Pages and files

How to Compress a manual PDF

Updated 2026-09-17 · 2 min read

The usual reason to compress a manual PDF is a version number, part code or safety note that changed between revisions.

Almost all PDF bulk is images. Text weighs nothing, so compression is really a decision about how much image detail you can spare.

PDFfont edits PDF text in the document's own embedded font — no white cover boxes.

Steps to compress a manual PDF

Open the file and check which pages are photographs or scans — those are the heavy ones.

Delete any pages you do not need to send at all.

Export with image downsampling around 150 dpi for screen reading, or 300 dpi if it will be printed.

Check the result opens cleanly and the smallest print is still legible.

With this kind of document, manuals are long, so use page tools to extract just the sections you need.

One caution worth stating plainly: update the revision date whenever you change the content.

Real text is never rasterised, so it stays perfectly sharp no matter how far the images are compressed.

No, only images are affected.

Under 10 MB clears most email limits; under 5 MB is safer.

Yes. The editor runs in mobile Safari and Chrome, with touch-sized controls and a share sheet for saving the finished file.

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