PDFs are extremely versatile for business, particularly for sending different types of formatted documents and media in one multi-page file. Brochures, presentations, contracts, text documents, portfolios and newsletters are compatible across multiple platforms when sent as PDFs. The problem: With multiple pages, images and format sizes, PDFs can become huge, making them difficult to email and download. If you are using OS X, two available options for reducing PDFs include using Preview and an often-forgotten application called ColorSync Utility. Preview offers a one size-reduction option which is useful for simple documents where loss of quality aren't of great importance. For more detailed documents with images, ColorSync Utility provides a preset to compress PDFs, and also enables you to create your own custom settings for higher quality.
Preset Resize - Shrink PDF
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Open your “Applications” folder on your Mac. You can access the Applications folder through LaunchPad and your Finder.
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Open the “Utilities” folder.
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Double-click the “ColorSync Utility” icon to open the application.
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Click “File” in the top menu bar, then click “Open.”
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Locate the PDF you want to resize on your Mac and click “Open.”
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Click the tab next to “Filter” at the bottom of your document.
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Click “Reduce file size.” The filter provided in ColorSync Utility reduces the scale of your PDF by 50% and restrict images to a maximum of 512 by 128 pixels.
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Click “Apply.” Save your PDF.
Custom Resize Settings
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Click “File” in the top menu bar, then click “New Window” in ColorSync Utility.
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Click the gray circle with a white arrow to the right of “Reduce File Size,” then click “Duplicate filter.” This will create a second copy of the same filter called “Reduce File Size Copy.”
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Click the gray arrow to the left of “Reduce File Size Copy” to expand the settings.
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Click the gray arrow to the left of “Image Sampling.”
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Type the scale, resolution and minimum and maximum pixels you want to apply to any images in your PDF. Click the tab next to “Quality” to set your image quality to low, medium or high.
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Click the gray arrow next to “Image Compression.”
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Click the tab next to “Mode” and select “Automatic,” “Uncompressed” or “JPEG.”
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Click the slider next to “Quality” and move it to the quality level you want.
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Open the PDF you want to resize and apply the Reduce File Size Copy filter as described in the steps 6 and onward of the previous section.
Preview
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Open Preview, click "File" and "Open," then locate your PDF. Click "Open."
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Click "File," then "Export."
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Click the location on your hard drive where you want to save the PDF, such as "Desktop" or "Documents."
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Click the "Quartz Filter" tab.
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Click "Reduce file size."
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Click "Save."
