Question 1

Is PdfLuxe really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every tool is free to use — there is no paid plan, no credits to buy and no premium version behind a paywall. Open a tool, do the job and download the result.

Question 2

Do I ever have to pay — and what about refunds?

Accepted Answer

No. Everything on PdfLuxe is free, and there are no payments, purchases or subscriptions anywhere on the site — so there is nothing to refund. Nothing on the site will ever ask for your card or payment details.

Question 3

Can I chat with my documents and ask them questions for free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Chat with Documents+, add your sources — PDFs (page numbers kept, and a scanned PDF with no text layer can be read with the built-in OCR, cited as “Source: Page X (OCR)”), PowerPoint decks (citations name the slide, “Slide X”), Word documents, text files, CSVs, .eml emails, or pasted text such as a video transcript — and ask questions in plain words. The text is read on your device, the most relevant passages are picked (with one automatic wider retry when the first search is weak), and the free on-device Local AI writes the answer from those passages only — every answer shows the source it came from, and if your documents don't cover something, it says so and shows the search scores behind that. No key, no account, nothing uploaded.

Question 4

Can I chat with a research paper for free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chat with Research Papers searches arXiv's free keyless API, lets you chat with a paper's abstract (answers cite “Source: Abstract”), and can load the full paper page by page (answers cite “Source: Page X”). It runs on the same free on-device Local AI as Chat with Documents+, with no key and no account.

Question 5

Can I compare AI models or use AI assistants for free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. AI Assistants offers seven structured modes — Research, Writer, First Reader, Meeting Brief, Study Planner, Blog to Podcast and Voice Memo Brief — and Compare Models sends one prompt to two or three of your engines side by side and can merge the best answer. Both run on the site's existing free engines: Local AI on your device, or an AI you connect with your own free key in AI Settings. A shared Session memory panel lets you add facts about yourself that the AI tools use as context for this tab only — reloading the page clears it, and nothing is saved.

Question 6

Can I compare two documents or pull the tables out of a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Compare Two Documents counts both documents exactly on your device — top keywords for each, keywords only in A, only in B, and in both with their real counts, numbers that appear in only one of them (a price of 100 in one document and 120 in the other shows up at once), and the keyword-overlap percentage — and, when Local AI or your own connected AI is on, writes the main differences and any contradictions with passages cited from both sides; you can then chat across both documents together. Table Finder detects clean grid tables in a PDF from its text positions, previews every table with its page number, and downloads tables as Excel (one sheet per table) or CSV. Both are free and run in your browser.

Question 7

Do I need an account or sign-up?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no account and no sign-up. You never type an email address or a password — just open the tool you need and start.

Question 8

Are my files uploaded anywhere?

Accepted Answer

No. Your files are processed in your browser, on your own device, and are never uploaded to a server. The only exception is the AI writing tools: if you use them, the text you type goes to the AI service you choose to connect — never your files.

Question 9

Does it add a watermark?

Accepted Answer

No. Nothing you download carries a watermark, a logo or an added page. The file you get is your file, converted or cleaned up — with nothing extra stamped on it.

Question 10

Does it work on my phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. PdfLuxe runs in your phone's browser, so there is nothing to install. Tools like Scan to PDF even use your camera to turn paper pages into a PDF.

Question 11

What can I do with the AI presentation maker?

Accepted Answer

Type a topic, paste your own text, or start from a file, and it builds a designed slide deck you can present in the browser or download as PowerPoint or PDF. It needs no account: AI writing help runs on your device with Local AI, or through an AI service you connect with your own free key.

Question 12

How do I merge PDF files for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Merge PDF, add your files in the order you want, and download the combined PDF. It runs entirely in your browser — no sign-up, no upload and no watermark.

Question 13

How can I convert JPG to PDF online for free?

Accepted Answer

Open JPG to PDF, add your images (JPG, PNG or WebP), arrange them, and download one PDF. The conversion happens on your device, so even large photos never leave your phone or computer.

Question 14

Is there a free AI presentation maker with no watermark?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the Presentation maker in PdfLuxe turns a topic, your own text or a file into a designed deck from 2,432 ready templates in 40 categories — 24,320 combinations in all (the 2,432 templates × the 10 layout styles) — all free, then exports to PowerPoint or PDF. No account, no credits and no watermark.

Question 15

Are my files uploaded to a server?

Accepted Answer

No. The PDF tools process files locally in your browser. Only the AI tools send anything, and only the text you type, to the AI provider you choose to connect — never your files.

Question 16

How do I make an AI image for free?

Accepted Answer

Open the AI Image generator and pick AI Horde — free community queue; the dependable route is a free registered key (aihorde.net/register), anonymous takes small jobs only and is refused under heavy demand: it runs on a community queue of volunteer GPUs. Be clear-eyed about that queue: it is slow, anonymous jobs are capped to standard sizes (bigger ones are refused — the Horde asks for account kudos instead), Stable Diffusion 1.5 is the model that reliably gets a free worker, and the SDXL model often has no worker for anonymous jobs. A free registered key from aihorde.net/register skips most of that. The image link expires in about 30 minutes, so download it right away. Or connect your own free Cloudflare Workers AI token (10,000 Neurons a day on your own account) or your own Bytez key in AI Settings and generate on your own account. Either way the picture is made and shown right here in the page, with no sign-in window and no redirect. Or use the free stock photos, which need nothing at all. Every image route here is free. This site has no shared key.

Question 17

Can I edit a PDF without installing software?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Edit PDF lets you add text, highlights, whiteout, images and shapes directly in the browser, and Sign PDF adds a drawn or typed signature. Everything runs on your device; just download the finished file.

Question 18

Can I merge PDFs without uploading them?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Merge PDF, add your files in the order you want them, and download the combined PDF. The merging runs in your browser on your own device — the files are never sent to a server, and the result carries no watermark and needs no sign-up.

Question 19

Does JPG to PDF add a watermark?

Accepted Answer

No. JPG to PDF builds the PDF on your device from the images you add (JPG, PNG or WebP), and the file you download carries no watermark, no logo and no added page — just your images, one per page.

Question 20

How do I compress a PDF without losing quality?

Accepted Answer

Open Compress PDF, add your PDF, and choose the Low level: it re-saves the PDF with optimised streams and leaves the original text and images untouched, so the PDF keeps its quality and its text stays selectable. The Medium and High levels shrink the PDF further by rebuilding its pages as images, which trades some quality for a smaller file. If a PDF cannot be made smaller, your original file is returned unchanged.

Question 21

Can I convert PDF to Word without signing up?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open PDF to Word, add your PDF, and download the Word file — there is no account, no email step and no sign-up anywhere in PdfLuxe. The conversion keeps the text in reading order as editable paragraphs; rows that line up into columns become a real Word table, embedded pictures are carried over, and only the exact page layout is simplified.

Question 22

How do I split a PDF into separate pages?

Accepted Answer

Open Split PDF and add your PDF, then add one page range for each file you want — for example 1–1, 2–2 and 3–3 to give every page its own PDF, or a wider range such as 1–3 to extract a section. A single range downloads as one PDF; several ranges arrive together in one ZIP file. The split runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded.

Question 23

Can I scan paper to PDF with my phone for free?

Accepted Answer

Yes — and this is about photographing paper documents, not reading QR codes. Open Scan to PDF on your phone, photograph each paper page (or add photos you already have), pick the clean black-and-white, grey or colour look, and download one PDF. It is free, there is no watermark, and the pages are processed on your phone, never uploaded.

Question 24

Can I convert a Word document to PDF without signing up?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Open Word to PDF, add your Word document (.docx) — a plain .txt file works too — click Convert to PDF and download the result. There is no account, no email step and no sign-up, and the document is converted in your browser, never uploaded. Heading styles and bold text come through, and pictures inside the Word document are kept in the PDF, in document order.

Question 25

Can I unlock a PDF if I forgot its password?

Accepted Answer

No — and no honest tool can do that. Unlock PDF covers two situations only: the PDF is yours and you already know the password it asks for when opening (type it in, and the copy is saved without it), or the PDF opens freely but carries restrictions against printing, copying or editing, which QPDF removes where it supports them. A password you have forgotten cannot be cracked, guessed or recovered here.

Question 26

Will a scanned PDF convert cleanly to Word?

Accepted Answer

Not on its own. PDF to Word reads the text already stored inside the PDF, and a scanned page is a photograph of words — there is no text layer to read — so the Word file comes out empty or nearly empty. Run the scan through OCR PDF first, which recognises the words and adds them as a real text layer, and then convert to Word. Even then, expect editable paragraphs rather than the exact page layout — though rows that line up into clear columns do become a real Word table.

Question 27

Do merged PDFs get a watermark?

Accepted Answer

No. Merge PDF combines your files in your browser, and the PDF you download carries no watermark, no logo and no added page — just your pages, in the order you chose.

Question 28

Can I reorder photos and choose the page size in JPG to PDF?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Add your JPG, PNG or WebP images, then use the left and right arrows under each thumbnail to move it — the order on screen, left to right, becomes page 1, 2, 3 and so on, one image per page. Under Page settings you can keep each page fitted to its image, or switch to A4 or Letter in portrait or landscape, with no margin, normal or wide margins. The PDF is built on your device, free, with no sign-up and no watermark.

Question 29

What do the Compress PDF levels actually change?

Accepted Answer

Low re-saves the PDF with optimised streams and leaves the original text and images untouched, and Lossless rebuilds only the internal structure with QPDF, so neither costs you quality and your text stays selectable. Images downscales embedded photos to at most 1200 px wide and re-saves them as JPEG — usually the biggest saving on photo-heavy PDFs, with text still selectable. Medium (150 dpi) and High (100 dpi) rebuild every page as a JPEG image: the file gets much smaller, but the pages soften — High visibly so — and the text is no longer selectable, searchable or copyable. If a PDF cannot be made smaller at all, your original file is returned unchanged.

Question 30

I photographed my pages at an angle — can Scan to PDF straighten them?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Add the photos, or capture the pages with the camera inside the tool, then tap Auto-detect corners under a page: the tool finds the page edges and straightens the tilted shot. You can reorder pages with the arrows, pick the black-and-white, grey or colour look, adjust brightness, and save everything as one PDF, fitted to each scan or on A4 pages. The result is a cleaned-up picture of each page — if you need the words searchable or copyable afterwards, run the PDF through OCR PDF, which adds a real text layer. Everything is processed on your phone and never uploaded.

Question 31

How do I make a PDF small enough to email or upload to a form?

Accepted Answer

Open Compress PDF and add the file. If it is mostly text, start with Low or Lossless — both keep the quality and the selectable text. If the file is heavy because of photos or scans, the Images level usually saves the most. When a portal sets a tight size limit and readability matters more than crispness, Medium brings the size down further; keep High for strict limits, because its pages are rebuilt at 100 dpi, look softer, and the text becomes an image. Compress, check the new size shown next to the original, then attach or upload the downloaded copy — and keep your uncompressed original for printing or archiving.

Question 32

Does PDF to Word keep the exact layout of the original PDF?

Accepted Answer

No — and it does not pretend to. You get the PDF's text as editable paragraphs in reading order, lines set in a clearly larger type become real Word headings, rows that line up into clear columns become a real Word table, and embedded pictures are carried over in reading order. Fonts, exact spacing and multi-column page designs are simplified: the result is a document that is easy to edit, not a pixel-perfect copy. There is no sign-up, and the conversion runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded.

Question 33

Is a drawn or typed signature in Sign PDF a real digital signature?

Accepted Answer

No. In Draw and Type mode, Sign PDF places a visible picture of your signature on the page — it looks like a signature, but it is not a certificate-based digital signature and carries no cryptographic proof of who signed. If you need that proof, use the tool's Digital mode with your own certificate file (.p12 / .pfx) and its password: the document is then sealed with a real digital signature, entirely on your device. A self-signed certificate signs fine but readers label it “untrusted / validity unknown”, because no authority vouches for it.

Question 34

How do I protect a PDF with a password?

Accepted Answer

Open Protect PDF, add your PDF, and type an open password — the one readers must enter to view the file. You can add a separate owner password and choose whether printing, copying and editing are allowed, then download the protected copy. The protection is real AES-256 encryption applied on your device by QPDF, and the file is never uploaded. There is also a Flatten mode that sets no password but rebuilds every page as an image, so the text can no longer be copied or edited.

Question 35

What does a PDF password actually stop — and what does it not stop?

Accepted Answer

The open password is the strong part: the file is AES-256 encrypted, so without the password it cannot be opened or read at all. The print, copy and edit permissions are weaker — they are instructions that well-behaved PDF readers honour, so they stop casual misuse, not a determined person with tools that ignore them; and anyone who can open the file can still read it or photograph the screen. Keep the password safe, too: it cannot be recovered here, so a lost password leaves the protected copy locked even to you.

Question 36

How do I add page numbers to a PDF online for free, with no sign-up?

Accepted Answer

Open Page numbers, add your PDF, and choose a position — bottom centre by default, or bottom left or right, or any top position — a format (plain 1, 2, 3, Page 1, 1 / 12 or – 1 –), the number to start at, a font size and a colour. Tick “Don't number the first page (cover)” if the cover should stay clean, then click Add numbers and download the numbered copy. There is no account and no upload: the numbers are drawn onto the pages in your browser, and your original file is left unchanged.

Question 37

Can I start page numbering at a different number, or skip the cover page?

Accepted Answer

Yes, both. Start at sets the first printed number — 0, 5 or whatever the document needs — and “Don't number the first page (cover)” leaves page 1 blank while the following pages keep their real positions — with Start at 1, page 2 is stamped “2 / 3”, and the / N total always counts all the document's pages, cover included. Numbering then runs through every remaining page; there is no range picker, so to number only part of a document, split that part out with Split PDF and number it separately.

Question 38

How do I remove pages from a PDF without changing my original file?

Accepted Answer

Open Delete pages, add your PDF, and click the thumbnail of every page you want gone — a tick marks it, and clicking again un-marks it — then click Delete selected pages. A new PDF is built in your browser from the pages you kept, in their original order, and downloaded as a separate file; the PDF on your device is never modified, and you must keep at least one page. If the file asks for a password just to open, unlock it first with Unlock PDF — a forgotten password cannot be bypassed.

Question 39

Can I edit the text that is already in a PDF?

Accepted Answer

Small fixes, yes — with one honest catch. In Edit PDF, choose Text and tap the words you want to change: the old words are covered and your replacement is drawn on top in a clean standard sans-serif, at the size and colour you pick, so a corrected date, price or name looks tidy — but it will not perfectly match the document's original typeface, and covered words are hidden, not deleted from inside the file. For text that must be truly removed, use Redact PDF; for rewriting whole paragraphs, convert the file with PDF to Word and edit the Word document.

Question 40

How do I add a watermark to a PDF online for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Watermark, add your PDF, and either type the text to stamp — DRAFT is filled in to start with — or switch the type at the top to Image and pick a PNG or JPG, such as a company logo (PNG transparency is kept), and set its size. For text, set the font size (16 to 140 pt); either way, pick a position in the Position grid (Centre is selected to start with, or choose any corner or edge — those spots keep a small margin from the page edges), set the opacity (5% to 90%) and, under “More — colour & rotation”, pick a colour (text only) and a diagonal, horizontal or vertical stamp; the preview shows the result live on the current page. Click Apply watermark and the stamped copy downloads, with the stamp on every page at the position you picked. It is free, there is no sign-up, and the file is stamped in your browser, never uploaded.

Question 41

Can I watermark only some pages, or take a watermark off again?

Accepted Answer

Neither, and the tool does not pretend otherwise. Watermark stamps every page in the position you pick — Centre by default, or any corner or edge from the Position grid — but there is no page picker, so it cannot stamp only some pages — and the stamp is written into the downloaded copy, so it cannot be removed from that copy afterwards. Your original file is never changed, so keep it: to change the wording or drop the stamp entirely, run the tool again on the original. The stamp can be text or an image — switch the type to Image to stamp a PNG or JPG, such as a logo, instead of words.

Question 42

How do I convert a PDF to Excel for free?

Accepted Answer

Open PDF to Excel, add your PDF, and click Convert to Excel — there are no settings to pick. Each line of the PDF becomes a row, text that lines up in columns becomes separate cells, values that are plainly numbers are stored as real numbers you can calculate with, and a blank row separates the pages, all in one sheet named “PDF text”. You download a real .xlsx file, or a .csv instead if the spreadsheet engine could not load — Excel and Google Sheets open it the same way. No sign-up, and the conversion runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded.

Question 43

Why did PDF to Excel find no text, or put things in the wrong columns?

Accepted Answer

An empty result almost always means a scanned PDF: the pages are photographs of words, with no text layer stored inside, and the tool says “No readable text found in this PDF” rather than inventing data. Run the file through OCR PDF first to add a real text layer, then convert again. Misplaced columns come from the layout: rows and cells are worked out from where the text sits on the page, so merged cells, wrapped text and side-by-side columns can be split wrongly. For a clean grid table on its own, Table Finder previews each table with its page number and downloads tables as Excel or CSV.

Question 44

How do I convert a PDF to PowerPoint for free?

Accepted Answer

Open PDF to PowerPoint, add your PDF and click Convert to PowerPoint. Every page becomes one slide with editable text — the largest line becomes a big bold title — and you download a real .pptx file. The conversion runs in your browser, so there is no sign-up, no upload and no watermark.

Question 45

Will the slides from PDF to PowerPoint be editable, or just pictures?

Accepted Answer

Editable — wherever the PDF itself stores real text. Stored text becomes text boxes you can type in, and pictures embedded in the PDF become picture shapes on the slide. The exception is a page with no text layer, such as a scanned page: that page alone becomes a full-slide picture. Run a scanned PDF through OCR PDF first if you need its words editable too.

Question 46

How do I extract the text from a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Open PDF to Text, add your PDF and click Extract text. Leave the Pages field blank to take the whole file, or type the pages you want, like 1,3,5-7. The words appear on screen, marked page by page, and Download .txt saves them as a plain text file. Nothing is uploaded — it runs in your browser.

Question 47

Why did PDF to Text find no text in my PDF?

Accepted Answer

Almost always because the file is a scan: the pages are photographs of words, with no text stored inside to extract, and the tool tells you the file looks like scanned images instead of guessing. Run it through OCR PDF, which recognises the words and adds a real text layer, then extract the text again.

Question 48

How do I convert a PDF to PNG for free?

Accepted Answer

Open PDF to JPG — the same tool exports PNG. Add your PDF, choose all pages or type the pages you want (for example 1, 3, 5-8), set Format to PNG (lossless), pick an image quality — 300 dpi is the sharpest — and click Export images. A single page downloads as one PNG; several pages arrive together in a ZIP file. The pages are rendered in your browser, so the file is never uploaded, and there is no sign-up and no watermark.

Question 49

How do I reorder the pages of a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Reorder pages and add your PDF — every page appears as a thumbnail labelled with the page it was and the position it will land in. Drag a page to its new position, or use the ← → buttons on each page to move it one place at a time, then click Save order. The reordered copy downloads with “-reordered” added to its name, and the result message lists the new page order. Your original file is never changed, and the pages themselves are copied exactly — only their order changes.

Question 50

How do I make a scanned PDF searchable with OCR?

Accepted Answer

Open OCR PDF and add the scanned PDF, pick the language printed on the page — English is the starting choice, and Lithuanian, Hindi, Russian, German, Spanish and French are also there — keep the OCR engine on “On your device” and click Run OCR. Up to 10 pages are read per run; each page is read twice with two layout settings and the clearer read is kept, and the recognised words appear on screen with a confidence percentage for each page. Download the words as a .txt file, or download the searchable PDF — the same pages with the recognised words added as a hidden text layer, so the file can be searched and copied. The first run downloads the OCR engine and language pack (a few MB), so it needs internet once; after that, the reading happens on your device and nothing is uploaded.

Question 51

Does reordering, deleting or rotating pages change my original PDF?

Accepted Answer

No. The organise tools — Reorder pages, Delete pages, Rotate pages, Split PDF and the rest — always build a new PDF and download it as a separate file; the name shows what was done, such as “-reordered” or “-rotated”. The PDF on your device is opened read-only and is never modified, so if the result is not what you wanted, your original is still exactly as it was and you can simply run the tool again.

Question 52

How do I translate a PDF into another language for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Translate PDF, add your PDF — or paste text into the box instead — pick the language you want it in, and download the translated document as a PDF. The Cloud engine is the default and needs no key or account: it uses Google's free public web endpoint, with the free MyMemory service (anonymous, up to 5,000 characters a day) as an automatic fallback. You can also translate on your own device with Local AI (NLLB) after a one-time model download of about 600 MB, or use your own connected AI. There is no sign-up anywhere in the process.

Question 53

Does translating a PDF send my document to a server?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the engine you pick, and the tool does not hide the difference. Local AI (NLLB) translates on your device, so the text never leaves it. The Cloud engine sends the text to Google's free public web endpoint to be translated, and the MyMemory fallback sends it to MyMemory — that is the trade for a keyless engine. LibreTranslate can also run against your own server, if you have one. For a document that must not leave your machine, choose Local AI.

Question 54

Which files can I chat with in Chat with Documents+?

Accepted Answer

PDFs (answers cite the page), PowerPoint decks in .pptx (answers cite the slide), Word documents, plain text and Markdown files, CSVs and .eml email files — and you can paste text, such as a video transcript, instead of a file. A scanned PDF with no text layer can be read with the built-in OCR right in the tool, and its answers cite “Page X (OCR)”. You can mix several sources at once; everything is read on your device and never uploaded.

Question 55

Why does Chat with Documents+ say it cannot answer yet?

Accepted Answer

Because answers are written by an AI engine, and this tool never fakes one. Turn on Local AI — a free on-device model that downloads once into your browser (about 0.4–2.4 GB, then it works offline) — or connect your own AI with a free key in AI Settings. Until one of those is set up there is no engine to write the answer, so the tool tells you that instead of inventing a reply.

Question 56

How do I extract the images from a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Extract Images, add your PDF and click Extract images. The tool scans the whole file page by page and decodes every picture stored inside it — photos, logos, scanned artwork — as a PNG, named for the page it came from. One image downloads on its own; several arrive together in one ZIP. It runs in your browser, so the PDF is never uploaded, and there is nothing to set and no sign-up.

Question 57

Why did Extract Images find no images in my PDF — and what happens with a scanned PDF?

Accepted Answer

Extract Images can only pull out pictures that are stored in the file as images. Artwork drawn as vector shapes — lines and fills, such as many charts and diagrams — is not a stored image, so there is nothing to extract, and the tool says so rather than inventing a file. A scanned PDF is the opposite case: each scanned page is itself a stored image, so the tool returns the page picture as a PNG. If instead you want a picture of a whole page exactly as it looks, use PDF to JPG, which renders pages as images.

Question 58

What is Bates numbering, and when do I need it?

Accepted Answer

Bates numbering is the page-labelling system used on legal documents: every page gets its own unique, sequential stamp — a prefix plus a zero-padded number, such as CASE-000001, CASE-000002 — so any single page of a large set can be identified and cited exactly. Lawyers and paralegals use it when producing documents in discovery or disclosure, and on exhibit and case bundles. In Bates Numbering here you set the prefix, an optional suffix, the starting number, the digit padding (none, 4, 6 or 8), the position, the font size and the colour, and every page of one PDF is stamped in order.

Question 59

Can I Bates-stamp a password-protected or signed PDF, or change the numbers later?

Accepted Answer

A PDF that asks for a password just to open it cannot be loaded for stamping — unlock it first with Unlock PDF, using a password you already know. Stamp before signing, not after: the numbers are drawn onto the pages and baked into the downloaded copy, so stamping a document that already carries a digital signature would change the file and break that signature's seal. For the same reason the numbers are fixed text, not a live counter — if pages are added, deleted or reordered afterwards, re-run the tool on your original un-numbered file rather than editing the stamped copy.

Question 60

How do I change the title or author stored inside a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Edit Metadata and add your PDF — the form shows the properties the file already carries: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords and Creator. Edit whichever fields are wrong, then click Save metadata and the corrected copy downloads with “-metadata” added to its name. It is free, there is no sign-up, and the file is processed in your browser, never uploaded.

Question 61

Does editing a PDF's metadata change the document itself?

Accepted Answer

No. Only the five properties — Title, Author, Subject, Keywords and Creator — are rewritten, and the modification date is updated; the pages, text and pictures are untouched. Two honest details: the Producer named in the note under the form is shown for information only and cannot be edited, and the changes live in the downloaded copy — your original file keeps its old properties.

Question 62

How do I convert a PDF to black and white for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Grayscale PDF, add your PDF and click Convert to black & white — there are no settings to pick. Every page is re-drawn in greyscale at the same page size, and the converted copy downloads with “-grayscale” added to its name. It runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded, and there is no sign-up.

Question 63

Why can't I select or search the text in my grayscale PDF?

Accepted Answer

Because of how the conversion works: each page is re-drawn as an image, so the words become part of a picture and there is no text layer left to select or search — the tool states this before you run it. Your colour original is never changed, so keep it as your searchable copy; if you need the greyscale version searchable too, run it through OCR PDF, which reads the pages and adds a real text layer back.

Question 64

How do I add bookmarks to a PDF for free?

Accepted Answer

Open Create Bookmarks and add your PDF, then build the list: press “+ Add bookmark” for each entry and give it a title and the page it should jump to, or press “Suggest from headings” to have the tool propose bookmarks from the document's own heading-sized text, in page order. Click Save PDF with bookmarks and the copy downloads with “-bookmarks” added to its name — readers show the outline in their bookmarks sidebar. It is free, with no sign-up, and the file never leaves your device.