PDF guides and tips

Plain-language guides to getting document work done — how to shrink a file, sign a form, pull text out of a scan, and stay private while doing it.

How to compress a PDF for WhatsApp

Shrink a PDF so it sends quickly on WhatsApp without eating mobile data — and without uploading your document to anyone's server.

6 min read

How to merge PDF files without uploading them anywhere

Combine several PDFs into one document that never leaves your device — and learn how to check that claim for yourself.

5 min read

PDF too large to email? Five fixes, ranked

Gmail stops at 25 MB and many company inboxes at 10 MB. Here is what actually works when your PDF will not send, in the order worth trying.

5 min read

Are online PDF tools safe to use?

What happens to your document when you use a free PDF website, how to tell the difference between processing on a server and in your browser, and how to check for yourself.

5 min read

How to extract text from a scanned PDF (Arabic and English)

Turn a scanned or photographed document into text you can copy, search and edit — including Arabic, and without uploading the pages.

6 min read

Turn phone photos of documents into a proper PDF

How to photograph paperwork so it looks like a scan, and combine the shots into one tidy PDF you can actually send.

5 min read

How to remove blank pages from a scanned PDF

Why double-sided scanners fill your document with empty pages, and how to find and delete them in one pass.

5 min read

How to sign a PDF on your phone

Add your signature to a document from a phone or laptop in under a minute — and understand what this kind of signature does and does not prove.

5 min read

How to extract specific pages from a PDF

Pull out just the pages you need — a single certificate, a range of chapters, or a scattered handful — and save them as a new PDF.

4 min read

How to delete pages from a PDF without Acrobat

Remove unwanted pages from a PDF for free, in your browser — no subscription, no software install, and no uploading the document.

4 min read

How to fix a sideways or upside-down scanned PDF

Rotate a whole document or just the pages that came out wrong, and save the correction permanently so it opens the right way for everyone.

4 min read

How to add page numbers to a thesis or report PDF

Add numbering to a finished PDF, including the awkward cases every university formatting guide creates: unnumbered front matter and numbering that starts partway through.

4 min read

How to watermark a contract or draft before sharing it

Mark a document as DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL or copy-controlled — with text or your logo — and understand what a watermark can and cannot protect.

4 min read

How to split one big PDF into several files

Break a long document into chapters, sections or single pages — by page range or all at once — and get them back as a tidy set of files.

4 min read

How to reorder PDF pages by drag and drop

Rearrange, rotate, duplicate and delete pages in one place — the fastest way to fix a document assembled from several sources.

4 min read

How to convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG images

Turn pages into images for slides, social posts or a document that has to be viewed without a PDF reader — and know which format to pick.

4 min read

How to convert a PDF to black and white for cheaper printing

Strip the colour out of a document to cut printing costs, shrink the file and make scans look cleaner — and know when not to.

4 min read

How to crop PDF margins for reading on a tablet or Kindle

Trim wasted white space so the text fills your screen — the single biggest improvement you can make to reading academic PDFs on a small device.

4 min read

How to print 2 or 4 PDF pages on one sheet

Fit multiple pages onto each sheet to save paper — and get a file that prints the same way on any printer, including ones with no N-up option.

4 min read

How to reverse a back-to-front scanned PDF

Flip a whole document from last page to first in one click — the fix for a sheet-fed scanner that stacked your pages the wrong way round.

4 min read

How to edit a PDF's title, author and other properties

Fix the document properties that show in browser tabs, search results and file listings — and remove the ones you did not mean to share.

4 min read