Guides & tips for working with PDFs
Practical how-tos, behind-the-scenes notes, and product updates from the team behind Blackpdf.
How to Split a PDF Into Multiple Files
Step-by-step guide to splitting a PDF online: by page range or into individual pages. Free, no installation required.
Convert PDFs
Move documents in and out of PDF — Word, Excel, images, JPGs, and PDF versions.
Convert PDFs
Move documents in and out of PDF — Word, Excel, images, JPGs, and PDF versions.
How to Convert Excel to PDF
Convert an Excel spreadsheet to PDF: pick the page size, orientation, fit method, and which sheets to include. Step-by-step guide for clean output.
How to Convert an Image to PDF
Convert JPG, PNG, or other images to a PDF document. Step-by-step guide with page size, orientation, multi-image layouts, and page numbering.
How to Convert a PDF to Excel
Convert a PDF to an editable Excel spreadsheet: extract tables cleanly, handle scanned PDFs, and know which formatting survives. Step-by-step guide.
How to Convert Word to PDF
Convert a Word document to PDF online: keep formatting, hyperlinks, and bookmarks intact. Step-by-step with quality settings and PDF/A export.
How to Convert a PDF to JPG
Convert PDF pages to JPG, PNG, WebP, or TIFF images. Step-by-step guide with the right quality setting and format for web, print, and archiving.
How to Change a PDF's Version (1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 2.0)
Step-by-step guide to changing a PDF's version header — when you need to, which target to pick, and how the lossless rewrite works.
How to Convert a PDF to Word
Convert PDF to editable Word documents: handle scanned PDFs, preserve formatting, and understand what survives the conversion. Step-by-step guide.
PDF vs PDF/A: Which One Should You Use?
PDF vs PDF/A explained: what the archival format changes, when courts and regulators require it, and when standard PDF is the better everyday choice.
Edit & organize
Rearrange pages, add page numbers, rotate, watermark, and flatten.
Edit & organize
Rearrange pages, add page numbers, rotate, watermark, and flatten.
How to Add Page Numbers to a PDF
Add page numbers to a PDF: pick the format, position, font, and starting number. Step-by-step guide for documents that need a clean numbering scheme.
How to Flatten a PDF (And When You Actually Need To)
Flatten a PDF to bake annotations, form fields, signatures, and layers into the page. Step-by-step guide, plus when flattening is required and when it isn't.
How to Extract Pages from a PDF
Pull specific pages out of a PDF as a new file. Step-by-step guide for extracting one page, a range, or every page individually.
How to Rotate a PDF (Fix Sideways Pages)
Rotate pages in a PDF document: all pages at once, just the sideways ones, or one page at a time. Step-by-step guide with the permanent-rotation gotcha.
How to Add a Watermark to a PDF
Add a text or image watermark to a PDF: presets like Confidential and Draft, custom text, opacity, rotation, and position. Step-by-step guide.
How to Delete Pages from a PDF
Remove blank pages, covers, or anything else you don't want from a PDF. Step-by-step guide with bulk selection and tips for large documents.
Delete, Extract, or Split a PDF? When Each One Is the Right Tool
Three tools, three different goals: delete the pages you don't want, extract the ones you do, or split a file into multiple PDFs. Here's how to pick the right one.
How to Merge PDFs Into One File
How to merge PDFs into a single document: drag, reorder, combine. Includes page-level merging and what to do for password-protected or large files.
Security & signing
Password protection, redaction, encryption, and signatures.
Security & signing
Password protection, redaction, encryption, and signatures.
How PDF Encryption Works (And When It's Not Enough)
What PDF passwords actually protect, user vs owner passwords, why older PDFs are crackable, and when you need more than a password.
Digital Signature vs Electronic Signature
Electronic, digital, and e-signature get used interchangeably but they're different. Here's what each term actually means, legally and technically.
How to Redact a PDF (Hide Sensitive Information)
Permanently redact sensitive content from a PDF: manual marking, find-and-redact text search, or auto-detect for emails, phones, and SSNs. Step-by-step guide.
How to Unlock a PDF (Remove Password Protection)
Remove password protection from a PDF you have the password for. Step-by-step guide, plus what to do if you've forgotten the password.
How to Password-Protect a PDF
Add a password to a PDF so only people with the password can open it. Step-by-step guide, plus how to pick a strong password and what to do if you forget it.
How to Sign a PDF Online
Add a signature to a PDF online: draw it, type it, or upload an image. Step-by-step guide, plus how to lock the signature so it can't be moved.
Compress & OCR
Shrink files and make scanned PDFs searchable.
Compress & OCR
Shrink files and make scanned PDFs searchable.
How to OCR a PDF (Make Scans Searchable)
Run OCR on a scanned PDF to make the text searchable, copyable, and screen-reader friendly. Step-by-step, plus how to pick the right language.
How to Compress a PDF Without Losing Quality
Compress a PDF online without losing quality. Step-by-step guide to preset levels, custom target file sizes, and flatten-then-compress for stubborn files.
Concepts & standards
Explainers on PDF versions, PDF/A, accessibility, and the ecosystem.
Concepts & standards
Explainers on PDF versions, PDF/A, accessibility, and the ecosystem.
How to Compare Two PDFs and Spot the Differences
Compare two versions of a PDF side by side, as an overlay, or as a highlighted difference view. Step-by-step guide for catching changes between revisions.
How to Crop a PDF (Trim Margins or Adjust Pages)
Crop margins from a PDF or trim pages to a specific area. Step-by-step guide with auto-crop, precise margin values, and per-page versus whole-document crops.
PDF Accessibility Explained: Tagged PDFs and PDF/UA
Why some PDFs work with screen readers and others don't, what tagged PDFs are, how PDF/UA differs from PDF/A, and what makes a PDF legally accessible.
How to Resize PDF Pages to a Uniform Size
Fix a PDF with uneven page sizes. Resize pages to A4, Letter, Legal, or a custom size, choose how content scales, and normalize only the outliers.
Why a PDF's Pages End Up Different Sizes (and How Page Boxes Work)
A PDF stores a size on every page, not one for the whole file. Here's why pages drift apart, what MediaBox and CropBox actually do, and how to make them match.
PDF Versions Explained: What 1.4, 1.7, and 2.0 Actually Mean
Every PDF carries a version number in its header — 1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 2.0. Here's what each version adds, which one a system will accept, and when to change it.