, select the PDF Compress option to start the process
- As the process is completed successfully, a message will pop up on the screen.
This application provides the option of compression and PDF file size reduction. A user can convert Adobe PDF files to the archival PDF/A format in batch also. In addition, it also lets users extract contents present in the PDF documents. The user will find that once the tool compresses PDF files to send via email no changes are made to the content.
Final Takeaway
The above article shares the discussion around the methods on compress PDF to send via email. Each solution has its unique properties, shortcomings, and advantages. Some are easy to use and find compared to others like Canva, Google Drive, etc. But, performance and results-wise, they are inefficient. Therefore, the editor entrusts you with the professional utility focussed at the end of the blog.