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PDF guides & how-tos

Plain-English, step-by-step guides for getting things done with PDFs and images — converting, compressing, merging, signing, OCR and more. Every guide links to the free tool that does it.

The Complete Guide to PDF Document Security

How to protect, unlock, redact, watermark and sign PDFs safely. A practical guide to keeping sensitive documents private when you share, send or store them.

9 min read

The Complete Guide to Converting Between PDF and Office Formats

When to convert PDF to Word, Excel or PowerPoint (and back), how formatting survives the trip, and how to get clean, editable results every time.

8 min read

The Complete Guide to Shrinking, Cleaning and Fixing PDFs

Why PDFs get huge, how compression really works, and how to repair, grayscale, resize and tidy documents so they are small, clean and easy to share.

8 min read

How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable With OCR

Turn an image-only scanned PDF into text you can select, copy and search, using OCR.

5 min read

PDF vs. Word: When to Use Each Format

A practical guide to choosing between PDF and Word so your documents look right and stay editable when they need to be.

4 min read

How to Reorder, Rotate and Delete Pages in a PDF

Clean up a messy PDF by reordering pages, rotating sideways scans, and removing pages you do not need.

4 min read

How to Turn JPG Images Into a Single PDF

Combine photos or scans into one tidy PDF, in the order you choose, for uploads and submissions.

3 min read

How to Edit a PDF Without the Original Document

Fix a typo, add text or an image, or sign a PDF directly in your browser when you do not have the source file.

4 min read

How to Split a PDF Into Separate Pages or Sections

Pull a single page out of a long PDF, or break a big document into smaller files, all in the browser.

4 min read

How to Password-Protect a PDF Before You Send It

Add a password to a sensitive PDF so only the intended recipient can open it.

4 min read

How to Merge Multiple PDFs Into One File

Combine several PDFs into a single document in the right order, whether it is a contract with exhibits or a batch of invoices.

3 min read

How to Compress a PDF So It Fits an Email Attachment Limit

Most email services cap attachments around 25 MB. Here is how to shrink a PDF under the limit without wrecking the quality.

4 min read

How to Convert a PDF to Word (and Keep the Formatting)

A clear, step-by-step guide to turning a PDF into an editable Word document online, with tips for keeping tables, fonts and layout intact.

5 min read