How do I compress a PDF file?
Answer
Often PDF files need to be reduced in size, whether for printing purposes, or for sharing digitally. Follow these steps in Acrobat to do so. Be sure you're in "full" Acrobat, i.e. not Acrobat Reader (the free version), to do this. PDFs may open by default in Acrobat Reader if it is installed, so be sure to pay attention. The full version of Acrobat may be referred to as Acrobat Pro in some documentation, and it is installed on all the lab, open station, and instructor stations throughout the college. If you purchased the student version of Adobe products, you have access to the full version of Acrobat to install on your machine.
There are also some good websites that help optimize and reduce PDF file size, such as https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html and https://smallpdf.com/
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Note that when you flatten transparency in step 2, you may see very slight white rectangular outlines on your PDF. These are screen artifacts, they do not print. See this FAQ for more information, including how to disable them. https://answers.ced.uga.edu/IT/faq/395965 If this is a problem for the digital use of your PDF, skip step 2, and go to step 3.
