How Do I Make a PDF Smaller? Zip?

Forums: Computers
Email this Topic • Print this Page

I have a PDF document that I need to upload that is 3.75mb. The website will only allow me to upload files 3.0mb or less.

I do not have software to alter the PDF, but was wondering if there is another work-around such as a zip/unzip.

How might I be able to do get this document uploaded?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 4,267 • Replies: 22

No top replies

it's worth a shot.

i just zipped a 6.8mb pdf down to 6.0mb (~ 88% smaller).

you would need to reduce your 3.75mb file by ~ 80% to make it work...

0 Replies

If you're running XP, you can create a zip file without additional software. Right-click in the folder, select New->Compressed (zipped) Folder.

Then just drag your file to the zip folder.

0 Replies

If just zipping it doesn't shrink it enough, try Winzip. It can break up large into smaller chunks.

http://www.winzip.com/powertips.htm#split

0 Replies

DrewDad wrote:

If you're running XP, you can create a zip file without additional software. Right-click in the folder, select New->Compressed (zipped) Folder.

Then just drag your file to the zip folder.

in XP you can also:
right-click --> Send To --> Compressed (zipped) Folder

Quote:

If just zipping it doesn't shrink it enough, try Winzip. It can break up large into smaller chunks.

i did not know that.
i always assumed they were the same.

can't remember the last time i had winzip... win95 maybe...

0 Replies

Cool! I didn't know I could do the right click - compressed file thingy.

Didn't reduce it enough, but still good to know.

Will try the Winzip tomorrow when I get back to the office.

0 Replies

A good diet and regular exercise will slim anything down squinney.

What part of the body is the PDF it's not a term we use here.

0 Replies

You can also download free programs that will split files. MaxSplitter is one that comes to mind. Automatic reassembly at the otheYou should find others with a searchr end as well.

0 Replies

Ha! Intrepid - I see what you did, but at first I thought you'd been drinking a bit last night.

Dadpad - PDF = Portable Document Format. You know, the reason you have to download Acrobat Reader... So you can read PDF's.

0 Replies

PDF's are already compressed, you can't easily reduce the size significantly. Zip won't do much for it and can even increase the size.

So you'd need to re-author it, make images smaller etc to make it smaller. Or split it up.

Edit: There are programs that re-author the markup of the document to make it smaller (calling it "compression"), you might try some of those if you don't have Adobe. You can search for "PDF Compressor" programs.

0 Replies

Thanks Robert.

I was thinking PDF's were already in a "tighter" format than Word.

Course, I guess I could always send it back to the Board and tell them to do it. That'll go over...

0 Replies

squinney wrote:

Dadpad - PDF = Portable Document Format. You know, the reason you have to download Acrobat Reader... So you can read PDF's.

I know that squinnster, My post was a (failed) attempt at humour

0 Replies

Robert Gentel wrote:

PDF's are already compressed, you can't easily reduce the size significantly. Zip won't do much for it and can even increase the size.

So you'd need to re-author it, make images smaller etc to make it smaller. Or split it up.

Edit: There are programs that re-author the markup of the document to make it smaller (calling it "compression"), you might try some of those if you don't have Adobe. You can search for "PDF Compressor" programs.

This is simply not true and can be misleading. PDF files can quite easily be compressed. A compression rate of 20% is not unusual at all.

The splitting, I had address earlier and it is a reasonable solution.

When you talk about re-authoring and making it smaller by compression..... Compression is exactly what a zip file does. Re-writing does not compress, it removes data.

0 Replies

Hi :-D

Bookmark Cool

0 Replies

Sorry, Dad. I should have known.

Well, I can't "re-author" the homeowner association covenants. Or, I mean I probably could, but no one would see the humor in it that we would. Very Happy

I did check to see if there were any arbitrary extra pages between sections or something that I could remove, and there aren't.

I haven't had time to try one of the programs that would break it down. Will try that Monday. It was created originally by scanning the paper documents. Is that a problem re: making it smaller?

0 Replies

squinney wrote:

It was created originally by scanning the paper documents. Is that a problem re: making it smaller?

Yes. The whole document is probably just images, unless they used a character recognition program which is pretty unusual.

Images can take a lot of space, and are usually formatted so that they are already compressed.

Re-authoring doesn't mean editing the actual text; it means opening the document in a PDF editor and playing with the settings until you get a smaller file. Or saving the pages individually.

0 Replies

That last you can probably do yourself with a PDF printer, btw.

0 Replies

Save 72 individual pages? <clunk>

That sounds like a "send it back to the Board and let it be their problem."

Very Happy

0 Replies