Gmail Attachment Limit: 25 MB and How to Shrink a PDF

In short: on a personal Gmail account the attachment limit is 25 MB. If the attachments on a message add up to more, Gmail takes them off and puts a Google Drive link in the email instead. Compress PDF shrinks a PDF under the limit in your browser, and Split PDF cuts a long one into parts.

The figures here come from Google's help page on sending attachments in Gmail. A work or school account follows a different rule, which is covered below.

What Gmail says about attachment size

The rules in Google's own words

Each rule above, as Google writes it, with a link to the page it is on.

• For personal Gmail accounts, the limit is 25 MB.
  Google: Send attachments with your Gmail message
• For work and school accounts, your Google Workspace administrator sets the attachment sending limits and attachment receiving limits.
  Google: Send attachments with your Gmail message
• If your total attachment size is greater than the limit, Gmail automatically removes the attachment and adds it as a Google Drive link in the email.
  Google: Send attachments with your Gmail message

How to get a PDF under 25 MB

1. Add up the sizes of everything you plan to attach. On Windows, select the files, right-click and choose Properties; on a Mac, choose Get Info. Under 25 MB? Attach them as they are.
2. Over 25 MB? Open Compress PDF, keep Smaller, tick Target max PDF size and type 24,000 KB. That leaves a little room under 25 MB.
3. Drop the PDF and click Compress PDF. The new size shows when it is done. Download the file and attach that one.
4. Several PDFs? Their sizes add up, so compress the biggest first and check the total again. Each file in the email can be a different size as long as the sum stays under 25 MB.
5. Still too big, or the text went soft? Take the PDF apart with Split PDF and send the parts in separate emails. Each email has its own total.

Smaller turns each page into a picture, which is where the big savings on scans and phone photos come from. The text can no longer be selected afterwards. If the recipient needs to copy text from the PDF, pick Keep text instead, which keeps it, though it saves less.

When Gmail sends a link instead

You do not have to shrink anything. When the total is over the limit, Gmail adds the file as a Google Drive link and sends that. The recipient then opens the file in Drive, so it works only if they can reach it. A small PDF attached to the email itself is simpler for the person who just wants to read it.

Checked against Google's page on sending attachments in Gmail on 25 October 2026. Limits can change, so read the page before you send something large.