PDF guides
Plain-language explanations of how PDF tools really work — the trade-offs, the limits and the best way to use them.
Optimization
Make PDFs smaller and faster to share.
Compressing a PDF for email: attachment limits, image weight and what actually shrinksWhy PDFs get too big for email attachments, how image weight drives file size, and what Standard vs Maximum compression actually changes — with realistic expectations.How to reduce PDF file size without losing quality: a practical checklistShrink a large PDF without turning it blurry: what actually causes big files, a pre-flight checklist before compressing, and how to verify quality after — without any upload.How to compress a PDF in your browser: Standard vs Maximum mode, JPEG quality and DPI options explainedCompress any PDF in your browser with nothing uploaded: what Standard vs Maximum mode changes, how JPEG quality and DPI settings affect size, and realistic expectations per file type.How to count the pages of a PDF — and why the fast method is differentWhy PDF page counting can be instant, how the page tree is read, what locked files need, and how page counts feed printing, filing and splitting workflows.
Security & privacy
Protect documents and understand encryption honestly.
PDF passwords and encryption: what protection does and does not doUser vs permissions passwords, RC4-40 vs AES, how to protect and unlock PDFs, what encryption cannot do, best practices and honest limitations.Watermarking PDFs: text watermarks, position and honest limitsA practical guide to adding text watermarks to PDFs: content, position and opacity, and why watermarks are deterrents, not locks.Redacting PDFs: why black boxes are not enough and how to do it properlyAn honest guide to PDF redaction: covering text vs removing it, why black boxes leak, and how to verify redaction worked.PDF metadata: what it reveals about you and why cleaning it mattersAn honest guide to PDF metadata: title, author, software and editing history, why it leaks information, and how to view and clean it before sharing.
Organize & manage
Combine, split, rotate and clean up PDF pages.
How to merge PDF files without losing quality or privacyHow to combine PDF files correctly: controlling the order, what merging does to quality and forms, and why in-browser merging keeps documents private.How to split a PDF: extract pages, ranges and single sheetsHow to split PDFs into single pages or custom ranges, what splitting preserves, and how to avoid off-by-one errors. In-browser, private splitting explained.How to rotate PDF pages correctly (and why some pages stay sideways)How to rotate PDF pages permanently, why rotated scans stay sideways when printed, and the difference between whole-document and per-page rotation.How to delete pages from a PDF without damaging the restHow to remove pages from a PDF safely, what happens to page numbering and links, and how to check the result. Visual, in-browser page deletion explained.How to add page numbers to a PDF: numbering the cover page right, N of M formats and starting numbersNumber PDF pages the right way: positions, plain vs “Page N of M” formats, and the cover-page problem — how to start numbering at 1 on the second page without misnumbering the rest.Bates numbering explained: prefixes, padding and legal document setsWhat Bates numbering is, how prefix, padding and suffix work, real exhibit workflows, and honest limits — a practical guide using a private in-browser tool.How to crop a PDF: trimming scan margins, headers and footer noiseA practical guide to cropping PDF pages: percentage margins, per-edge trimming, selective page ranges, scan cleanup and honest limits — all in your browser.
Convert & export
Turn PDFs into other formats and back.
How to convert JPG to PDF at full quality: keeping photos sharpTurn JPG photos into a PDF without visible quality loss: what causes compression artifacts, how page layout works, and how to keep images sharp in the output.How to convert a PDF to Word and edit it: getting text you can actually changeConvert a PDF into a Word document you can actually edit: why some text comes out as an image, what converts cleanly, and how to fix the pages that do not.PDF to Excel conversion: what transfers cleanly and what does not — and how to get usable rowsConvert PDF tables to Excel without the usual mess: which structures transfer into clean rows and columns, what breaks during conversion, and how to check the result before trusting it.PDF to JPG: choosing the right resolution (DPI) for print, screen and documentsWhich DPI should you pick when converting PDF pages to JPG? Resolution guidance for print, screen and archival scans, how JPEG quality affects the result, and how to check sharpness before saving.PDF to HTML conversion: extracting web-ready content from a fixed layoutAn honest guide to converting PDF to HTML: what transfers as text, why visual fidelity is lost, and how to use the output.PDF to PowerPoint: why every page becomes an image slide, and when that is actually what you needConverting PDF to PowerPoint makes every page a 16:9 image slide — here is when that is exactly right for presenting, when you need editable slides instead, and the honest workarounds.Excel to PDF: how sheets get paginated, why wide sheets scale, and printing spreadsheets that fit the pageConvert Excel spreadsheets to a clean, printable PDF: how sheets paginate, why wide sheets get scaled to fit, what happens to formulas and the 20-sheet limit — nothing uploaded.
Extract & OCR
Make scanned documents searchable and pull out content.
How to make a scanned PDF searchable with OCR: languages, accuracy and proofingMake a scanned PDF searchable with OCR: how recognition accuracy works, which languages are supported, and how to proof the text layer before trusting it.Extracting text from PDF: what a text layer is and why some PDFs have noneAn honest guide to PDF text extraction: what a text layer is, why scanned PDFs have none, how OCR fixes that, and how to get clean text.Extracting tables from PDFs to CSV: how position detection works and when it failsHow PDF table extraction works, why merged cells and nested layouts break it, CSV vs Excel output, cleanup workflows and honest expectations — a practical guide.How to compare two PDFs for text differences: reading the similarity report, and what visual changes it cannot seeCompare two PDF versions for changed text: how page-by-page text comparison works, how to read the similarity report, and which visual changes (images, layout, stamps) it cannot see — contract-review workflows included.
Passwords & protection
Lock and unlock PDFs with honest expectations.
How to password-protect a PDF: what RC4 encryption actually protects (and what it does not)What actually happens when you password-protect a PDF: how the RC4 encryption works, which attacks it stops, which it does not, and how to share the password safely.How to unlock a PDF: removing password protection you ownHow to remove a password from a PDF you can open, what unlock actually does, and why a locked PDF without the password cannot be unlocked.Signing a PDF: drawing a signature, placement, and is it legally binding?Draw and place a signature on any PDF in your browser, plus an honest answer to the question that matters: when is a drawn signature legally binding, and when do you need a cryptographic one.Filling PDF forms: fillable fields, non-fillable forms and what to do about eachAn honest guide to filling PDF forms: how fillable fields work, what to do when a form has no fields, and how to keep a filled form looking professional.
How these guides are written
Every guide is checked against the actual Paperly implementation — file limits, encryption behavior and processing location all match the code. Where a claim cannot be verified, the guide says so instead of guessing.