If PDFs or images aren’t the correct size in Preview on Mac (2024)

FAQs

If PDFs or images aren’t the correct size in Preview on Mac? ›

Go to the Preview app on your Mac. Choose Preview > Settings. To choose how to display documents, click PDF or Images, then choose an option next to “Define 100% scale as.” To display a PDF or image at the same dimensions regardless of the screen's resolution: Select “Size on screen equals size on printout.”

In the Preview app on your Mac, open the file you want to change. Choose Tools > Adjust Size, then select “Resample image.” Enter a smaller value in the Resolution field. The new size is shown at the bottom.

To save storage space, you can compress a PDF in Preview. Note: When compressed, the PDF may be of lower quality than the original. The resulting file size and image quality may vary depending on the options you select.

Additionally, you can customize the size of the Preview Pane by going to "Tools" > "Options" > "Note" > "PDF Viewer" and adjusting the "Maximum Width" setting. This setting controls the maximum width of the Preview Pane, and you can increase or decrease the value to adjust the size of the pane to your liking.

In the Preview app on your Mac, choose Preview > Settings. To choose how to display documents, click PDF or Images, then choose an option next to “Define 100% scale as.” To display a PDF or image at the same dimensions regardless of the screen's resolution: Select “Size on screen equals size on printout.”

You can magnify or reduce a PDF by an exact percentage. Choose the hamburger menu (Windows) or the File menu (macOS) > Print. From the Page Sizing & Handling menu, select Custom Scale. Enter the percentage you want to magnify or reduce the PDF.

In the Preview app on your Mac, click the Show Markup Toolbar button (if the Markup toolbar isn't showing), then click the Adjust Size button . Enter new values for width and height, or click the “Fit into” pop-up menu and choose a size.

6 common reasons PDF files get too large

EMBEDDED FONTS — some fonts can be surprisingly large. EMBEDDED FILES/FILE ATTACHMENTS - it's possible to attach many types of files to a PDF and these files are stored inside the PDF contributing to its total size.

The Acrobat online PDF compressor balances an optimized file size against the expected quality of images, fonts, and other file content. Just drag and drop a PDF into the PDF compression tool above and let Acrobat reduce the size of your PDF files without compromising quality.

How do I increase the size of the Preview pane? ›

You can resize the pane by hovering the mouse between the preview pane and file details pane and resizing normally.

Solution. Open Acrobat Reader, navigate to Edit menu -> Preferences -> Page Display -> set your required Zoom percentage. Click OK to confirm the change.

First, PDFs can be oversized because one or more fonts have been embedded and subset inside that specific PDF file. In fact, adding a single font to a PDF document can sometimes increase the file size substantially. Second, images can also be a culprit.

macOS: Right-click and select “Get Info” Or select the PDF file and click “File” from the Finder menu, then click “Get Info”

In the Preview app on your Mac, click the Show Markup Toolbar button (if the Markup toolbar isn't showing), then click the Adjust Size button . Enter new values for width and height, or click the “Fit into” pop-up menu and choose a size.

Although you can't edit the text of a PDF in Preview, you can use the markup tools to provide feedback or write down something you want to remember. The editing tools in the Markup toolbar are ideal for collaborating—use them to suggest changes to a PDF and to respond to suggestions.

If you have Adobe Acrobat XI go to menu View -> Tools -> Content Editing, choose Edit Text & Images, select the image and resize it. If you have Adobe Acrobat X there is no "Edit Text & Images" tool, but you can go to menu View -> Tools -> Content and use the "Edit Object" tool to select and resize an image.