Apago Inc., a software developer for PDF-based solutions, has unveiled PDFShrink.com, a free, online tool for optimizing PDF files. Based on its PDF Shrink desktop software, which has more than 100,000 users, the new online service optimizes PDFs so they are appropriate for multiple purposes, such as emailing, printing, or sharing.

PDFShrink.com offers the ability to automatically straighten, clean up, and compress scanned pages, such as medical records, contracts, or real estate appraisals. PDFShrink.com users can see up to 95% file size reduction.

Apago is celebrating the launch of PDFShrink.com by encouraging users to share their results on social media using the hashtag #PDFSizeDoesMatter. Each quarter, the company will randomly select one person that used the hashtag to receive a free copy of PDF Shrink for Windows or Mac OS X.

“Every day, hundreds of thousands of PDFs are created that are much too large to email or easily share. PDFShrink.com solves this problem by making it simple to reduce the size of PDFs, while preserving the fidelity of the original document,” explains Dwight Kelly, president and founder of Apago.

“PDFShrink.com is built on our highly sophisticated PDF-optimization technology, which is used by major publishers and printers, as well customers in the government, legal, finance, and insurance sectors.”

PDFShrink.com solves the problem of bloated PDFs with advanced algorithms that analyse and optimize all elements of a PDF file. To optimize a PDF using PDFShrink.com, visitors simply select a file, then choose how the file should be optimized (mobile, web, email, and more). Within seconds, the shrunk PDF is ready for download.

Because not every user’s needs will be the same, PDFShrink.com provides users with multiple options for generating the quality and file size most appropriate for their needs. The free service encourages users to try multiple settings rather than the single option offered by other PDF compression sites.

For users that cannot, or opt not to, upload their PDF files to a public website, Apago’s PDF Shrink software is also available for Windows and Mac OS X. The software sells for $US35 and a free trial is available.

www.apago.com