PDF guides: merge, compress, convert, sign and protect
Most PDF jobs fall into five groups: putting pages together (merge, split, reorder), making a file fit somewhere (compress for email or an upload portal), changing format (to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and images), making a scan usable (OCR, straighten, clean up), and finishing a document (sign, fill, number, watermark, redact, protect).
Every PDF tool listed here is free, needs no account and processes your file in your browser, so contracts, tax forms and IDs are not uploaded to a server. The one exception is Chat with PDF: the file is read locally, but your question and the matching passages are sent to an AI service to write the answer.
Start here
Which tool do I need?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Combine several PDFs into one file | Merge PDF |
| Get a PDF under an email or portal size limit | Compress PDF |
| Pull a few pages out, or cut a big file into parts | Split PDF |
| Edit the text of a PDF in Word | PDF to Word |
| Turn a phone photo of a paper form into a PDF | Scan to PDF |
| Make a scanned PDF searchable and copyable | OCR PDF |
| Type into a form, then sign it | Fill PDF Form |
| Remove personal data before sharing | Redact PDF |
| Turn a bank statement PDF into a spreadsheet | Bank Statement to Excel |
Free tools in this hub
Guides by tool
Merge PDF
Open tool →Split PDF
Open tool →Organize PDF
Open tool →Compress PDF
Open tool →- Best Free PDF Compressor: 6 Options Compared
- Compress a PDF to a Specific Size, From 100KB to 2MB
- Compress a Scanned PDF: Why Scans Balloon and How to Fix
- Compress PDF for Email: Beat Gmail and Outlook Caps
- Compress PDF for Online Upload: Beat Portal Size Caps
- Compress PDF on Mac Without Preview's Blurry Filter
- Compress PDF Online vs Upload Sites: Privacy Explained
- Why Is My PDF So Big? Diagnose It, Then Shrink It
Crop PDF
Open tool →PDF to JPG
Open tool →PDF to Text
Open tool →Excel to PDF
Open tool →Images to PDF
Open tool →Scan to PDF
Open tool →OCR PDF
Open tool →Edit PDF
Open tool →Sign PDF
Open tool →Add Page Numbers to PDF
Open tool →Watermark PDF
Open tool →Compare PDF
Open tool →Protect PDF
Open tool →Unlock PDF
Open tool →Chat with PDF
Open tool →Frequently asked questions
Are these PDF tools really free?
Yes. There is no paid plan, no page or file-count cap tied to an account, and no watermark on the output. Limits that do exist come from your device, since very large files are processed in your browser's memory.
Are my PDFs uploaded?
No for every PDF tool except Chat with PDF. Merging, compressing, converting, signing, redacting and protecting all run locally in the browser tab. Chat with PDF reads the file locally but sends your question and the relevant passages to an AI service.
Why does my compressed PDF barely get smaller?
Compression mainly shrinks embedded images. A PDF that is mostly text or vector graphics is already compact, so savings are small. Scanned PDFs, which are one large image per page, usually shrink the most.
Can I edit the existing text in a PDF?
A PDF is not a word-processor file, so free editors add new text, images, shapes or whiteout on top of the page. For heavy rewrites, convert the PDF to Word, edit it there and export a new PDF.
Is a signature added in the browser legally valid?
In many everyday situations in the US, UK and EU a simple electronic signature is accepted, but some documents need a qualified or witnessed signature. Check what the receiving party requires; this is not legal advice.