About PDF Tools
PDF Tools is a small, free set of utilities for the PDF chores that come up most often: filling in and signing a document, joining several files into one, pulling specific pages out of a document, and turning a pile of photos or scans into a single PDF.
Why it exists
Most free PDF sites upload your document to their servers, process it there, and let you download the result. That is fine for a restaurant menu and a poor idea for a contract, a payslip or a medical form. This site does the same jobs without the upload, because a browser can rewrite a PDF on its own.
How it works
The tools use pdf-lib, an open-source JavaScript library that reads and writes PDF files, and the editor also uses pdf.js to draw pages on screen. When you add a file, the browser reads it into memory, pdf-lib assembles the new document, and the result comes back as a normal download. Nothing is uploaded. The editor keeps your work in progress in the browser's storage on your own device until you press Start over; the other tools store nothing at all. There is no server-side component — the site is static HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
What it does not do
- It cannot open password-protected PDFs. Remove the password in your PDF reader first.
- It does not compress or downsample anything, so a merged file is roughly the sum of its parts.
- Interactive form fields are flattened into the page when you download. Digital signatures may become invalid, and bookmarks may not be carried into the output. Keep your originals if you need them.
- It has no OCR and does not edit text inside a PDF.
Cost
The tools are free and have no usage limits or accounts. Ads are planned to help pay for hosting if they go live; see the privacy page for what that would mean for cookies.