Get a PDF under an email or portal size limit

Two numbers decide everything: the limit you must fit and the size you actually have. Guessing either one leads to compressing blindly—and to re-compressing when the first attempt misses.

Keep the two numbers in the same units before comparing them; portals variously state megabytes as MB or MiB, and a file manager that reports one while the portal means the other can hide a five-percent gap.

• Know the limitRead the recipient's current per-file and total upload limits, accepted format and signature requirements at the actual upload step; record whether the size unit is MB or MiB.
• Know the sizeCheck the file’s actual size before choosing a strategy; a 26 MB document needs a small win, while a 90 MB scan needs a different plan entirely.
• Leave headroomLeave headroom: aim comfortably under the limit rather than exactly at it, since some systems count encoding overhead or companion files against you.

Structural output: compare page appearance and selectable text with the original. Matching checked properties does not prove visual or semantic fidelity.

PDF Compressor accepts one file up to 50 MiB and 500 pages, and reports the size before and after exactly as measured.

If the original has a valid signature, this rewrite cannot preserve its validity. Use the signed original or follow the recipient’s signing process when a signature is required.

Choose 72, 100, 150, 200 or 300 DPI; the default is 150. Output size and readability depend on the source and selected settings. Strong compression rasterizes pages and removes selectable text; JPEG-images-only mode preserves page text and vectors.

Run it on a representative document first. A contract that is mostly crisp text pays heavily in legibility for every saved megabyte, while a phone-scanned stack of receipts sheds most of its bytes before any blur becomes visible.

• Searchability endsText in the result can no longer be selected, copied, or searched; each page becomes a picture of itself.
• Quality is the leverLower JPEG quality may reduce bytes but the result is not guaranteed smaller. Compare actual sizes and inspect sharp text edges and line art for artifacts.
• Keep the originalKeep the original: the rasterized copy is for submission, not archiving. It cannot restore the original text layer; OCR elsewhere may create a new, imperfect searchable layer.

Measure the file and upload limit, compare the three compression modes, then check the output size and readability.

If the required limit is fixed, re-export the original with smaller embedded images or ask whether separate documents are accepted. Keep the original. Repeating unchanged quality settings may not reduce the file further.

Use PDF Splitter only if the recipient accepts separate files. Keep all required pages across the exported parts and check each file’s size before submitting.

• Born-digitalBorn-digital documents—exports from word processors and design tools—are mostly text and vector graphics; structure cleanup gains are small, and rasterizing harms crisp text for little reason unless the limit is far away.
• ScansScanned paper is already images, so strong compression re-encodes those pages efficiently and usually delivers the largest reductions.
• Mixed contentRe-encode ordinary JPEG images while keeping text, vectors and forms. Other image encodings, masks and transparency are retained. DPI caps the longest image edge using page size; it does not measure the original effective image DPI.

A compression is not done when the download finishes—it is done when the file opens correctly and reads well at the size the recipient will see.

If the portal offers a preview after upload, use it; what the recipient sees is the only rendering that counts.

• Open itOpen the result and page through it: confirm the page count matches and nothing rendered blank or sideways.
• Read at zoomImage-page output: zoom in on small text and diagrams. Selectable text and interactive document features are not retained.
• Weigh againWeigh the final file once more before uploading, and keep both versions until the submission is confirmed accepted.

When the size limit is one step in a longer preparation—merge the appendices, order the pages, then fit the limit—the PDF submission workspace runs that sequence in one place: arrange pages, fit the limit, verify and export.

The workspace assembles the requested pages and checks the output, then tries to meet the byte target without sending the working PDF to Toolars. A closest result can still exceed the limit. Reopen the download and check page order, readable text and actual bytes before submitting; download it before closing the tab because there is no cloud copy.

PDF submission accepts up to 12 files, 20 MiB per file, 50 MiB total and 500 pages in total. The standalone compressor has a separate 50 MiB input limit. Check the selected workspace before preparing files; keep all required pages and the original document.

Toolars synthetic samples · updated 2026-09-13. These demonstrate the workflow, not real-photo quality, scanned-document quality or platform acceptance.

Input: a synthetic PDF containing texture and small text. In PDF submission, set the target to 0.1 MiB and run the text-preserving strategy first. Check the actual excess bytes if it misses the target. Only select image pages after reviewing that tradeoff. A smaller file may lose searchable text; size success does not certify readability or acceptance.

Download input sample

In PDF submission, load the local sample: two files, three pages. Move page 1 later, rotate page 2 clockwise, then remove page 1. Export the resulting two-page PDF and reopen it: the first page should be rotated 90°. This tests page operations on disposable samples; never remove required pages merely to reach a size limit. A size pass does not prove readability or acceptance.