How to Remove Attachments from PDF: Simple Guide & Best Tools
PDFs are very popular and a comfortable way to share or store information. However, a PDF can also contain other assets such as attachments, which can be images, videos, files or links. But sometimes these attachments in your PDFs aren’t useful for user experience as they take up so space and make the PDF file size inaccessible and can make your document look cluttered. So, to organise PDF files, a user must know how to remove attachments from PDF.
This isn’t a long process to remove embedded attachments from a PDF, and today we will show you the easiest ways to do so by using various tools to remove PDF attachments.
What are PDF Attachments?
PDF attachments refer to documents which are attached in PDF files. The attachments can be things like images, spreadsheets, videos, or other documents like Word files or PDFs. Attachments can be added to the PDF by the creator of the document or someone who edited the draft after he/she created the file.
Types of PDF attachments:
- Embedded Files: Some are directly attached to the PDF, such as documents, images, or videos.
- Links: These can direct users to resources such as a web page, or files situated on a server – pretty much anywhere on the internet.
- Annotations: These represent comments or notes assigned to specific text portions or parts of the document.
Although attachments are valuable for certain contexts, there can be reasons to remove attachments such as reducing file size or to protect file integrity.
Why Get Rid of Remove PDF Attachments?
Reasons to remove attachments from PDF documents are given below:
- Privacy Issues
PDF attachments may include sensitive information such as personal details or sensitive proprietary information. If you are sharing a PDF publicly, it is important to remove attachments which contain this confidential data.
- Reducing File Size
Attachments can take up space, which can increase the size of a PDF. So, remove attachments from PDF may reduce the file size to improve sharing or storage options.
- Security Risks
Attachments from unknown or untrustworthy sources may contain malicious code or viruses. Remove PDF attachment will help to eliminate the risk of security breaches.
- Outdated or Irrelevant Information
If your PDF contains an attachment that has become obsolete or files that are no longer in use, removing the attachments can keep your document clean.
3 Methods to Remove Attachments from PDF
Here we’ll take a look at the different solutions to help you remove PDF attachments based on your availability of tools.
- Using an Online Tool
- Using Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Using a Professional Tool
Let’s discuss these methods one by one to remove embedded attachments from PDF.
Method 1: How to Delete Attachments from PDF – Try Online Tool
One of the simplest ways to remove attachments from PDF document is to use an online tool which allows you to upload your document and delete attachments and download your document. Below are some online options:
- SmallPDF: SmallPDF is an online tool to help with your PDFs as pretty much anything you do on an online tool will be fast and easy to work with. This feature lets you remove attachments among other things.
- PDFescape: A free online option to edit PDFs. You can use it to remove attachments and other things in a PDF.
Steps to Use SmallPDF:
- Go to SmallPDF.
- Select PDF Editor tool.
- Upload your PDF file.
- In the editing toolbox, choose the Remove Attachments option.
- Once your PDF has been edited, you can Download it.
Pros:
- Quick and Convenient: Online tools like SmallPDF and PDFescape are easily accessible and do not require downloading software. Simply remove attachments from PDF in your browser.
- Quick Processing Time: Online tools tend to provide fast processing of small to medium PDF files (making them excellent for one-off or very occasional use).
Cons:
- File Size Limits: Some of the online tools limit the capacity of file size or uploading capacity in free versions.
- Privacy Concerns: There might be a security concern for uploading sensitive or personal information on any online platform.
Method 2: Remove PDF Attachments Using Adobe Acrobat Pro
If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, then you can easily and quickly remove attachments from a PDF using Adobe. It is a very powerful PDF editor which has an easy way to delete attachments.
Steps to Use Adobe Acrobat Pro:
- Open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- Click Tools on top menu, then choose Prepare Form.
- On the right pane, click More>Attachments.
- Select the individual attachments you want to delete.
- Click the trash icon to delete attachments from PDF you selected.
- Save PDF without attachments.
Pros:
- Powerful and Reliable: This professional tool has a wide range of features which provide great support for handling or editing the PDF.
- No File Size Capacity: Many other online tools, Adobe Acrobat Pro, can easily handle large-sized PDF files without any problem.
Cons:
- Paid Version: Adobe Acrobat Pro is a paid version which comes with a subscription, which makes it less accessible for a normal user.
- Complexity: Its interface is very complex for beginners, as first time a user may face many difficulties, as users are unfamiliar with those products.
Method 3: How to Remove Attachments from PDF – Using the Professional Tool
SysTools PDF Media Remover is a powerful automated tool designed to remove attachments from PDF and other unnecessary objects such as images, videos, documents, etc. It ensures that only the attachments are removed, while keeping the rest of the document content intact. Whether you have a single document or a batch of files, this tool streamlines the process and saves you time.
Additionally, it offers features, i.e., Save & Remove to extract embedded files from PDF document with ease. Now, let’s follow the steps below for removing PDF attachments.
Steps to Use Professional Tool:
- Download and launch PDF Media Files Removal Tool.
- Click Add Files or Add Folder to select the PDFs you want to edit.
- Click Next to preview next interface.
- Choose Remove Attachment to delete attached file from PDF.
- To remove media, tap on Select Media Option which comes with remove & remove and save feature.
- Choose Location to save the output file.
- Click Export to begin the process.
Benefits of PDF Attachment Remover Tool
- Efficient Bulk Removal: To remove attachments from one file or multiple files, it can be done easily, quickly, and fastly.
- Easy to Use: The software has features that are very intuitive and let users perform the task without any difficulty. Also, it can be easily accessed by both technical and normal users.
- Security: As PDF Media Removing tool only works on your local machine, this guarantees that any sensitive data of your organisation is not displayed on any online platform.
- Preserves Document Content: With this professional tool, your PDF documents will remain intact except for the attachments being removed, so you will not lose information or have important documentation.
Best Practices for Managing PDF Attachments
To effectively manage PDF attachments, the following best practices are a considerable interest:
- Organising Attachments: Before detaching any attachment, consider whether you truly understand the contents of your attachment and why it is attached to your document.
- Keep Backup: Always make a copy of your PDF file before you delete or remove attachments from PDF.
- Trustworthy Tools: Only use tools to manage your PDFs from known and trusted software, sites, etc, to avoid the risk of loss.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve discussed how users can remove attachments from PDF files to manage their files easily and quickly. Whether it is for privacy concerns, file organisation, or just cleanup, the methods we reviewed above are effective ways to delete attachments altogether. Always use the best tool for the task at hand and double-check the document to ensure that nothing is lost after deletion. As you make those corrections, you will have clean, secure, and manageable PDFs.