About PDF Tools
PDF Tools is a small, free set of utilities for the three PDF chores that come up most often: 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. 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 and nothing is stored. 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.
- Form fields, digital signatures and bookmarks are not 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. Hosting is paid for with unobtrusive ads; see the privacy page for what that means for cookies.