How do I reduce file size in illustrator when exporting?

[James3669094303ct]

How do I reduce file size in illustrator when exporting? As I'm only able to send the file via wetransfer as it is to big to send by email

[Ton Frederiks]

Exporting as what? JPEG, PDF, ...

[James3669094303ct]

PDF

[Ton Frederiks]

The first thing you can do is turning off Illustrator Editing Capabilities. 

If that is on, it will save the whole Illustrator file into the PDF.

But if you want to use the PDF in apps like InDesign, you need to have that option checked.

There are also compression/downsampling options in the PDF settings that can make the file smaller.

Always do this on a copy of the file.

[Ares Hovhannesyan]

You can also Print as PDF from Ai. Printed PDF file have smaller size.

[Ton Frederiks]

I may be wrong, but hat may be a Windows option that will certainly be destructive (transparency, color, vector > images).