Key takeaways
To compress a PDF on your phone without obvious quality loss, remove unnecessary pages, crop empty borders, and use balanced image compression rather than the smallest possible setting. Reopen the result and zoom into small text before sending it.
Scanned pages and photos usually drive file size because each page may contain a high-resolution image. Embedded graphics, repeated assets, and unnecessary pages can also add weight. Text-only PDFs are typically much smaller.
Delete blank or duplicate pages, rotate pages correctly, and crop large empty margins. This can reduce size without lowering the quality of the content you keep.
Use a balanced or medium setting for email, forms, and general sharing. High compression may be acceptable for a quick screen preview but can damage fine text, stamps, tables, or signatures.
If the document uses searchable text, test search after compression. For image-only scans, zoom into the smallest important text. If characters look smeared or broken, use a higher-quality setting.
Keep the original until the compressed copy is verified. Give the new file a clear name so you do not accidentally overwrite the better source.
Smart PDF keeps common document tasks together: scan, edit, annotate, convert, extract text with OCR, and prepare the file for sharing. If the original is a poor phone photo, rescanning cleanly may produce a better and sometimes smaller result than repeatedly compressing it. Read best practices for scanning documents on a phone.
Avoid strong compression when the PDF is intended for printing, legal or official review, detailed diagrams, archival storage, or accessibility workflows that depend on clear text recognition.
Use Smart PDF to open or scan the document, make necessary edits, apply an appropriate export setting, and share the verified copy without moving the workflow to a computer.
Remove unnecessary pages and margins, then use balanced image compression and verify the result.
It can. The goal is to choose a level where the size drops but important text and graphics remain clear.
Each scanned page may be stored as a high-resolution image, which uses much more space than text.
Keep the original until you have fully checked the compressed version.
Smart PDF supports scanning, editing, annotating, converting, and preparing documents for sharing in one app.
Edit, scan, and convert on the go โ free to start.
Convert PDF pages into JPG images by choosing the required pages, setting suitable resolution, and checking small text before export.
Combine PDFs by selecting the source files, arranging them in the correct order, removing duplicates, and exporting one verified document.
Convert one or several photos into a clean PDF by choosing the images, correcting their order and crop, then exporting a single shareable document.
