Set up 1FileTool and run your first job
Install 1FileTool, protect your originals with one setting, and compress a sample PDF offline — a safe first job in about five minutes.
Your progress
Run your first offline file job in 1FileTool: install the app, flip one setting so nothing gets overwritten, and compress the sample brochure. Everything below runs on your own computer — the files never leave it.
What you'll need
- 1FileTool installed — install guide
- The sample files below (synthetic, safe to experiment on)
- About five minutes
first-5-minutes.zip
Sample files · 622.8 KB
- brochure-image-heavy.pdf669.7 KB
- figures.csv50 B
- notes.txt240 B
Protect your originals first
Replace source is ON by default: the output overwrites the original file and no backup is kept. Before following along, open Settings › General and turn Replace source off, or pick a separate output folder.
Steps
1. Finish first-run setup
On first launch, 1FileTool walks you through three screens: Welcome, Set your output folder, and Default quality (Low / Medium / High — Medium is the default). Pick an output folder you can find again; the default is Documents/1FileTool. Right after onboarding, a Help improve 1FileTool dialog asks about anonymous usage stats — it sends app version, OS, tool category and feature counts, never file names, paths or contents. Allow or No thanks; either is fine and you can change it later in Settings › Privacy.
2. Open the Compress PDF tool
In the tool list on the left, open PDF Tools › Compress. Press ⌘K (or Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux) anywhere in the app to search every tool by name if you'd rather not scroll.
3. Check the output options before you run
With a file dropped, an output row appears under the options. Replace source is on by default — it writes the result over the original file. For this first run, switch it off so the output lands in your output folder with a compressed_ prefix, leaving the original untouched. The row shows the active folder and a Change button if you want a different one for this run.
4. Drop the brochure and run
Drag brochure-image-heavy.pdf onto the drop zone ("Drop PDF files here"), then press Run on 1 file. The progress card shows the file counting down; when it finishes, each output row shows its input size → output size and a savings pill.
5. Open the result
Click Reveal in Finder on the result card to jump straight to the output folder. compressed_brochure-image-heavy.pdf opens like any other PDF — same pages, smaller file.
The result
On a 770 KB image-heavy test PDF, a real run at Medium quality produced a 437 KB file — a 43% saving:
Compression re-encodes the embedded images, so savings depend on what is inside the file. Text-only PDFs barely shrink — see Compress PDFs offline for the honest version of that limit.
If it didn't work
- "Add PDFs first" — the run button is disabled until at least one file is dropped on the zone.
- Nothing was written: check Settings › General › Output folder still points at a folder that exists.
- The original disappeared: Replace source was still on. Turn it off and re-run — see output settings.
- Daily limit message: the free plan processes 8 files per calendar day and the count resets at midnight; Pro removes it for a one-time payment.
- A PDF over 100 MB is rejected by the drop zone — split it first with PDF › Split.
Try next
The image compressor follows the same pattern — drop files, run, done — and a small version of it runs right here in the browser:
Try it in your browser
This tool also runs in the browser. Try it here first, then do a whole folder at once in the app.
Try Compress Online
Real Browser ProcessingNo files selected
Original
Result
Processing happens locally in your browser. The desktop app adds more formats, better performance on very large files, and advanced automation.