How to Compress PDF Offline on Windows and Mac

At present, almost all popular platforms can accept PDF files, but many platforms have restrictions on the size of PDF. This also leads to the fact that large PDF files not only occupy computer storage space but also are not conducive to cross-platform transmission. Therefore, if you want to share PDF files with friends or colleagues more smoothly and without restrictions, you’d better compress the PDF first, and then upload it to the platforms you use.

You can easily find many ways to compress PDF on the Internet, but most articles recommend you to use an Online PDF compressor. To be honest, online tools are very convenient, but it is also restricted by network conditions. This post will provide you with 3 free methods to help you compress the size of PDF files to an ideal state when you are offline. Whether you use Windows or Mac, you can find the answer on this page.

How to Compress PDF Offine with PDFgear Software

We recommend that you use the PDFgear desktop version to compress PDF files offline. PDFgear software is a professional and accurate PDF tool designed to solve all PDF problems. It can create PDF, convert PDF, merge &split PDF, etc., and compressing PDF is its specialty.

The PDF compressor provided by PDFgear software adopts the most effective MRC technology at present, which can accurately remove the blank or unnecessary parts of the file content, so as to compress the file size to the optimal state without losing PDF quality. At present, the PDFgear desktop version supports Mac and Windows systems. Please refer to the following figure for specific requirements.

After confirming that the PDFgear software is compatible with your device, please click the button below to download the PDFgear to your computer. The whole download process is 100% clean and free.

After successfully installing the software, please follow the following tutorial to compress PDF.

Step 1. Open the PDF Compressor

Launch PDFgear Desktop and find the PDF compressor on the category. Then click the button to open the compressing window.

Step 2. Import PDF

Tap the Add Files button on the top of the window to upload your PDF to PDFgear.

Tip: PDFgear supports batch compression function. If you want to compress more PDF files, you can hold the Ctrl button and select multiple files at once to import, or just hit the Add Files button again to upload new PDFs.

Step 3. Compress PDF Offline Now

According to the compression effect you want, choose the mode you need from the three compression modes of Low compression, Medium compression, and Strong compression. It should be noted that the higher the compression rate means the lower the size.

After that, please set the path of the output file you want and click the Compress key to get your new PDF file.

Tip:

In addition, PDFgear also provides an online free version for you to choose from. When the network is in good condition, using online tools is actually the simplest and fastest PDF compression method. PDFgear online compressor not only supports the functions provided by all PDFgear software but also has stronger compatibility, allowing you to use it on your mobile phone. At the same time, PDFgear online tool can also meet your needs of creating&converting PDFs, editing PDFs, rotating PDFs, etc., so that you can process PDF files anytime and anywhere. Most importantly, PDFgear can be used for free without login. If you are interested in the PDFgear online tool, you can read this article, which will tell you how to compress PDF Online.

PDFgear software supports Windows and Mac systems, but for Mac users, if you don’t want to download any software, here is a built-in app for the Mac system that can help you to solve this problem.

How to Reduce PDF Size on Mac with Preview

The built-in app Preview of Mac is mainly used to facilitate viewing PDF documents, but it can also be used as a simple PDF compressor. Preview can help Mac users compress the PDF size appropriately when there is no network or they don’t want to download third-party software.

Now let’s check out how it works.

Step 1. Open PDF

Now you should open a PDF with the Preview app.

Step 2. Export as PDF

Then you should tap the File button on the top menu bar and click the “Export as PDF” button.

Step 3. Reduce File Size

The export setting window will pop up, choose the Reduce File Size in the Quartz Filter and click the Save button. Now you can get your new PDF file reduced.

In addition to the Preview app, there’s also a similar tool for PDF users to compress PDF size offline too. Microsoft Word can be your PDF compressor which is easy to use.

How to Compress PDF Offline Using Microsoft Word

Although Microsoft Word is a Word processing software, its built-in function has the ability to reduce PDF size too.

If you had installed it on your computer, you can follow the detailed steps now.

Step 1. Open the PDF

Open the PDF you want to compress with Microsoft Word, the PDF will be automatically converted to a Word file that is editable.

Step 2. Export PDF

Now go to the File tab and hit the Export button. Then choose the “Save as” button on the pop-up window.

Step 3. Save New PDF

When you select an output folder, File explorer will show up. Choose PDF as the saving type and click the Minimum size button, then hit Save. Now you can get a smaller PDF file.

The Closing Words

This is to introduce you to 3 easy-to-use offline PDF compression methods. Whether you are a Mac or Windows user, you can choose the most suitable method from the 3 methods to achieve your goal. However, it should be noted that in addition to PDFgear, the preview tool and Microsoft Word provided by Mac are not professional PDF compressors after all. Their compression effect is fixed, and you will get PDF files with lost quality. Pdfgear can not only guarantee your file quality through MRC technology but also support you in manually selecting the compression effect. So we recommend you to use PDFgear software as your common PDF compression tool.