A PDF compressor for Mac, built into the right-click menu.
A contract, a portfolio, a scan that will not go through by email. Right-click it, pick Screen, Print or another size Ricly has measured for you, and a lighter copy lands beside it. The text stays text — selectable, searchable, readable by a screen reader.
“For all mac users, this tool is game changer ! i can't do without it for my workflow now.”
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Free account, no card · 309 MB · Apple silicon & Intel
“For all mac users, this tool is game changer ! i can't do without it for my workflow now.”
“Really practical in the day-to-day saves me time. …”
“This app saves me time. Super convenient!”
Ricly▸Compress PDFdeck.pdfCompressed PDFdeck.pdfCompress a PDF without uploading it
You have done this a hundred times.
- Open a browser
- Find a PDF compressor
- Upload the document
- Pick a level
- Wait
- Download it
- Move it back
Ricly puts that one in the menu that is already under your cursor. Right-click the PDF, pick Compress PDF, choose Screen, Print or another size it can reach, the lighter copy lands beside it. The text stays text — selectable, searchable — and the document never leaves your Mac.
See what else comes with itHow to compress a PDF with Ricly
- Install Ricly and open it.Turn on the Finder extension when it asks (one setting), then create your free account and verify your email.
- In Finder, right-click the PDF.Select several to compress them together.
- Choose Ricly › Compress PDF, then Screen or Print.Ricly shows the exact size of each before you click, and the lighter copy appears next to the original.
Move Ricly to ApplicationsOpened from the download? One click moves it.
Turn on RiclyRicly opens the right pane in System Settings. On macOS 13 or 14, it’s a checkbox in Added Extensions.
Create your free accountAfter a first try on a sample file. Then verify your email.
Screen or Print, and the exact size before you click
One lighter PDF per file. Each page is redrawn into a new document, so text, vector shapes and links survive intact; only the embedded images are downsampled and recompressed.
Your text does not become an image
This is the whole point. The page is redrawn, and only the pictures inside it are touched: the text stays text — you can still select it, search it and have it read aloud. And Ricly never flattens a page into a picture: a PDF it cannot lighten without that is refused, and your original is kept.
Two settings, and other sizes measured on your PDF
Screen is for email and the web: a much lighter file, with text that stays sharp. Print keeps more detail in the images, for paper. Before you click, Ricly tries them on your PDF: each card shows the exact size you will get and an estimate of the quality kept, with a row of other sizes it has measured below. Pick a result, not a target. Next time, the panel opens on your last choice.
The compressed copy lands beside it
Same folder, same name with a suffix. Your original PDF is not modified, moved or deleted — useful, since compression is a trade and you may want to compare.
If it cannot do better, it says so
A PDF that is already as small as Ricly can make it without degrading it is left alone, and the panel tells you when Screen and Print are the only sizes possible. It never returns a file bigger than the one you gave it.
Ricly vs. Preview and online PDF compressors
A PDF is often the one file you should not be uploading anywhere — a contract, a deck under NDA, an invoice with a bank line on it. Every online compressor starts by asking for it. Counted the same way, once your account exists, here is what that costs.
With Riclyon your Mac
WHAT IT REPLACES
Compress several PDFs at once
five lighter copies,
five originals kept
A folder’s worth of decks is one right-click: select them all, and the menu reads Compress PDF (5 files). You choose Screen or Print once, and each document gets its lighter copy beside it. On Free that is your five for the month — and when they are used, the menu says so before you click.
There is a native path, and it is a blunt one. Preview’s Reduce File Size is a single preset: every image goes to 144 pixels per inch, and it writes a new file even when that file comes out bigger. Ricly gives you Screen and Print, shows the exact size of each before you click, and keeps your original when it can’t do better.
How we tested. On macOS 15.7, with test PDFs we made ourselves from free stock photos, against Preview’s own Reduce File Size filter (the one under File › Export › Quartz Filter). Sizes are bytes on disk; sharpness was compared at 200% zoom.
Some documents should not travel.
A contract, a deck under NDA, an invoice. Lighter to send, still readable, and it never left your Mac to get there.
You came for one tool. 16 more come with it.
Compress PDF is not an app you install. It is one item in a menu that also carries 16 others — same download, same account, nothing extra to set up.
13 are free, 4 are Pro. They install themselves as they ship, so the menu grows without you doing anything. Merge to PDF sits one line above in the same menu, and Extract Text reads a scanned page back into text you can search.
Compress PDFs for free: five a month
Files are counted, not clicks. The count resets at the start of each calendar month.
- Five PDFs a month, whatever their size or page count.
- The same two settings and the same output as Pro.
- No watermark, no page limit, no sign-up wall on the result.
- A free account is required, with a verified email address.
€47.88 billed yearly, or €4.99 month to month.
- No monthly count on compressions.
- The four Pro tools unlock: Extract Text, Upscale Image, Photo Grid, Batch Rename.
- Upload & Share goes to 20 GB and links last 30 days.
- 30-day trial for new subscribers · payment method required · cancel any time.
Compressing a PDF on Mac: common questions
What are Screen and Print?
Two settings, and they are honest. Screen is for email and the web: a much lighter file, with text that stays sharp. Print keeps more detail in the images, for paper. Text and vector shapes are untouched by both.
How do I compress a PDF on a Mac with Preview?
Open it in Preview, choose File › Export, set Quartz Filter to Reduce File Size, and save. It’s free and built in. It applies one preset, images at 144 pixels per inch, and it doesn’t check the result: on our scanned letter, Reduce File Size turned 367 KB into 1.9 MB.
Is Ricly better than Preview?
Preview keeps your text sharp too. The difference is the choice, and the safety net. Our 42 MB demo deck: 14.2 MB with Preview, 11.4 MB with Ricly Screen, and at 200% zoom you can’t tell them apart. The size Ricly shows before you click is the size you get, and if it can’t make the file smaller, it keeps your original: it never hands you a bigger file.
Can it go smaller than Screen?
Often. Below the Screen and Print cards, a row shows other sizes Ricly has measured for this PDF, each with its exact size and an estimate of the quality kept. A click gives you exactly that file. If Ricly finds nothing lighter without degrading the document, the panel says Screen and Print are the only sizes possible; Ricly never flattens pages to go further.
Does it work on exports from Figma, Canva or InDesign?
Yes. The text stays identical and selectable, and bookmarks and annotations are kept. On those files, Screen and Print can give different sizes than on a scan.
How do I know what I will get before I click?
As the panel opens, Ricly compresses a copy in the background — the same passes as the real run, about ten seconds on a large deck — and compares pages of the result with your original: the first, the middle and the last. Each card and each size shows the exact size you will get and an estimate of the quality kept, rounded down. For a batch, only Screen and Print are offered: sizes are measured for one PDF at a time.
Does the text stay text?
Yes. Each page is redrawn into a new document, so text stays selectable and searchable and links keep working. Only the embedded images are downsampled and recompressed; no page is ever flattened into an image.
What if the PDF is already small?
It tells you. A document that is already optimized will not shrink much, and the tool never hands you a file bigger than the one you gave it — the original is kept instead.
What about a password-protected PDF?
Ricly doesn’t process it. Preview does, so use Preview for that one, or remove the password first. A PDF that only restricts printing or copying keeps those restrictions after compression.
Is the document uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs on your Mac, which is the point for a contract or a deck under NDA.
Where does the new file go?
Beside the original, named after the setting: deck-compressed-screen.pdf, -print.pdf, or the name of the size you picked. Your original is not modified, moved or deleted.
What counts against the free five?
Files. Five PDFs a month on Free, whatever their size, and the count resets at the start of each calendar month. Pro has no monthly count.
Right Click. Done.
17 file tools in the Finder menu. Free to start.
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We email you the download link, then one short check-in the next day. One click to unsubscribe. We delete your address after that. · Free · macOS 13 or later · 309 MB
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We email you the download link, then one short check-in the next day. One click to unsubscribe. We delete your address after that.
Share the link to your Mac.
Ricly is a Mac app.
Send the download link to your Mac.
We email you the download link, then one short check-in the next day. One click to unsubscribe. We delete your address after that.
Share the link to your Mac.