How to make a PDF small enough to email
2026-10-27
You click send and get an error: the attachment is too large. Gmail allows attachments up to 25 MB in total per email, and many office email systems allow even less. Here's how to fix it.
Step 1: Compress the PDF
- Open Compress PDF.
- Select your file and keep Recommended compression.
- Download the result and check the new size.
Scanned documents and PDFs full of photos often shrink by 70 to 90 percent. Text-only PDFs are usually already small; if compression doesn't help, the tool keeps your original.
Step 2: Remove what you don't need
- Delete blank or repeated pages with Remove pages.
- Send only the relevant section using Extract pages.
Step 3: Split into several emails
If the file is still too big, use Split PDF to divide it into parts, for example pages 1 to 50 and 51 to 100, and send each part in a separate email. Mention "Part 1 of 2" in the subject line.
Step 4: Share a link instead
For very large files, upload the PDF to a cloud drive and email the link. Make sure the sharing settings only allow the people you intend.
A note on quality
Compression lowers image detail. Before sending, zoom in to check that small text, signatures and stamps are still readable. Keep your original file safely in case someone needs a high-quality copy.