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Choose the file

Open the case, select Files (and All files, if the case shows a Checklist / All files switch), and locate the image or PDF that needs to be smaller. Confirm that you have the correct version before starting. Compression shows you the result first; the stored file is replaced only when you choose Use Compressed, and the original is not kept. Case file manager

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Compress it

Double-click the file, or open its … menu and choose View, to open the preview. Under Compression, set Target Size (MB), then choose Compress File. Do not compress fillable IRCC forms or signed agreements. Compression rewrites the PDF, which removes form data and invalidates digital signatures.

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Check the result, then choose

Check the Compressed tab before you choose, and switch to Original to compare. Confirm that every page is present, photos are the right way up, and text, stamps, and signatures are still readable. Then choose Use Compressed to replace the stored file with the smaller version, or Keep Original to leave it as it was. Use Compressed permanently replaces the original. If you may need the full-quality version later, download the original first. Use the compressed result when a portal or email attachment has a smaller file-size limit. If it remains too large, use a lower target only after checking whether the receiving system has a documented size limit.

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Troubleshooting

Compression works on images and PDFs; for other file types the panel shows “Compression not available for this file type”. If you see “File is already smaller than target size”, lower Target Size (MB) and try again. “Could not reduce file size further” means the file can’t get any smaller this way. In both cases nothing was changed. The compressed result is kept for about 5 minutes. If Use Compressed shows “Failed to finalize compression choice”, the stored file may already have been replaced even though the error appeared, and its listed size may not show it. Open the file and look at it before you do anything else, and don’t compress it again if it already looks compressed.