Frequently Asked Questions

Merge PDF lets you combine multiple PDF files into a single document. Useful when you have several separate files — like scanned pages, invoices or reports — and want to make one cohesive file. Just drag and drop files, set their order and click "Merge". Everything works locally in your browser.

Splitting divides one PDF into smaller files. There are three modes: “Page by page” saves every page as its own file, “Custom ranges” saves each range you enter (for example 1-5, 8, 10-15) as one file, and “Split by selection” puts the pages you tick into one file and the rest into another. The files are downloaded together as a ZIP. Useful when you need only parts of a large document.

Compress PDF reduces file size, making it easier to email or store. The tool offers three compression levels: Low (minimal compression, best quality), Recommended (good balance of size and quality) and Extreme (maximum reduction, lower quality). All images in the PDF are optimized and unnecessary data removed — all locally, no server upload.

Rotation turns every page of the file by 90°, 180° or 270° without re-encoding its content. You can add several files at once — each is rotated and they are downloaded together as a ZIP. Useful when a scan came out sideways or upside down. To rotate only some pages, extract them first, rotate them and merge the document again.

Cropping cuts margins off the pages. Enter how much to remove on the left, right, top and bottom — in points, millimetres or inches; by default nothing is cut. Tick pages on the thumbnails to crop only those; with no selection every page is cropped. The tool shows no preview, so start with small values and check the result. Useful for removing white margins.

Delete Pages lets you select and remove unwanted pages from a document. Mark the page thumbnails you want to delete and the rest will be saved as a new file. Useful for removing blank pages, ad pages or unnecessary sections.

Extract Pages lets you select specific pages from a PDF and save them as a separate file. Unlike splitting, you don't remove the original pages — you create a new document with copies of selected pages. Useful when you need only a specific chapter from a book or a few pages from a contract.

Reorder Pages lets you drag page thumbnails to arrange them in any order. Useful when you scanned a document in the wrong order, glued pages out of sequence or want to rearrange pages before the final save.

Adding a page inserts a blank page into an existing PDF — at the beginning, at the end or as the page number you choose. The new page takes the size of the page next to it, so it matches the rest of the document. Useful when you need space for notes or want to separate parts of a document.

The PDF editor lets you correct existing text — click it and type the new text — and add text, rectangles, circles, lines, arrows, highlights, freehand drawings and images. You choose from 12 fonts and set the colour, size and position. Corrected text covers the old text, which stays in the file, so to remove confidential data for good use “Redact PDF”.

Page numbering adds a number to every page of a PDF. You choose the position (top or bottom; left, centre or right), the font size and the number to start counting from. Useful for reports, theses and documents you print.

The watermark tool writes text (for example “CONFIDENTIAL” or “DRAFT”) diagonally across every page of a PDF. You set the text, opacity, colour, font size and position (top, centre or bottom). Useful for marking documents before you share them.

Redact PDF lets you permanently remove (cover with a black rectangle) selected text fragments on a page. Unlike simple painting over, the data is physically removed from the file. Useful for anonymizing personal data, hiding confidential information before sharing a document.

Flattening removes every annotation from a PDF — comments, highlights and links — and turns form fields into fixed page content. Text stays text: you can still select and search it, but the fields can no longer be filled in. Useful before sending a document, so nobody changes the entries.

Metadata editing lets you view and change information about a PDF file, such as title, author, subject and keywords. This data is visible in file properties and affects search results. Useful for categorizing documents and improving file organization.

PDF to Word converts a PDF file to DOCX format, editable in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs. Useful when you received a PDF and need to edit its content — change text, fix an error or add your own sections.

Word to PDF turns a .docx document into a PDF that looks the same on every device. Formatting, lists, tables, images and page breaks are kept, but the document is laid out again in one sans-serif font, so letter shapes and spacing may differ slightly from Word. If the PDF must match Word exactly, save it from Word itself. The older .doc format is not supported.

Images to PDF puts JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF and BMP pictures into one PDF, each on its own page sized to the picture. You set the order with the arrow buttons and can add a margin around each picture. Useful for combining phone scans or photos into a single file.

PDF to Images converts each PDF page into a separate image in JPG, PNG or WebP format. You can choose format, resolution and quality. Useful when you want to share a single page from a document, insert it into a presentation or publish on social media.

PDF to Excel converts tables and data from a PDF file to XLSX format. Useful when you received a report in PDF and want to further analyze it in a spreadsheet — sort, filter or perform calculations on the data.

Excel to PDF converts an XLSX spreadsheet to a PDF file. Useful before sharing financial data or reports — PDF looks the same on every device and cells cannot be accidentally changed.

PDF to PowerPoint converts PDF pages into slides in PPTX format. Each PDF page becomes a separate slide. Useful when you have a presentation in PDF and want to edit or customize it in PowerPoint.

OpenOffice to PDF turns ODT documents from LibreOffice Writer and OpenOffice Writer into PDF, keeping text formatting, tables, images and page breaks. ODS spreadsheets and ODP presentations can be converted in the OpenOffice tab of “Word to PDF”, but only as plain text. Useful for sharing documents from free office suites as PDF.

PDF to OpenOffice converts a PDF file to ODT format, editable in LibreOffice Writer or OpenOffice Writer. Useful when you use free office suites and need to edit content from a PDF file.

PDF to TXT extracts all text from a PDF file and saves it as a plain text file. It loses formatting but you get clean, easy-to-process text. Useful for data analysis, copying content or use in other programs.

PDF to SVG saves every page as an SVG file. The file holds an image of the whole page rather than separate vector shapes and text, so it does not scale without loss and cannot be edited as vectors in programs such as Illustrator, Inkscape or Figma. Useful when you need pages in SVG format, for example to place them on a web page.

PDF to EPUB converts a PDF document to EPUB format, commonly used in ebook readers (Kindle, PocketBook, Kobo). Text adapts to screen size, making reading easier on small devices. Useful when you want to read a PDF on an ebook reader in a more comfortable format.

HTML to PDF turns HTML code you paste into a tagged PDF. Headings, paragraphs, bold and italics, links, lists, tables, quotes and images embedded as data: are kept; CSS styles are not. To save a page from its web address, use “URL to PDF (text only)”. Useful for turning simple HTML pages or reports into PDF.

URL to PDF fetches a web page from the address you enter and saves its text as a PDF. The layout, images and scripts are not kept — the PDF contains only the text. The page is fetched by our server, so this tool needs an internet connection; none of your files are sent. Useful for archiving the text of articles or documentation.

PDF to HTML converts PDF pages into HTML code. Useful when you want to publish PDF content on a website, blog or CMS without manually rewriting it.

Protecting a PDF sets a password needed to open the file (AES-256 encryption) — without it nobody can read the document. The tool does not add a separate permissions password that restricts printing or copying. Useful for sending confidential documents by email or storing sensitive data. Keep the password safe: it cannot be recovered.

Unlock PDF removes the password and restrictions from a secured PDF file. Works for both the open password and permissions password. Useful when you know the password to your PDF and want to remove protection to freely edit or print the document.

Signing lets you draw a signature with the mouse or a finger, or type it as text, and place it on all pages, the first, the last or a page you choose — in a quick position or at exact coordinates. The “Digital signature (PAdES)” tab signs the file with a certificate from a .p12 or .pfx file. A drawn signature is a picture, not a qualified electronic signature. Useful for signing contracts and applications without printing and scanning.

It depends on the service. Google Drive: OptimaPDF can access only the files you pick or that it creates. Dropbox: you pick the file in Dropbox’s own window, and saving asks only for permission to write files. OneDrive and SharePoint: Microsoft’s sign-in window asks for access to all your files (SharePoint: sites), because this integration has no narrower permission. Only your browser uses it, and only to fetch or save the file you choose. The token never reaches our server and we do not browse your drive.

Sign-in is temporary on purpose: the access token exists only in this browser tab and stops working after a short time or when the tab closes. We do not keep it on a server. For SharePoint your browser remembers recently used sites, so after signing in you can pick one with a single click.

No. The list of recently used SharePoint sites and the OneDrive picker’s cache are stored only in your browser’s localStorage. They never reach the OptimaPDF server and do not sync between devices. Only someone using the same browser on the same computer account can see them.

AI Chat lets you ask questions about the contents of a PDF — the AI answers from the text extracted from the file. You need no API key and no account: anyone can ask up to 15 AI questions a day. The file itself stays in your browser; only its text goes to the external AI service. The AI reads the beginning of the document (up to 12,000 characters, a few pages), so with a longer file extract the pages you need first.

AI Summary writes a short summary of the main points of a PDF, in the language of the page you are on. You need no API key and no account; one summary is one of your 15 AI requests a day. The file itself stays in your browser; only its text goes to the external AI service — up to 120,000 characters (several dozen pages); for a longer document the beginning is summarised.

AI Translate translates the text of a PDF into one of 11 languages. You need no API key and no account; one translation is one of your 15 AI requests a day. The result is text to copy — the page layout, images and tables are not recreated. The file itself stays in your browser; only its text goes to the external AI service. It works best for documents of up to a dozen or so pages; translate longer ones in parts.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) recognizes text in scanned images and PDF pages, converting it into editable text. Useful when you have a document scan (photo or image-based PDF) and want to extract text for further editing or searching.

Compare PDF analyzes two documents and shows differences between them — both in text mode (list of added/removed fragments) and visual mode (visual marking of differences on pages). Useful for checking changes in contracts, document versions and revisions.

Fill PDF Form lets you fill fields in interactive AcroForm forms (text fields, checkboxes, dropdown lists) and flatten the result. Useful for filling applications, surveys and official forms without printing and manual filling.

PDF/A is an archival PDF standard designed for long-term document storage. The tool converts a regular PDF to PDF/A-1b format, adding XMP metadata, color profile and removing dynamic elements. Useful for archiving documents that must remain readable for many years.