Guides
How to use free PDF tools without uploading
Compression, email limits, splitting, merging, page sizes, photos, and hidden text in PDFs. Each guide is based on tests with real files and says how it was measured.
5 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
How to compress a PDF without losing quality
Low and Recommended re-encode the images and keep the text layer. High redraws every page as a picture. Measured on a scanned lease and on a text-only report.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
Compress a PDF for email attachment limits
Mail limits apply to the encoded message, not to the file on your disk. Measured numbers for picking a compression level, and when splitting beats compressing.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
Split a PDF without uploading it: page ranges and shared resources
Extract a range, or turn every page into its own file. Splitting copies pages without resampling, which is also why an extract can stay surprisingly large. Measured on a 40-page report.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
Why a merged PDF looks wrong, and what a merge actually keeps
A merge copies each page as it is. Mixed paper sizes and rotation flags survive; bookmarks, document titles, and internal links do not. Measured on real test files.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
Letter vs A4 in PDF page sizing
Letter is wider and shorter. A4 is narrower and taller. The exact scaling and clipping when one is printed on the other, and how to check what a PDF really uses.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
JPG vs PDF for scanned documents
A JPEG is one picture. A PDF is a page container that can hold many. What we measured when wrapping 12 phone photos into a PDF, and what came along inside them.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
Resize images for Instagram’s 1080×1440 post size
The 3:4 preset fits your photo inside 1080×1440; it does not crop it. Measured results for a landscape photo and a cropped one, plus what happens to location data.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
PDF metadata and hidden text: what “redacted” documents still contain
A black rectangle is a drawing, not a deletion. We built a covered-up offer letter and checked what could still be read, copied, and found in the bytes.
Read4 min read · Updated 2026-09-27
iLovePDF, Smallpdf, or an on-device tool: a fair comparison
iLovePDF and Smallpdf are capable services with apps, OCR, and e-signing. UnlimitedPDF does fewer things, all on your device. How to choose between them.
Read