Optimizing and Compressing PDFs

Before uploading a PDF to the DAM, it should be optimized and compressed. Optimized PDFs allow for quicker downloads and better accessibility, especially for mobile users. 

  • Ensure documents are less than 1 MB. 
  • Sitefinity has a 5MB size limit for all documents.

For PDFs with a lot of content, ask yourself if the content would be better placed on the webpage instead of in the PDF. For example, if the file is informational, that content is only searchable as a document whereas if the content was on a webpage with meta descriptions, categories and tags it is more discoverable in a search.

Optimizing
Compressing

Optimizing your document

  1. Open PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
  2. Go to File > Properties.

3. Under the Description tab, fill out the metadata fields.

  • Note: Title, Author and Keywords should always be complete. Commas can be used to separate keywords.

4. Go to File > Save as Other > Reduced Size PDF

5. Select "Retain Existing" when prompted about compatibility and click OK.

6. Select a location to save the new PDF. You should notice that this version of the PDF should be much smaller, compared to the original.

Compressing your document

In this step you will use Adobe Acrobat to reduce the document file size.

  1. Open acrobat.adobe.com.
  2. Click on the blue button, Continue with Adobe, to log in using your CMU Global ID.
  3. Locate the Convert tab, from the drop-down click on Reduce File Size, Select the Compress PDF option, click Select Files and choose the document file you want to reduce.
  4. In the "set compression level" area, select medium compression. Your file will reappear after Adobe compresses it. Save the file.
  5. Click on the actions ellipses (three vertical dots) and click Download. You may notice the file name includes - compressed.pdf.

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