How to compress a PDF to under 200 KB for an online form

Compress the PDF

1. 1Open Compress PDF and sign in. A free account is enough.
2. 2Choose your PDF.
3. 3Pick Strong, the level that makes the smallest file.
4. 4Compress it. Pagey shows the old and new size, so you can see at once whether it is under the limit.
5. 5Download the smaller PDF and open it to check that every page is still easy to read.

Still too big?

Remove pages the form doesn't ask for, such as blank backs of pages or instructions. Each page you remove takes its photo with it. Delete pages does this on your device.

If the portal lets you upload more than one file, split the PDF into parts with Split PDF and compress each part.

If you can scan again, scan in black and white at 150 to 200 DPI instead of colour at the highest setting. The file starts much smaller, and text stays sharp.

What compressing changes

Only pictures and scans are made smaller. Typed text, links and form fields stay as they are, so a PDF made from Word shrinks less than a scan, and stays perfectly sharp.

If a PDF is already as small as Pagey can make it, you get it back unchanged and Pagey tells you so.