With the technological advancements being experienced across the globe, many people are switching from the storage of information in hard copies. The trends are shifting to soft copies. However in soft copy, data has to be converted into the right format that can be easily be read, transferred to another system or stored. When it comes to sending documents for instance through mails, the best format that the data should be is PDF. Even though there are other formats in which data can be converted and used, PDF is one of the mostly preferred formats since it is easy to manage and even convert into other formats.

Any document can be converted into PDF form simply by compressing the files. This makes them easy to read and even faster to send as mails to other people. For those using Mac, below are some of the steps that can give guidance into the process of compressing files in PDF form. You will only need a large PDF file in order to conduct the task successfully.

• Foremost, you will begin the process of compressing files to PDF form by finding the PDF file that you need to compress. After finding the file, you then open it using the Preview application.
• From the top of your PC monitor or screen, choose ”File” and then click ”Print”. This can also be done using the keyboard shortcut, which is preferred for this task. Using the shortcut from the keyboard is easy and can be conducted by holding down the ”Command” key while at the same time holding the key that stands for print, which is letter ”p”. You will then see a Drop-down menu appearing on the screen.
• Look for a button labeled ”PDF” from the Drop-down menu. The button has a short arrow next to it and is usually at the bottom left hand corner of the Drop-down menu. When you have located the button, click it and you will notice the appearance of another drop-down menu. The second drop-down menu that appears on the screen positions itself just below the PDF button.
• From the second drop-down menu, click the button labeled ”Compress PDF”. Whenever you click the button, you will have given a command for the action of compressing files in PDF form. A window will then show up on the screen to confirm that the compress command is being executed or the process of compression of files is taking place.
• Another window will again appear on the screen. This time the window will be a ”Save window”. This is an indication that compression has already been completed and that you can now save the file. From the window, type in the name that you would want to use in reference to the file. You will see a text box into which you will type the file name after which you can click ”Save As”. This is used when you re saving the file for the first time. You will also choose the location where you want the file to be saved. When all these are done, you will then put the final touches by clicking ”Save” button, which is at the bottom right-hand side of the window.

Current advancement in technology has transformed various aspects of human life. Communication is one of the most affected aspects by these advancements in technology. Today, you do not have to carry printed documents everywhere you go. This is because the Internet and various technological gadgets make it possible to access your documents from wherever you are. All you need is a gadget that allows you to read PDF files.

Why it is important to have PDF files

Invention of technological gadgets such as flash disks has made it possible for people to carry their documents and read them from any location. As such, you do not have to carry your laptop or even worse, printed document when going for a presentation. Carrying word documents sometimes may be complicated. This is because you may want to present the information using a computer. As such, it may require you to also carry the right word version to open that document. This implies that in most cases you will have to carry your laptop. This can be very tiring especially if you are travelling to far distances. As such, carrying your document in a PDF format is the best solution. This is because this PDF documents opens easily in most platforms. As such, you do not have to worry about carrying your document then being frustrated when it fails to open.

Flatbed scanner with ADF

In most cases, people carry large documents when going for a presentation. Your file may also contain some pictures and videos, which are essential for your presentation. In that case, the file might occupy a lot of space on the storage gadget you are using to carry the file. As such, compressing it can be the best option to reduce the space it occupy. This now leads to the big question that many people ask themselves. Many people wonder whether there is a flatbed scanner that has ADF and can produce PDF files that are compressed heavily. Well, the best answer to this question is, there is no native flatbed scanner that can do this. However, it is possible to set up a flatbed scanner using a document feeder that can save your document at any location. After saving your file, you can then use the adobe acrobat in your device to watch this folder. This way, you will be able to convert the file to the PDF format. This works best since you can easily set up the PDF prefs you have as templates. These files will be compressed to occupy least space in your computer or flash disk.

Therefore, you do not have to worry yourself about using much space on your flash disk or computer. You will be able to store as much documents as you can. In addition, the scanned documents are of high quality and are also easy to email. You can also upload them with ease on any online platform.

While you read this article, you will get techniques and tools to optimize your PDF files for reduced file size and still retain quality and visibility.

What is a PDF file? PDF is the short form of Portable Document Format, which was developed by Adobe Corporation so as to enable electronic information transferable in different types of computers. It can also be termed as a collection of objects that consists of structural information that is found in a self-contained series of bytes. It is enabled by software known as Acrobat. PDF is a description of a page in language form, which is simplified, with limitations of functionality.

However, working with PDF files sometimes is hectic due to their large sizes that could consume a bigger space that is sometimes not available.

Due to this hindrance, you can make a PDF file smaller without compressing it by following various steps provided to you and considering some factors.

Some of the factors include, image resolution, number of fonts used and the way they have been embedded, the PDF version and the magnitude of compression.

Nevertheless, to convert the smallest possible PDF documents to be used in the web, always minimize the number of fonts, bitmapped images; these are images made of single  dots, which are picture elements or pixels that are arranged and colored differently so as to form a pattern, should be replaced with vector graphics instead. Make sure you minimize the complexity and number of forms in your PDF file and also flatten form fields. Also, try to avoid the use of multimedia.

In order for you to create a PDF file that is not compressed, it is advisable you make such document before it is uploaded to the web. This is made possible by the fact that there are tools and techniques that can be applied to enable and optimize those PDF files for the web.

Ways to create small PDF file without compressing.

• Do not use Refried Graphics-avoid using best quality graphics at your PDF file’s output- it is  also recommended to use text and images that are monochrome and leave the thumbnails off when saving the files for the web.
• Use of Vector Graphics- vector graphics are usually graphics that are made into Graphic Interchange Formats (GIFS). Vector graphics will give your website a gorgeous outlook, they also possess an ideal scaling and use less space compared to bitmapped graphics due to their mathematical formulas.
• Minimize Your Fonts- this will positively impact on the size of your PDF file. Ensure that you minimize the number of different fonts that you use in your file in order to regulate the effect on the size of the file.
• Flatten form fields- flattening form fields in PDF files is useful especially if the file is for archival or distribution purposes. This is because you deactivate its interactivity features. PDFtoolkitVCL enables you to perform the task of fill and flatten PDF form fields.

When you make good use of these tools and techniques at the initial stage, then ensure your PDF file is smaller and not compressed.

Lets face it PDFs are great to have but they can at times become a nag. This is especially so if you have a MAC. You must have noticed that when you create PDFs in a MAC they turn out to be quite huge.  If you have too many of them they might take up quite a large chunk of storage and may take too much time if you ever want to transfer them.  At times, you may have just one large one that you either need to email it but it exceeds the maximum requirement of 10 Mb. You are left with two options, change the format of the document or simply compress it. Changing the format may complicate issues if the recipient of the document expects it in PDF. So, all you are now left with is to compress it. So how do you go about compressing your PDFs on a MAC?

The Quartz Filter Method

Steps:

1. Open the PDF file in preview
2. Select file then save as
3. On the Quartz Filter option select reduce file size then click save

The problem with this method is that it compromises on the quality of the document as it removes any unnecessary parts from it. It crunches images making them lose some quality. If your documents do not have images then this is an ideal solution for you. However if you can live with the reduced quality the Quartz Filter method can reduce the size of image heavy PDFs by an unbelievable margin. It is common to see PDFs of about 100 Mb reduced to just 10 Mb or less.

Customized Quartz Filters

The default Quartz Filter clearly cannot satisfy everybody’s needs. If you are one of those whose needs have not been met then you need not worry as you can create your own customized Quartz filters.  With these customized filters you can select the right compromise between image quality and the size of the file. If you do not have the patience for this, then you can download one of those utilities from online. You can make your own Quartz Filters by following the steps below:

• Launch ColorSync Utility. GO to > Applications > Utilities
• On the applications toolbar click on Filters
• Select the Reduce File Size filter and click on the arrow pointing downward
• On the menu, click on Duplicate Filter
• Open the filter you just created and open Image Compression and Image Sampling
• For Image Sampling, select Scale to the percentage you want and Max to 1280.
• For image compression set the arrow to the halfway point. You do not have to be precise but should get fairly close to the middle.
• Now you can save the filter and give it a name that you can associate with its use.

You can now use your custom filter as you did the Quartz Filter. This will greatly improve the quality of your images but it will increase the size slightly.