A whole set of documents, each under 100 KB

An example: Ravi's six documents

Say Ravi is filling in an online application on a recruitment portal. The portal's notice asks for six documents, each as a separate PDF under 100 KB. (This is only an example. Every portal sets its own rules and changes them from year to year, so your own form's notice always wins.)

Most of this set is one or two pages, which is good news: that is the size at which 100 KB works well. The rest of this post follows Ravi through the steps, and you can swap in your own papers.

Step 1: read the notice, then make a list

Before you touch a file, write down for each document:

• The format: PDF, JPG, or either. Photo and signature are usually JPG pictures, not PDF.
• The limit: "up to 100 KB", or a range such as "50 KB to 100 KB". Always aim for the top of a range.
• The number of pages or sides allowed, if it says.
• Whether papers go in separate boxes or one. Separate boxes, each with its own limit, are the easy case: every file gets its own 100 KB.
• Any rule on file names. Some portals refuse spaces or special characters. If yours does, rename the files before you upload.

A list on paper or in your notes app saves you from uploading the right file into the wrong box, which is a common slip when six files have similar names.

Step 2: paper documents, one clean page each

For the Class 10 certificate, the Class 12 marksheet and the degree, Ravi scans or photographs each paper. A scanner app on a phone works, and so does a plain camera photo, as Photo to PDF under 100 KB explains. What matters most for a small file:

• One document, one file. Don't scan three papers into one PDF when the form has three boxes. Pages share the 100 KB, so more pages in a file means less detail for each.
• Skip blank pages. A blank back and a scan of the envelope use up budget for nothing. Only include the sides that have text.
• Crop to the paper. A certificate photographed on a table carries the table too. Cut to the paper's edge.
• Keep your first scan. A file already squeezed for another form has lost detail for good. Start each form from the first scan.

The Class 12 marksheet is printed on both sides in Ravi's case. The form asks for "marksheet", so he checks whether the back has marks or only printed rules. If only rules, he sends the front alone, giving it the whole 100 KB. If both sides carry marks, he sends two pages and expects them to be a little softer.

What to expect at 100 KB, by page count

We measured how pages share 100 KB on three real scans of A4 pages at 300 dpi. Here is what the colour contract kept, which is a good guide for a typical certificate with some print and a signature:

The scans came out between 84 KB and 98 KB. Sharp means 150 ppi or more, Good 100 or more, Readable 45 or more, and Rough anything below that. For Ravi's papers: the single pages should come out Good, and the two-page marksheet Readable at worst. The detail is from our scans, not his papers, so he opens each result and looks.

Pages with a lot of small print keep a little less than pages with wide margins. A typical mark statement with many small numbers is on the busy side, so check it closely.

Step 3: a certificate you downloaded

Ravi's caste certificate is a PDF from a state portal, made on a computer. Such a file is typed text, not a picture of paper, and typed text is a different case:

• Check its size first. Typed PDFs are often small already. A one-page typed application form in our tests was only 33 KB. If it is under the limit, upload the original as it is. Don't compress what doesn't need it.
• Typed text stays sharp at any size. The tool copies words and fonts as they are. Only pictures in the file, like a logo or a seal, can get softer.
• If it is over 100 KB, it may not go lower. The text and fonts have a smallest size. The page then says "Over 100 KB" and gives you the smallest version possible. For a short file, there is a trick: turn the page into a picture with PDF to JPG, put it back into a PDF with JPG to PDF, then shrink that. It worked on a one-page typed file in our tests, but the words are no longer searchable, which an upload form doesn't need.

The when it says Over 100 KB section of the guide has the full steps. If the certificate is long, ask whether the first page is enough: many forms only need proof, not the whole document.

Step 4: Aadhaar and other ID cards, front and back

For a card with a front and a back, the form usually wants both sides in one file. The easiest way to give them the whole 100 KB is to put both sides on one page, so the PDF has one page:

1. Place the card's front and back side by side on a plain page, or use a scanner that scans both sides on one sheet. Keep the card large in the frame.
2. Photograph or scan that one page, cropped close.
3. Make a PDF from the photo with JPG to PDF, then shrink it with Compress PDF to 100 KB.

Put the card at a good size on the page: crop away the empty paper so the card, not the white around it, takes up the picture. Read the result carefully: names, numbers and the date of birth are what the checker looks at.

One more thing about ID copies in general: if you give a copy of your Aadhaar or PAN to a private party rather than an official portal, consider writing the purpose across it first. Watermark Aadhaar, PAN or ID copy for KYC shows how.

Step 5: the experience letter that is only a photo

Ravi's experience letter is a picture on his phone, not a PDF. Many forms want a PDF, so he puts the photo into one:

1. Open JPG to PDF, choose the photo, pick A4 and a Small margin, and convert.
2. Check that the page is upright and the text is readable. If it is sideways, turn its card and convert again.
3. Take the PDF to Compress PDF to 100 KB.

If the photo was taken at an angle or with the letter on a dark bed, he retakes it first: a straight, cropped photo gives a clearer 100 KB file than a tilted one.

Step 6: shrink all the files in one go

Once every document is its own PDF, open Compress PDF to 100 KB once and choose all of them at the same time, or drop them together onto the page. Each file becomes its own row. They are done one after another, each to its own copy under 100 KB, with its own Download button and its own result word.

The copies keep the original name and add -100KB, like class10-certificate-100KB.pdf. Give your files names that tell them apart before you start: class10, class12, degree, caste, aadhaar, experience. Then the upload window shows names you can match to the form's boxes at a glance.

Files that are already under 100 KB aren't changed; the page says so, and you upload the original. A file that comes out Rough or Over is a signal to go back to the steps above for that one document, without redoing the others.

Check each file before you upload

For every file, spend half a minute:

• Open it at the size of the real paper, or zoom until a line of text fills the screen's width.
• Read the numbers the form depends on: roll number, certificate number, date of birth, marks, Aadhaar number.
• Check the stamp and the signature are visible.
• Check the page count and that every page is upright.
• Look at the size in your file manager. "Under 100 KB" here means at most 100,000 bytes, which is under 100 KB however a website counts, so there is no need to aim lower to be safe.

After you upload each file, most portals show a preview or a file name beside the box. Look at it. Catching a wrong file in a box now is much easier than after you submit.

What this plan can't do

• Photo and signature. They are usually JPG uploads with their own rules. Compress PDF to 100 KB works on PDFs only, and NoUploadPDF has no tool yet that resizes a JPG to a number of KB.
• Password-protected PDFs. A file that needs a password to open can't be shrunk as it is. Remove the password with Unlock PDF, which needs the password, then shrink the unlocked copy.
• Digital signatures. A digital signature inside a PDF stops being valid when the file changes. A signature scanned as part of a page is just a picture and stays.
• Long documents. One file with many pages shares 100 KB, so it gets soft. Send fewer pages or ask for a bigger limit.

If one document refuses to fit, the post Why won't my PDF go under 100 KB? goes through the causes one by one, and Compress PDF to 200 KB is there when the form allows more.

Your papers stay with you

A job application set holds your identity, your education and your caste or income details. The tool has no upload step: it runs inside your browser and never sends your files anywhere. The page contacts only this site and Google's ad service, which shows the ads that keep the tools free, and our code never gives your files to the ad code.

Once the page has loaded, you can switch off Wi-Fi and mobile data and still shrink your files. There is no account and no watermark. The privacy policy says what the site does and doesn't collect.