Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Every single tool on PDFly is 100% free — all 55+ tools, including OCR, AI PDF Chat, batch processing, and more. No daily limits, no file size caps, no watermarks, no subscription. You don't even need to create an account.

There is no Pro plan — everything is free! All 55+ tools, including OCR, AI PDF Chat & Summarizer, Batch Processing (50+ files), PDF Repair, PDF Redaction, AI PDF Translator (100+ languages), PDF Comparison, and PDF to PowerPoint are available to everyone at no cost.

Never. Unlike some competitors that add watermarks to free-tier output, PDFly never adds watermarks to any file, on any plan. Your output is always clean and professional.

No. All tools are unlimited. Use merge, split, compress, rotate, OCR, AI Chat, and every other tool as many times as you need, every day, with no caps.

No account required. You can use every tool on PDFly without signing up, logging in, or providing any personal information. Just open the tool page and start processing your files immediately.

Yes! PDFly is fully mobile-responsive and works directly in your phone or tablet's browser — no app installation needed. Whether you're on iPhone, Android, or iPad, all tools function smoothly with touch-friendly interfaces.

Yes, PDFly works on all operating systems. Since it runs in your browser, it's platform-independent. Use it on macOS, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, or any OS with a modern web browser like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

No. PDFly is entirely browser-based. There's nothing to download, install, or update. Just visit the website, pick a tool, and start working. All processing happens right in your browser using WebAssembly.

PDFly offers 55+ tools covering everything from basic operations like merge, split, and compress to advanced features like OCR, AI PDF Chat, PDF Repair, PDF Redaction, AI Translation, PDF Comparison, and batch processing.

Yes! PDFly supports 20+ languages, and our AI PDF Translator can translate documents into 100+ languages. The interface is available in major languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and more.

Absolutely. PDFly is free for both personal and commercial use. Businesses, freelancers, students, and organizations can use all tools without any restrictions, licensing fees, or attribution requirements.

PDFly is supported by non-intrusive advertising. We believe great tools should be accessible to everyone, so we keep all features free while running minimal, relevant ads. We never sell user data — because we never collect it.

Yes! PDFly offers a developer API that lets you integrate PDF processing capabilities into your own applications. Check out our API documentation at the API Docs page for endpoints, rate limits, and usage examples.

We'd love to hear your ideas! Visit our Recommend a Tool page or contact us through the Help Center. We actively build new tools based on user feedback and regularly add new features.

We continuously improve PDFly and add new tools based on user demand. Check our Changelog page to see the latest updates, new tools, and feature improvements. We typically release new tools every few weeks.

Yes! PDFly has an affiliate program that lets you earn revenue by referring users. Visit our Affiliate Program page to learn more about commission rates, tracking, and how to join.

Absolutely. All processing happens directly in your browser using WebAssembly. Your files are never uploaded to any server, never stored, and never seen by anyone but you. This is our core differentiator — unlike iLovePDF and Smallpdf, which upload your files to their servers, PDFly keeps everything on your device.

There is no file size limit. Because processing happens in your browser, the only constraint is your device's available memory. We've successfully processed PDFs over 500MB on standard laptops.

Once the page is loaded, most tools work completely offline since they run client-side. The AI PDF Chat and AI Translator require an internet connection to communicate with AI models, but all other tools work without any connection.

No. PDFly never stores, caches, or retains any of your files. Since all processing happens locally in your browser, your files never touch our servers. When you close the tab, everything is gone — there's nothing to delete because nothing was ever uploaded.

No. Because all file processing happens in your browser, no one at PDFly — or anywhere else — can see your documents. There is no server-side processing, no cloud storage, and no way for anyone to access your files. Your privacy is built into the architecture.

Nothing — because they never left your device. The processed file is generated in your browser and offered as a download. The original file and the output exist only in your browser's memory. When you close or refresh the page, all data is automatically cleared.

Yes. PDFly is inherently GDPR-friendly because we don't collect, process, or store personal data through our tools. Since files are processed locally and never uploaded, there's no data processing in the traditional sense. We also have a comprehensive Privacy Policy that outlines our minimal data practices.

PDFly uses minimal cookies necessary for the site to function (like remembering your theme preference). We may use analytics to understand aggregate usage patterns, but we never track individual users or link activity to personal identities. See our Cookies Policy for full details.

Yes! Our PDF Password Protect tool lets you add AES-256 encryption to any PDF. Set a password that anyone opening the document will need to enter. This is recommended before emailing contracts, financial statements, or sensitive documents.

Yes. Use our Unlock PDF tool to remove password protection from a PDF. You'll need to know the current password to unlock the file. Once unlocked, the PDF can be freely edited, merged, split, or converted.

PDF redaction permanently removes sensitive content — like names, addresses, social security numbers, or financial data — from a document. Unlike simply drawing a black box over text (which can be removed), PDFly's Redact PDF tool truly purges the underlying content so it cannot be recovered by any tool.

Yes. When you use PDFly's Redact PDF tool, the selected text and images are permanently removed from the PDF structure — not just covered up. The content is purged from the file, making it impossible to recover the redacted information, even with advanced PDF tools.

No. When you password-protect a PDF, the password is used to encrypt the file and is never stored anywhere — not on our servers, not in your browser. This is what makes the encryption secure. If you forget the password, the PDF cannot be unlocked. Always store your passwords safely.

Yes. When you upload a file to a server-based tool, your document travels over the internet, sits on someone else's server, and is processed by software you don't control. With PDFly's client-side processing, your file never leaves your device. There's no interception risk, no server breach risk, and no data retention risk.

Yes. Since files never leave your browser, PDFly is ideal for confidential documents like legal contracts, medical records, financial statements, and government files. Many professionals choose PDFly specifically because it eliminates the risk of uploading sensitive data to third-party servers.

Most tools require the PDF to be unlocked first. If your PDF is password-protected, use our Unlock PDF tool to remove the password (you'll need to know it), then use any other tool. Once processed, you can re-protect the output with the Password Protect tool.

Open the Merge PDF tool, drag and drop two or more PDF files, arrange them in your desired order, and click merge. The combined PDF is generated instantly in your browser. Perfect for combining certificates, invoices, or application documents into a single submission.

Use the Split PDF tool to extract specific pages or page ranges from a larger PDF. You can split by page numbers (e.g., pages 1-5, 6-10), extract individual pages, or break every page into a separate file. The output is clean with no quality loss.

Use the Compress PDF tool and choose a light or balanced compression level. Text in PDFs is stored as vector data, so it never blurs during compression — only embedded images and scans are optimized. At moderate settings, the visual difference is imperceptible while file size can drop by 40-80%.

Yes. Use the Compress PDF tool with the strongest compression setting, then check the output file size. If it's still too large, try removing unnecessary pages with Split PDF or Delete Pages first, then compress again. This is commonly needed for online form submissions with strict size limits.

Open the PDF to Word tool, upload your PDF, and download an editable .docx file that preserves layout, fonts, and tables. For scanned PDFs that are image-only, run them through the OCR tool first to make the text selectable, then convert to Word.

Use the Word to PDF tool. Simply upload your .docx file and download a perfectly formatted PDF. The conversion preserves fonts, images, tables, hyperlinks, and page layout — all processed locally in your browser for maximum privacy.

Yes! The PDF to Excel tool extracts tables and tabular data from your PDF and converts them into an editable .xlsx spreadsheet. For best results, ensure your PDF contains actual table structures rather than images of tables.

Use the PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG tool. Each page of your PDF is rendered as a high-resolution image. Choose JPG for smaller file sizes or PNG for lossless quality. You can convert all pages or select specific pages.

Yes. Use the JPG to PDF, PNG to PDF, or Images to PDF tool. Drag and drop your images, arrange them in order, and download a single PDF document. Supports JPG, PNG, WebP, and other common image formats.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) analyzes the images of text in scanned PDFs and converts them into real, selectable, and searchable text. PDFly uses Tesseract.js, a powerful open-source OCR engine that runs entirely in your browser. After OCR, your scanned document becomes fully searchable and copyable.

A scanned PDF is essentially an image of a page, so there's no text to select or search. Run it through the OCR PDF tool first, which recognizes the text and adds a searchable text layer. After OCR, you can search, copy, and convert the text normally.

Yes! Use the Edit PDF tool to add text, shapes, drawings, and annotations directly on your PDF pages. For major text rewrites, convert the PDF to Word first, make your edits, then convert it back to PDF using the Word to PDF tool.

Yes. The Rotate PDF tool lets you rotate individual pages or all pages by 90, 180, or 270 degrees. This is especially useful for fixing scanned documents with mixed page orientations or sideways pages.

Use the Delete PDF Pages tool to visually select and remove unwanted pages. You can remove individual pages or page ranges. The remaining pages are renumbered automatically and the output is a clean, smaller PDF.

Yes! The Reorder PDF Pages and Organize PDF tools let you drag and drop pages into any order. You can also duplicate pages, move them around, and preview the result before downloading. It's like a visual page manager for your PDF.

Yes. The PDF Page Numbers tool lets you add customizable page numbers with control over position (top/bottom, left/center/right), format (1, 1 of 10, Page 1, etc.), font size, and starting page number. Perfect for reports, manuals, and legal documents.

Yes! The PDF Watermark tool lets you add text or image watermarks with customizable opacity, position, size, and rotation. Use it to brand documents, mark drafts, or add confidentiality notices. The watermark is embedded directly into the PDF.

Yes. Use the Sign PDF tool to draw your signature with your mouse or finger, or upload an image of your signature. Place it anywhere on the page, resize as needed, and download the signed PDF. No printing required.

The AI PDF Chat tool lets you upload a PDF and ask questions about its content in natural language. The AI reads your document and provides answers with citations. It can summarize sections, extract key points, find specific information, and more. The chat requires an internet connection to communicate with AI models.

Yes! The PDF Summarizer tool uses AI to generate concise summaries of your documents. It can create executive summaries, extract key takeaways, highlight important sections, and reduce long documents to their essential points — all in seconds.

Yes! The AI PDF Translator tool can translate your PDF content into 100+ languages while preserving the document layout. It uses advanced AI models to provide natural, accurate translations. The translated document maintains the original formatting and structure.

Yes. The PDF Form Filler and Fill PDF tools let you fill interactive PDF forms directly in your browser. Add text to form fields, check boxes, and save the completed form. No need to print, fill by hand, and scan back.

PDF flattening merges all form fields, annotations, and interactive elements into the page content, making them permanent and non-editable. Use the Flatten PDF tool before sharing documents to ensure form data and annotations can't be accidentally modified, or before printing to guarantee consistent output.

Yes! The PDF Repair tool attempts to rebuild the internal structure of corrupted or damaged PDF files. It can fix truncated files, broken cross-reference tables, missing headers, and other structural issues. This is a unique tool that most competitors don't offer.

Yes. The PDF Compare tool lets you upload two PDFs and highlights the differences between them. It identifies added, removed, and changed content, making it ideal for reviewing contract revisions, comparing document versions, or auditing changes.

Yes. Use the Extract Text from PDF or PDF to Text tool to pull all text content from your PDF into a plain text file. This is useful for copying content, feeding text into other tools, or making scanned documents searchable after OCR.

Yes! The Extract Images from PDF tool pulls all embedded images from your PDF and lets you download them individually or as a batch. Great for recovering photos, logos, charts, or diagrams from PDF documents.

Yes. The Crop PDF tool lets you visually select the area you want to keep on each page by dragging the borders. Everything outside the crop area is removed. Useful for removing margins, headers, footers, or isolating specific content.

Yes! The PDF to PowerPoint tool converts your PDF into an editable .pptx presentation. Each PDF page becomes a slide, with text and images preserved. Perfect for turning reports or proposals into presentation-ready slideshows.

Yes. The PDF to HTML tool converts your PDF into a clean HTML file that preserves text, images, and basic formatting. This is useful for web publishing, content migration, or making PDF content accessible on websites.

Yes! Use the URL to PDF or Webpage to PDF tool. Simply enter the URL of the webpage you want to convert, and PDFly generates a PDF version of the page. Great for archiving web content, saving articles, or creating offline copies.

Yes! The Batch PDF tool lets you process 50+ files simultaneously. You can batch merge, compress, convert, rotate, or apply other operations to multiple files in one go. Results are downloaded as a ZIP file. This is a huge time-saver for repetitive tasks.

Yes. The PDF Metadata Editor tool lets you view and edit document properties including title, author, subject, keywords, and creation date. This is important for SEO, document organization, and professional document management.

Yes! The EPUB to PDF tool converts ebook files into PDF format. This is useful for reading ebooks on devices that don't support EPUB, printing ebook content, or creating a fixed-layout version of a reflowable document.

Yes. The PDF to Markdown tool converts your PDF content into clean Markdown format with heading detection, list formatting, and code block preservation. Perfect for developers, technical writers, and content teams who work in Markdown.

Use the Annotate PDF tool to add highlights, sticky notes, text comments, drawings, shapes, and stamps to your PDF. Annotations are fully editable and can be removed or modified before saving. Great for collaboration and document review.

Yes. The PDF to PDF/A tool converts your PDF into the PDF/A archival standard, ensuring long-term document preservation. PDF/A embeds all fonts and colors, removes features that may become obsolete, and is required by many government and legal archiving standards.

Yes! The CSV to PDF tool converts comma-separated value files into formatted PDF documents. Useful for creating reports from data exports, presenting tabular data, or converting spreadsheet data into a shareable format.

Yes. The TXT to PDF tool converts plain text files into clean, formatted PDF documents. You can customize font, size, margins, and page size. Perfect for converting notes, code files, or any text document into a professional PDF.

Yes! Use the Scanned PDF to Word tool, which combines OCR and PDF-to-Word conversion in one step. It first recognizes the text in your scanned pages using OCR, then converts it into an editable Word document — all in your browser.

Yes! The PDF Reader tool lets you view and read PDFs directly in your browser with a clean, distraction-free interface. It supports page navigation, zoom, search, and thumbnail previews — all without uploading your file to any server.

Yes! The PDF Generator tool lets you create a new PDF from text input. Type or paste your content, choose formatting options like font, size, and page layout, and generate a professional PDF — no source document needed.

Merging combines two or more separate PDF files into a single document. Compressing reduces the file size of one document by optimizing images, fonts, and metadata. Many workflows use both: merge your documents first, then compress the result for emailing or uploading.

Yes! The Excel to PDF tool converts .xlsx files into PDF documents while preserving formatting, formulas (as values), charts, and layout. Perfect for sharing spreadsheets in a non-editable, universally viewable format.

Yes. The PowerPoint to PDF tool converts .pptx files into PDF documents. Each slide becomes a page in the PDF, preserving layouts, images, and text. Great for sharing presentations with people who don't have PowerPoint installed.

PDFly is 100% free — no subscription, no trial limits. It processes files client-side for maximum privacy, has no daily limits, never adds watermarks, and doesn't require signup. Competitors typically charge $7-12/mo for similar features. We also offer unique tools like PDF Repair and AI PDF Chat that most competitors don't have.

For most everyday PDF tasks — merge, split, compress, convert, rotate, sign, OCR — PDFly does everything Acrobat does, for free, in your browser. Adobe Acrobat costs $19.99/mo and requires installation. PDFly is free, requires no installation, and processes files privately in your browser. For advanced print-prepress or enterprise features, Acrobat may still be needed.

Sejda limits free users to 3 tasks per hour and 50MB file sizes. PDFly has no task limits, no file size limits, and no hourly caps. Sejda also processes files on its servers, while PDFly processes everything in your browser for maximum privacy. PDFly also offers AI-powered tools that Sejda doesn't have.

PDFsam is a desktop application that requires installation, while PDFly runs entirely in your browser. PDFsam Basic is free but limited to merge/split/rotate. PDFly offers 55+ tools all free, including AI Chat, OCR, Repair, Redaction, and Translation — features that require PDFsam's paid versions or aren't available at all.

PDFly requires no installation, works on any device with a browser, processes files privately on your device, and is completely free. Desktop software like Adobe Acrobat costs $100-300/year, requires installation and updates, and is tied to one computer. PDFly gives you 55+ tools accessible from anywhere, at no cost.

Yes. Most paid PDF subscriptions ($7-20/mo) offer the same core features PDFly provides for free: merge, split, compress, convert, OCR, sign, and protect. PDFly matches or exceeds these features while adding AI-powered tools, batch processing, and PDF Repair — all at no cost, with superior privacy.

Most online PDF tools (iLovePDF, Smallpdf, Sejda) upload your files to their servers for processing. This means your documents exist on someone else's infrastructure, are subject to their retention policies, and could be exposed in a breach. PDFly processes everything locally in your browser — files never leave your device, making it the most private option available.

For the vast majority of users, yes. PDFly covers all common PDF operations: merge, split, compress, convert to/from Word/Excel/PowerPoint/images, OCR, sign, protect, redact, annotate, and AI-powered chat/summarize/translate. The only scenarios where paid software might still be needed are advanced print-prepress workflows or enterprise document management systems.

PDFgear is a desktop app that requires download and installation, while PDFly works instantly in your browser. PDFly offers client-side processing (files never leave your device), 55+ tools, AI-powered features, and no installation. PDFgear has a smaller tool set and requires software installation on each device you use.

PDFly is supported by non-intrusive advertising rather than subscriptions. We believe essential document tools should be accessible to everyone. Our client-side architecture also keeps our server costs minimal — since files are processed in your browser, we don't need expensive server farms. This lets us offer everything for free.