Every PDF Tool You Need, and When to Use Each

PDF tools split into two families, and the distinction matters more than any feature list.

Lossless operations

These edit the PDF's internal structure. Pages are copied or rearranged as objects — nothing is re-rendered. Text stays selectable and searchable, images keep their original quality, and file size barely moves.

• Merge PDFs — combine several files in the order you choose.
• Split into pages — one file per page.
• Extract pages — pull out 1-3, 7, 10-12.
• Delete pages — remove blanks or confidential sheets.
• Rotate — fix scans fed in sideways.
• Add page numbers — for filings and tenders.
• Images to PDF and JPG to PDF — photographs of documents into one file.

Use these freely. There is no downside.

Lossy operations

Compressing a PDF to a hard size target requires rendering each page to an image and re-encoding it. That reliably hits the target and permanently removes the text layer. Your document becomes a stack of pictures: no longer selectable, searchable, or machine-readable.

For a scanned certificate that costs nothing — it was already an image. For a résumé read by an applicant tracking system it is close to fatal, because the system parses that text layer.

Size targets: 100 KB · 200 KB · 500 KB · 1 MB · 2 MB · 5 MB · or set your own.

Try this before compressing

1. Re-export at lower image quality. Word, Google Docs and Pages all offer a "web" or "smallest file size" option. Images are recompressed; text stays text. Often a 60–80% cut.
2. Remove or shrink embedded images. A print-resolution headshot is frequently the entire problem.
3. Rescan at 200–300 dpi in greyscale. This does more than any compressor can afterwards, because the excess data is never created.

Converting out of PDF

• PDF to JPG — pages as images, at 72 to 300 DPI.
• PDF to PNG — lossless, better for diagrams and fine text.
• PDF to Text — extracts the real text layer. Useful as a test: if it comes back empty, your PDF is a scan, which tells you something important if you are submitting it to an automated system.

Use-case presets

• Résumé under 2 MB · under 1 MB · under 500 KB
• Email attachment under 25 MB
• UCAS 5 MB limit · USCIS upload · NSP scholarship

Two things no browser tool can do

Password-protected PDFs. Encryption has to be removed in your PDF reader first, with the password. No legitimate tool bypasses it.

PDF to Word, Excel or PowerPoint. These need a full Office document engine. Every site offering them uploads your file to a server — which, for a contract or a bank statement, is worth knowing before you click.