When you add photos or other images to your file in Pages, for example, it quickly becomes too large to be able to send easily. Then it can be useful to reduce the files. We explain how to do this.
Tip: Shrink files in Pages, Numbers, or Keynote
Pages, Numbers and Keynote are standard macOS apps with which you can easily write texts, create presentations or enter numbers. There is a good chance that you will sometimes want to share these files with a colleague or a friend. If it contains many images, the file may become too large to send, for example, as an attachment in an email. Fortunately, you can then easily reduce the files. That’s how you do it.
- Open the document you want to reduce;
- Click on ‘Archive’ and choose ‘Make file smaller …’
- At the top of the window that appears you will see an approximate size of the smaller file. Click on what you want to change: for example, choose to make the existing images a bit smaller or lower the quality a bit;
- Are there audio or video clips in your file? Then it can be useful to completely remove the parts that you have cut out.
If it contains an HD video, it is possible to lower the quality a bit. Usually the video remains pretty sharp for a presentation, but it takes up less space. You can choose the suggested quality or the original quality. Click on ‘Make a cup smaller’ to confirm.
Do you get the message that you cannot make anything smaller? Then your file is already as small as possible. When you save the file, you can choose to save it as a copy: it will keep the original file, but you can easily send the smaller file to someone.
If you would like to reduce your files because you have too little space on your MacBook, then we have more handy tips to free up space. Is your iCloud packed too? It is also useful to free up some memory once in a while. More tips to optimize your Mac’s storage space? iPhone shows you how best to do that.