To get a PDF under 5 MB, compress it — image-heavy or scanned PDFs usually drop dramatically because their size is mostly photo data. If compression alone doesn't get you there, remove the pages you don't need or split the file. Everything below runs in your browser, so the PDF is never uploaded.
Why 5 MB? (email and portal limits)
5 MB is a common cap. Many job portals, government and visa forms, and school submission systems reject anything larger. Gmail and Outlook are more generous (around 25 MB), but corporate mail servers and application systems often aren't — so 5 MB is the safe target for anything you're submitting.
Step 1 — compress it
Most oversized PDFs are big because of images: scans and photos. Compress PDF re-encodes those images at a sensible resolution, and a scanned document can drop from tens of megabytes to a few. A text-only PDF is already small and won't shrink much — which is expected, not a fault.
Step 2 — if it's still too big, send fewer pages
There's rarely a reason to send all 40 pages when the recipient asked for 12. Use Split PDF to extract only the pages you need, or Delete Pages to drop the rest. Combined with compression, that reliably gets a bulky file under any limit.
Step 3 — check it still reads
Compression trades resolution for size, so open the file before sending and confirm any small print, stamp, or signature is still legible. For a screen or a portal, screen quality is plenty; if it needs to be printed at full size, compress less.
What if my PDF barely shrinks?
It's almost certainly already text-based (little image data to squeeze) or it was already compressed once. See why a PDF won't compress. Everything here runs on your device, so your PDF — bank statement, contract, or application — never leaves your browser.