| Guide page | What that page prints | How to use that wording |
|---|---|---|
| Current page, and the page addressed to macOS 26 | File > Export, then Reduce File Size in the Quartz Filter pop-up menu, then Save. A second procedure lists Create Linearized PDF, Optimize images for screen, and Save images as JPEG. The note says a compressed PDF may be lower quality, and that file size and image quality may vary with the options you select. | Use this pair when the open article is titled “Reduce the size of a PDF.” The welcome page labels the current guide for macOS 27. |
| Replace prompt on the current page | The automatic section says Click Save to replace the existing file, or Click Cancel, then a new name in Export As. The checkbox section says Choose Cancel for the new-name path. | Keep Click Cancel and Choose Cancel on the sections that print them. |
| Page addressed to macOS 15 | Open the PDF you want to compress, choose File > Export, and do one or more of the following. Optimize images for screen means “Compress PDF graphics to presentation quality.” Save images as JPEG means “Convert all graphics to JPEG format.” The longer quality note is on this page. | The reduce-the-size address and the compress-a-pdf address for macOS 15 printed these sentences. Quartz Filter and Reduce File Size are on the other rows. |
| Pages addressed to macOS 11, 12, and 13 | The title on these addresses is “Compress a PDF.” Choose File > Export. The parenthetical sentence is Don’t choose Export as PDF. Then click the Quartz Filter pop-up menu and choose Reduce File Size. The quality note is the shorter sentence only. | macOS 12 and 13 say “open the PDF that you want to compress” before the Export command. macOS 11 puts Export in the same sentence as opening the PDF. |
| Pages addressed to macOS 10.15 and macOS 14 | Quartz Filter, then Reduce File Size, after File > Export. The shorter quality note is the only quality sentence. These two pages do not print Don’t choose Export as PDF. | macOS 10.15 says “open the PDF, then choose File > Export.” macOS 14 says “open the PDF that you want to compress,” then File > Export. |
| Export, copy, and combine pages | Export says you can select options to reduce the file size and points to the reduce-size article. It also says to pick a file type from the Format pop-up menu. Copy documents File > Duplicate. Combine warns that Preview saves document changes automatically. | Duplicate first when you need the original file. The reduce article’s own replace prompt is the save choice after Export. |
| Display size, and the Inspector | The troubleshooting article is 100% scale: size on screen equals size on printout, or a point-to-pixel option. The Inspector article includes file size among the information you can view, and its General info row is general information. | Changing the 100% scale does not follow the export steps. Viewing file size in the Inspector is a different article from reducing it. |
Preview file-size checklist
0 of 8 complete · saved on this device
Apple: Reduce the size of a PDF, current Preview User Guide · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: changes to a Preview document are saved automatically · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: Quartz Filter, Reduce File Size · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: replace the file, or Cancel and use Export As · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: linearized PDF, screen images, and JPEG · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: macOS 15 export checkboxes · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: macOS 11 says Don’t choose Export as PDF · official help checked 2026-10-27
Apple: 100% scale is screen and print size · official help checked 2026-10-27
The current automatic path is Quartz Filter, then Reduce File Size
The current article is titled “Reduce the size of a PDF in Preview on Mac.” Its opening line says that to save storage space, you can compress a PDF in Preview. The note says that when compressed, the PDF may be of lower quality than the original, and that the resulting file size and image quality may vary depending on the options you select. The section “Reduce PDF file size automatically” says to go to Preview, open the PDF you want to make smaller, choose File > Export, choose Reduce File Size in the Quartz Filter pop-up menu, and click Save. The article addressed to macOS 26 prints that same sequence. The welcome page of the current guide is labeled “Preview User Guide for macOS 27,” and its table of contents lists “Reduce the size of a PDF.” This guide does not treat that label as the version installed on a particular Mac.
Three checkboxes are a second procedure on the current page
The section “Choose options for reducing PDF file size” starts again at File > Export. It says to select any of these checkboxes. Create Linearized PDF: optimize the PDF for fast loading and viewing in web browsers. Optimize images for screen: optimize images for screen viewing to reduce file size. Save images as JPEG: convert images to JPEG format, which uses image compression. Then click Save. The Quartz Filter menu is named in the automatic section. It is not named again in this checkbox section. The export article, checked the same day, says you can select options to reduce the file size and points to the reduce-size article. The export article’s own step is to select a file type from the Format pop-up menu. This guide does not add format names the export article does not list.
The macOS 15 page uses two checkboxes and different descriptions
The page addressed to macOS 15 still opens with “you can compress a PDF in Preview” and includes both sentences of the quality note. Its steps say to go to Preview, open the PDF you want to compress, and choose File > Export. Then: do one or more of the following. “Compress PDF graphics to presentation quality” is the description of the Optimize images for screen checkbox. “Convert all graphics to JPEG format” is the description of the Save images as JPEG checkbox. Those descriptions are the macOS 15 sentences. The current page’s descriptions are “optimize images for screen viewing to reduce file size” and “convert images to JPEG format, which uses image compression.” Create Linearized PDF, the Quartz Filter pop-up menu, and Reduce File Size are the current page’s words. The macOS 15 body read at the reduce-the-size address, and the body read at the compress-a-pdf address, printed the two-checkbox procedure.
Older compress pages name Reduce File Size, and three of them warn about Export as PDF
The pages addressed to macOS 10.15, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are titled “Compress a PDF in Preview on Mac.” Each one says to save storage space you can compress a PDF, gives the shorter quality note, and says to click the Quartz Filter pop-up menu and choose Reduce File Size. macOS 11, 12, and 13 place this parenthetical on the Export step: Don’t choose Export as PDF. macOS 10.15 and macOS 14 leave that parenthetical off. macOS 10.15 and macOS 11 put opening the PDF and File > Export in one sentence. macOS 12, 13, and 14 say “open the PDF that you want to compress,” then “Choose File > Export.” None of these five pages prints the current Save step, the replace prompt, Create Linearized PDF, or the two image checkboxes. The current page says “Choose File > Export” and does not repeat the macOS 11 parenthetical.
Save can replace the file, so the duplicate step comes from the pages that print it
The current automatic section says that if you are asked whether you want to replace the existing file, click Save to replace it, or click Cancel, enter a new filename in the Export As field, then click Save. The checkbox section uses Choose Cancel for that new-name path. The combine article’s warning is a separate page: changes you make to a Preview document are saved automatically, and File > Duplicate creates a copy of each PDF before combining when you want the originals as well. The copy article’s duplicate steps are File > Duplicate, then File > Save, with a name, a file format, and a place to save. The compress pages addressed to macOS 10.15 through 14 stop at Reduce File Size. They do not print this replace prompt. Use the prompt on the current article. Use Duplicate from the copy and combine articles when the original has to remain.
On-screen size and the Inspector’s file size are different articles
The troubleshooting article “If PDFs or images aren’t the correct size” says that, by default, PDFs in Preview appear at the same size on screens and in printouts, regardless of the display resolution. Its example is a PDF that measures 8.5 by 11 inches and appears onscreen as 8.5 by 11 inches. The steps are Preview > Settings, then PDF or Images, then an option next to “Define 100% scale as.” The choices it prints are “Size on screen equals size on printout,” and “1 point equals 1 screen pixel” or “1 image pixel equals 1 screen point.” The Inspector article says you can view information such as file size, the author name, and the image resolution. General info is “view general information about a PDF or image.” The toolbar control that opens the Inspector is not given a text name on that page, so this guide does not invent one. Neither article is the export procedure above.
Scope of this guide
We read the linked Apple Preview User Guide pages on 27 October 2026 and wrote this guide from them. We did not install, run or time Preview, open a PDF, export a file, or compare file sizes for this guide, and nothing here is a hands-on test result. Menus can differ by the macOS version named on the guide page; check what your own screen shows. The pages checked do not display a separate price for Preview. This guide quotes the current page and the pages addressed to macOS 10.15, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 26.
Common questions
How do you reduce a PDF’s file size on a Mac for free with Preview?
On the current Preview User Guide page, checked 27 October 2026, choose File > Export and then Reduce File Size in the Quartz Filter pop-up menu. Click Save. The same page also lets you select Create Linearized PDF, Optimize images for screen, or Save images as JPEG. The pages checked do not display a separate Preview price. A compressed PDF may be lower quality than the original, and the current page says the file size and image quality may vary with the options you select.
Where is the Quartz filter named Reduce File Size?
The current article and the article addressed to macOS 26 put it in the Quartz Filter pop-up menu after File > Export. The compress articles addressed to macOS 10.15, 11, 12, 13, and 14 tell you to click that same pop-up menu and choose Reduce File Size. The article addressed to macOS 15 tells you to select Optimize images for screen or Save images as JPEG. It describes the first as presentation quality and the second as converting all graphics to JPEG.
Will Export replace the original PDF?
The current article says Preview may ask whether you want to replace the existing file. Click Save to replace it. For another filename, the automatic section says Click Cancel, then a new name in the Export As field. The checkbox section says Choose Cancel for that path. The combine article says Preview saves document changes automatically and tells you to choose File > Duplicate when you need the original as well. The compress articles addressed to macOS 10.15 through 14 do not print this replace prompt.
What does each current checkbox say it does?
Create Linearized PDF optimizes the PDF for fast loading and viewing in web browsers. Optimize images for screen optimizes images for screen viewing to reduce file size. Save images as JPEG converts images to JPEG format, which uses image compression. On the macOS 15 page, Optimize images for screen is “Compress PDF graphics to presentation quality,” and Save images as JPEG is “Convert all graphics to JPEG format.” That page does not list Create Linearized PDF.
Why does the PDF still look large on screen after Export?
The article “If PDFs or images aren’t the correct size” is about scale. It says a PDF that measures 8.5 by 11 inches appears onscreen as 8.5 by 11 inches under the default, and it points to Preview > Settings and “Define 100% scale as.” The Inspector article says you can view file size with the document’s other information. The steps that change the stored file are the export steps on the reduce-size article.
Inspect the exact editions
Open the full evidence record before choosing. A documented candidate is not a completed migration test.
References and scope
Official help checked 27 Oct 2026. Plan, role and region limits still apply; this is a planning checklist, not a completed migration.
- Apple Preview User Guide: Reduce the size of a PDF in Preview on Mac. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 26: Reduce the size of a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 15, reduce-the-size address. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 15, compress-a-pdf address. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 14: Compress a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 13: Compress a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 12: Compress a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 11: Compress a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide for macOS 10.15: Compress a PDF. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: Export PDFs and images. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: Copy PDFs and images. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: Combine PDFs. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: View information about PDFs and images. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: If PDFs or images aren’t the correct size. Accessed 27 October 2026.
- Apple Preview User Guide: Welcome, labeled for macOS 27. Accessed 27 October 2026.