Compress a PDF for email (stay under 25 MB) without uploading

Email and many upload portals still cap attachments around 20–25 MB. A phone-scan packet or a slide deck export blows past that easily. You do not need to send the file to a cloud compressor to get under the limit.

Pick a mode that matches the file

• Light — keeps text selectable. Only re-encodes oversized images. Use this first.
• Balanced — still selectable text, more aggressive image downsizing. The usual email setting.
• Extreme — rasterizes every page. Smallest file, but text is no longer searchable or copyable.

A private email workflow

1. Merge or organize first so you are not compressing pages you will delete.
2. Run Balanced. Check the saved-size chip before you download.
3. If it is still over the cap, split off an appendix or switch one file to Extreme.
4. Encrypt the result if the email is not a private channel.

When compression will not help

A PDF that is already image-light and well encoded may come back as “already optimized.” In that case split the document, or share a link to a drive you control, rather than rasterizing a contract just to save 200 KB.