PDF tools

14 tools for the everyday PDF jobs: combine and shrink documents, sign and number them, pull out text and pictures and move between PDFs and images. Your documents never leave this device.

Which tool for which job

You want toUse
Combine several documents into oneMerge PDF
Pull out a chapter or a few pagesSplit PDF
Separate a batch scan into one file per pageSplit PDF, one file per page
Fix pages that are sideways or upside downRotate PDF
Remove a cover sheet or blank pagesDelete PDF pages
Fix an interleaved double-sided scanReorder PDF pages
Get a PDF under an email or upload limitCompress PDF
Sign a form or contract and send it backSign PDF
Number the pages of a report or thesisAdd page numbers
Mark a document DRAFT or CONFIDENTIALWatermark PDF
Copy all the words out of a PDFPDF to text
Get the text out of a scanned PDFImage to text, which reads the pages with OCR
Get the photos out of a brochure or catalogueExtract images
Put pages into a slide, a chat or a web pagePDF to JPG or PDF to PNG for text-heavy pages
Turn phone photos of documents into one PDFImage to PDF
Hide something in a PDF so it can’t be recoveredPDF to JPG, then Redact, then Image to PDF

What they have in common

None of the page tools re-render a page. A PDF is a set of objects with an index saying which belong to which page and merging, splitting, deleting, reordering and rotating all work by building a new index over the same objects. Text stays text, fonts stay embedded and images are the same images afterwards. Rotation in particular changes a single number on each page, which is why it is the one operation with no quality cost at all.

The stamping tools, page numbers, watermarks and signatures, follow the same principle from the other direction. They add new content on top of each page and leave the existing content alone, so a numbered or signed document is the same document with something added. Compress PDF touches only the photographs inside a file, never its text or fonts.

The conversion tools are different by nature. PDF to JPG and PDF to PNG render pages into pictures, so the text in them stops being text. Image to PDF wraps pictures in a PDF, so the document is searchable only if something has recognised the words in them. PDF to text and Extract images go the other way, taking the words and the pictures out as they’re stored.

Redacting a PDF safely

The most common way sensitive information leaks from a PDF is a black box drawn over text that is still there underneath, selectable and copyable. The reliable fix is to turn the pages into images, cover what must go and rebuild the PDF from those images. The words are then genuinely gone, not merely hidden. The trade is that the document is no longer searchable.

Guides

Common questions

Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?

No. Every PDF tool on this site runs in your browser. The document is read from your disk, changed in memory and handed back as a download, which matters for the contracts, statements and records that make up most of what people merge and split.

Do these tools reduce the quality of my PDF?

Merging, splitting, deleting, reordering and rotating never re-render a page. They copy the existing page content into a new document, so text stays selectable, fonts stay embedded and images are untouched. Page numbers, watermarks and signatures are added on top without changing what is underneath. Only PDF to JPG and PDF to PNG render pages, because an image is the point of those tools.

Can I edit the text in a PDF here?

No. Editing text inside a PDF means rewriting its content streams, which is a job for a PDF editor rather than a browser tool and doing it badly produces documents that look right and break in other readers. These tools work on whole pages.

Why will my PDF not open?

Nearly always a password. An encrypted PDF can’t be read at all without its password and these tools don’t ask for one, so they say the file is protected instead of failing silently. Remove the password in the application that made the file and try again.

Can I compress a PDF here?

Yes. Compress PDF re-encodes the photographs inside the document and leaves text, fonts and drawings exactly as they were, so the result stays searchable and sharp. Most online compressors turn each page into a picture instead, which shrinks the file and quietly destroys the text.