Tips & Tricks

Smart tips to get more done with your PDFs.

How to Clean Up a PDF Before Long-Term Archiving
Archiving a PDF is not the same as saving it. A saved PDF sits on your hard drive in whatever state it was last used.
How to Unlock a PDF When You Forgot the Password
You set a password on a PDF months ago. Now you need to open it, and the password is gone.
How to Reuse PDF Content in Other Documents Without Reformatting
A PDF arrives containing a table, a chart, or a block of text that you need in your report, your presentation, or your analysis spreadsheet.
How to Optimize a Scanned PDF for Fast Web Viewing
A scanned PDF fresh from a scanner or a phone camera is often too large for practical web use.
How to Handle PDFs That Contain Embedded Files
A PDF is not just a container for pages. It can contain other files embedded inside it: spreadsheets, images, audio clips, other PDFs, even...
How to Prepare a PDF for a Professional Print Shop
A PDF that looks perfect on screen can produce disappointing results from a professional print shop. Colors shift. Fonts render differently.
How to Split a PDF by Content Type Instead of Page Count
Splitting a PDF by page count is straightforward: extract pages 1 through 10, save as a new file, repeat.
How to Delete Unwanted PDF Pages Without Re-Uploading
A PDF arrives with a blank page at the end. Or a scanned document includes the scanner's test page.
How to Upload PDFs Faster: Drag and Drop vs File Picker
Uploading a PDF to an online tool involves one of two actions: you either drag the file onto the browser window or you click a button and navigate...
How to Test a PDF Tool Before Committing to It
Switching PDF tools after you have built a workflow around one is disruptive. Your team has learned the interface.
How to Track Your PDF Processing History Across Sessions
You processed a PDF last Tuesday. You need to process it again with different settings, but you cannot remember which settings you used the first...
How to Create Templates for Repetitive PDF Tasks
Every week you process the same PDFs the same way. The monthly invoice gets compressed and emailed.
How to Speed Up PDF Processing in Any Online Tool
PDF processing speed is not fixed. The same file, the same operation, the same tool can take thirty seconds or three minutes depending on factors you...
How to Ensure PDF Output Meets Submission Requirements
A job application portal, a government grant submission system, a court filing platform, an academic journal's manuscript upload page.
How to Reduce PDF Size to Meet a Specific Platform Limit
A PDF that uploads fine to Google Drive gets rejected by a government portal.
How to Check If an Online PDF Tool Is Currently Working
You open your PDF tool, upload a file, click process, and nothing happens. Or the page loads but the upload button is broken.
How to Handle Timeout Errors in Online PDF Tools
You upload a PDF, click process, and wait. The progress bar moves. Then it stops.
How to Batch Rename PDFs Before Online Processing
A folder full of PDFs named "document.pdf," "document(1).pdf," and "final_version_v3_updated.
How to Print a PDF Without Fonts Changing or Missing
You open a PDF on your computer and the document looks exactly as the designer intended. Every heading is in the correct brand font.
How to Merge PDFs Without Adding Unwanted Blank Pages
You merge three PDFs. The first has twelve pages. The second has eight. The third has five.