PDF too big to email

The bounce is about bytes. A mail server adds up the message and compares that total with a cap. Photographs, a scanned contract, and an export that embedded its fonts all add weight. The PDF can open on your computer and still be refused on the way out.

Gmail stops an attachment at 25 MB. Past that, it inserts a Drive link in place of the file. Yahoo Mail uses the same 25 MB for a message going out and a message coming in. Outlook and Microsoft 365 publish 20 MB by default. Some Outlook on the web mailboxes allow 25 MB. iCloud Mail allows 20 MB as a direct attachment. Mail Drop can carry a file up to 5 GB, and the recipient has 30 days to download that link.

An office mailbox is often stricter than the service you use at home. 10 MB is common. 5 MB is not rare. That number is an IT policy. When the bounce names a number, use that number. When it does not, start at 10 MB. A file under 10 MB also fits a 20 MB or 25 MB cap, so it clears Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook's default, and iCloud Mail.

Renaming the file does not shrink it. A shorter subject line does not shrink it either. A zip can trim a little, and some servers block archives or count the zip toward the same cap. Gmail leaves the PDF at the size you attached. The check that matters is that size. A PDF too big to email stays too big until it drops.

The tool above opens with 10 MB selected. 20 MB and 25 MB sit beside it. 25 MB is the cap Gmail and Yahoo Mail publish. 20 MB is the default Outlook and iCloud Mail publish for a file you attach. 10 MB is the office cap to use when the bounce did not name one. Custom takes any target from 8 KB to 100 MB, typed in KB or MB. Type 5 MB when the policy is that tight. If the bounce gave you a number, use that number. That is the size that gets a PDF too big to email through.

The file you download is at or under the size you chose. If that size cannot be reached, pdfly tells you the smallest size it got to and does not give you a file that is still too big. A PDF already under the target comes back as it is. Gentler passes stop at the first size that fits. Rasterizing turns pages into images. It runs last, and only if you allow it.

You can upload a PDF up to 100 MB. More than 500 pages is rejected. A password-protected PDF is rejected, and so is a file pdfly cannot read. The same rules are on the PDF compressor.

Mail can measure the message after the attachment is encoded for sending. Base64 writes every 3 bytes as 4 characters, so the message is about a third larger than the file on your disk. A 24 MB PDF can travel as about 32 MB and bounce off a 25 MB cap. Leave about 10–20% under the cap you were given. For Gmail or Yahoo Mail, 20 MB is the step under 25 MB. For Outlook or iCloud Mail, 10 MB is the step under 20 MB. If a file just under the cap still bounces, move one size down and send that download.

Leave rasterizing off when someone else has to search, copy, or fill the text. pdfly tries the lighter passes first. Those passes clean the file, subset fonts, recompress images, and refry the PDF. Allow rasterizing only when the mailbox still refuses the file and a picture of each page is acceptable. Words on a rasterized page cannot be selected or searched.

A scan is often images already, so there is little text to protect. Shrinking those images is usually what gets the file under the cap. A report full of photographs works the same way. A text export with no pictures is often small enough already. It comes back unchanged when it is under the target you set.

The server counts the whole message. Other attachments share the cap. Two files that each look acceptable can fail together. Compress to a lower target when a PDF too big to email was shared with other files, or send the heavy pages in a second message.

pdfly does not turn the PDF into a link you can paste. It gives you the smaller file, and you attach that copy yourself. The upload and the generated file are deleted within 1 hour. Download it before you close the page, and send the copy you saved. Read the privacy policy for how long a generated file stays.

If the result says the target cannot be reached, the smallest size on that line is the floor for this file with the passes you allowed. Turn rasterizing on and run the file again when pictures of the pages are good enough. If that floor is still over the cap, the pages are the limit. Sending the document in two messages is the step that remains. This page compresses one PDF. To send it in parts, split the PDF by size so each file stays under the cap, and attach one part to each message.

The sender's cap is not the only one. The person you write to can sit on a stricter system. A file Gmail accepts at 25 MB can still fail at an office mailbox set to 10 MB or 5 MB. Yahoo Mail also checks incoming mail at 25 MB. When you know both limits, pick the smaller one. When you know only yours, 10 MB is the cautious file to send.

1. Drop the PDF in the tool above. The upload limit is 100 MB.
2. Keep 10 MB, or choose 20 MB, 25 MB, or a custom size.
3. Leave rasterizing off unless you need a smaller file more than selectable text.
4. Press Compress PDF, then download the file and attach that download.

The compressor is the same tool as on the home page. This page only changes the sizes you see first, so a PDF too big to email starts from a mailbox cap instead of 200 KB.

Sending from a phone instead of a computer does not change the cap. The receiving server applies it. Printing to a new PDF is a guess. It can shrink a huge scan, and it can also make a small text file larger. Compressing to a size you chose is a result you can read before you attach anything.

A file that failed at one size will fail again at that size. Step down from 25 MB to 20 MB to 10 MB, or type 5 MB, or type the number from the bounce, and send the new download. Keep the original. The copy pdfly made is temporary. A PDF too big to email needs a smaller file, not a second try at the same weight.