Compressing files for assignments 

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Compressing PDFs
Compressing PowerPoint presenations
Compressing videos

Compressing files for assignments 

Most Moodle assignment and Turnitin submission points have a maximum upload file size of 100MB, which is easily large enough for most text files, but can be too small for assignments that contain lots of high-resolution images. Video assignments are a bit different, as the video is usually uploaded to a folder in Panopto. However, you might find that there is a similar need to compress your file before submitting it.

In the following instructions, we provide options for compressing PDFs, PowerPoint, and videos which might be useful to submit assignments, but also for ensuring that files do not take up as much space on your hard drive or cloud service, are easier to share, and are more usable for others (e.g. do not take ages to render due to the high file size).    

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Compressing PDFs

PDFs will be bigger if you include images, especially high-resolution images. One way to deal with the issue is to compress the PDF file. 

If you have an Adobe Acrobat DC Pro account you will be able to compress the file from there, otherwise, there are a variety of free online PDF compressors that are available.  

Using Adobe Acrobat to compress your file 

  1. Open the Optimize PDF tool. You can access this from the Tools Centre, by clicking on the tools tab at the top left.  
  2. Select your file to compress and click on ‘Reduce File Size’ from the top menu. 
  3. A dialog box will open. Reduce the file compatibility with only more recent versions of Adobe. Click ‘Save’ when done.  

Alternatively;

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat 
  2. Choose File – Reduce File Size 
  3. Save the file. Acrobat will display a message showing the new size of the PDF. 

Free online compressors 

Online compressors are quick and simple to use. You just upload your file and press compress. Here are a few examples, which you might wish to try: 

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Compressing PowerPoint presentations 

PowerPoint presentations can become large if high-resolution images are used or videos and other multimedia are embedded. Where possible provide links to videos rather than embed them directly into the PowerPoint file. For images, try to select a lower resolution. You can also compress PowerPoint files.  

Compressing pictures in PowerPoint 

  1. Select a picture in your slides. The Picture Format tab will appear. 
  2. Click on ‘Compress Pictures’ in the Adjust group (on the Picture Format tab). 
  3. Under Compression options do any of the following: 
    • Apply only to this picture: unselect this option if you want all pictures in the slides to be compressed. 
    • Delete cropped areas of pictures: this option will remove the cropped picture data. 
    • Resolution: under the ‘Resolution’ option you can change the resolution to one which is more appropriate for your project. E.g. 150ppi. 

Compress PowerPoint by converting it into a PDF 

Converting a PowerPoint into a PDF is a good way to compress the contents, however, you should only use this option if a PDF format is appropriate, or in other words, if the need to edit the file or share as slides is not important.  

  1. Click on ‘File’ – ‘Export’.  
  2. Select the ‘Create PDF/XPS Document’ option.
  3. Save the file. 

Alternatively; 

  1. Click on ‘File’ – ‘Save a Copy’ .
  2. From the drop-down menu (which is defaulted to PowerPoint Presentation (.pptx). select instead, ‘PDF (.pdf)’.  
  3. Save the file. 
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Compressing Videos 

Your video editing software will probably have some kind of compression option available, otherwise, you can compress videos using other software.  

Panopto 

If you upload your video to Panopto it will automatically compress. Watch this video – Submitting your video to Panopto – about Video assignments for more details. Using Panopto is a good alternative to YouTube as it is not open to the public and is available through UAL. 

Alternative Tools

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