Compressing Projects, Images and PDFs 

Storage Limitations: Compressed files take up less storage space on hard drives, servers, or cloud storage services.

Faster Upload and Download: Smaller files are quicker to upload to websites, share via email, or download from the internet, improving accessibility and efficiency.

Speed and Responsiveness: Large files can slow down software applications and devices. Compressing these files can enhance performance, making them easier to open, view, and edit.

Optimized Display: Compressed files often load faster in viewers, especially on mobile devices or in browsers, providing a better user experience.

File Size Standards: Some industries or institutions have guidelines or standards that require files to be below a certain size for submission or archiving.

Archiving: Compressing files helps in long-term storage, making it more efficient to manage large volumes of documents.

Balanced Quality and Size: Compression techniques allow you to reduce file size while maintaining acceptable quality, which is needed for web content, presentations, and digital publications.

Go to File > Export.

Choose PDF (Print) or PDF (Interactive) depending on your needs.

In the export dialog, adjust the following settings:

Compression: Set Bicubic Downsampling to 72 or 150 PPI for lower-quality print/export.

Image Quality: Select Medium or Low.

Subset Fonts: Ensure fonts are subsetted to only include characters used in the document.

Click Export.

Go to File > Save As or Export.

Select PDF as the format.

In the Save Adobe PDF dialog, choose the appropriate preset, such as Smallest File Size.

Adjust settings:

Compression: Use Downsampling for images.

Optimize for Fast Web View: Enable this for online distribution.

Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities: Disable this if further editing in Illustrator is not needed.

Click Save PDF.

Go to File > Save As or Export > Save for Web.

Select JPEG or PNG format.

Adjust image quality settings:

Quality Slider: Reduce the quality to balance file size and image clarity.

Image Size: Reduce dimensions to lower the overall file size.

Click Save.

Using Adobe Acrobat:

Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

Go to File > Save As Other > Reduced Size PDF.

Select the appropriate version compatibility for your needs and click OK.

Online Tools:

Online resources can also be used to compress and reduce the size of PDFs. (Be careful what documents you upload to the internet)

PDF2go 

ILovePDF

PDFfiller

PDF 24 Tools

Optimize Images Before Import - Before adding images to your documents, resize and compress them in Photoshop or another image editor to the appropriate resolution and quality.

Use Appropriate File Formats - Choose the right file formats for your graphics (e.g., JPEG for photos, PNG for images with transparency).

Limit Use of High-Resolution Images - Only use high-res images when absolutely necessary. For web or digital use, lower resolution is often sufficient.

Reduce Complexity - Simplify vector graphics and minimize the use of complex effects or layers that may increase file size.

Review and Test - After compression, review the document to ensure the visual quality is acceptable and test the file on different devices to confirm compatibility.