Guides
Straight answers to the file questions people search for, with the free Mac way first.
- Is iLovePDF safe for confidential documents?Before you upload a passport, contract or tax PDF to a PDF website: what uploading means, what to check, and how to do the same jobs without uploading.
- Compress a PDF without uploading itCompress a PDF on your Mac without uploading it or being online: Preview’s free filter, and Whizra by typing “compress it”. What each one does to the file.
- Why Preview makes a PDF biggerPreview’s Reduce File Size filter can make a PDF bigger or blurry. Why it happens, and how to compress a PDF on a Mac with a choice of quality.
- Zip with a password on MacFinder can’t add a password to a zip; Terminal’s zip -e can, but uses weak ZipCrypto. How to make an AES-256 zip on Mac that Finder still opens.
- Can’t open a zip on Mac (error 79 or error 1)What Archive Utility’s error 79 and error 1 mean when a zip won’t open on Mac, and four ways to get the files out, from a new download to Terminal.
- Remove location from photos before sharingPhotos often carry where they were taken, the camera and the date. How to remove them on a Mac before you share: Photos, a free browser tool, or Whizra.
- HEIC to JPG on Mac in bulkConvert a whole batch of iPhone HEIC photos to JPG on a Mac: Finder’s Quick Action, Preview, a free in-browser tool, or Whizra by typing it.
- Send a big PDF by emailGmail stops attachments at 25 MB and Outlook at 20 MB. How to get a big PDF under the limit on a Mac: compress it, split it, or share a link.
- Can Siri convert files on Mac?Siri AI on macOS 27 finds and summarises files, but says “I can’t” to converting, compressing, renaming or zipping them. Tested 27–28 Oct 2026.