PDF Guides & Tutorials
Short, practical guides to handling PDFs safely — protecting a document with AES-256, removing restrictions from files you own, compressing, merging and splitting PDFs, converting images to PDF, and understanding what actually happens to a PDF when you hand it to an online tool. No jargon, no filler.
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How to password-protect a PDF (free, without uploading it)
Add an open password plus print, copy and edit restrictions in your browser: what AES-256 protects you from, why a 4-digit PIN is pointless next to it, and the one warning everybody ignores — a lost password cannot be recovered.
Read the guide → UnlockHow to remove a PDF password or its print/copy restrictions
The two kinds of PDF locks explained: permission restrictions you can strip without any password, and an open password you must already know. Includes common real-world cases, our no-password-cracking position, and how to avoid getting locked out again.
Read the guide → PrivacyWhy uploading a PDF to an online tool is a privacy risk — and how to avoid it
What the "upload, process, delete" model really means once backups, caches and logs are involved, which documents are too sensitive to hand over, and how to verify in two minutes whether a tool processes files on your device or on a server.
Read the guide →Working with PDFs day to day
How to compress a PDF without uploading it
Why some PDFs shrink by 90% and others barely move, what a scanned document gives up when you squeeze it, and how to choose a quality level that stays readable on screen and in print.
Read the guide → EmailHow to send a PDF that's too large to email
The limit that applies is the smallest of three different ones, and attachments grow a third in transit. Four fixes that work — including why zipping a PDF almost never helps.
Read the guide → UnlockUnlock a PDF for editing or printing
Most 'I can't edit this PDF' cases are not a password at all — they are scans. How to tell permission restrictions, content encryption and image-only pages apart, and what fixes each.
Read the guide → SecurityPDF owner password vs user password: what's the difference?
One password encrypts the pages, the other only asks the reader to behave. Why that difference decides whether your file is actually protected, and which one you need.
Read the guide → OfflinePDF tools that work offline — and what "offline" really means
Installed app, cached web page, or a page that never uploads your file? Three different promises that get called the same word, and a one-minute test to check which one you have.
Read the guide → No installPDF tools that don't need Adobe or any install
What you can do without buying Acrobat: the six jobs people actually need, what your browser and macOS Preview already handle, and the work that honestly still needs desktop software.
Read the guide → CompressHow to compress a PDF to a specific size (500 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB)
Why a target size is a different problem from just shrinking a file, what each limit costs in readability, and the cases where no compressor can reach the number you need.
Read the guide → MergeHow to merge PDF files (free, without uploading them)
Combine several documents into one in the order you choose — and what happens to bookmarks, form fields and mixed page sizes when you do. Includes what to check before you send the merged file to anyone.
Read the guide → SplitHow to split a PDF and extract pages (no upload)
Two different jobs that people call "splitting": lifting out a page range (1-3, 5, 8-10) and cutting a file into equal chunks. How each works, how the output files are named, and why splitting is not compression.
Read the guide → ConvertHow to convert images to PDF (JPG, PNG, WebP — no upload)
Turn photos, screenshots and scans into a single PDF: when to use JPG rather than PNG, why an iPhone HEIC photo needs converting first, and how page size and orientation change the result.
Read the guide →The short version
- Encryption only helps if the password is strong. AES-256 with the password "1234" is a ten-thousand-guess problem; four random words is not.
- Restrictions are not encryption. Blocking printing or copying discourages casual reuse, but only an open password keeps the content secret.
- There is no password recovery. Nobody — including us — can reopen a PDF whose open password has been forgotten.
- Local beats uploaded. If a document never reaches a server, there is no copy to delete, back up, leak or hand over.
Ready to try it? All six tools — Protect, Unlock, Compress, Merge, Split and Image to PDF — run entirely in your browser, free and without an account. Your files never leave your device.
Open the free PDF tools