Use “Save As” or “Optimize PDF” instead of “Print to PDF”
Compress images before adding them to the PDF
Downsample high-resolution images
Convert images to JPEG for photos and PNG for graphics when appropriate
Remove unnecessary embedded fonts
Subset fonts instead of embedding full font sets
Delete unused pages, objects, and annotations
Flatten transparency
Remove form fields and interactive elements if not needed
Avoid embedding large attachments
Reduce image quality settings when exporting
Use grayscale instead of color when acceptable
Convert scanned pages to lower-resolution text-based PDFs with OCR
Remove metadata and hidden data
Eliminate duplicate images and repeated content
Use PDF optimization tools in Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or similar software
Re-export from the source file with smaller export settings
Split large PDFs into smaller files if appropriate