A complete offline toolkit for PDF files, pictures, Office documents and video, for Windows. Everything runs on your own computer: no internet, no account, no telemetry.

Wiki: https://sourceforge.net/p/kerimspdftools/wiki/5.5/
Download (latest 5.5-release): https://sourceforge.net/projects/kerimspdftools/files/5.5-modern/
Documentation (PDF): https://sourceforge.net/p/kerimspdftools/wiki/5.5/attachment/Kerims_PDF_Tools_Documentation_5.5.pdf
Files: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kerimspdftools/files/5.5-modern/

Kerim's PDF Tools 5.5-modern - Interface and Features

The interface

Main window

The window has a sidebar on the left and the work area on the right.

Search tools... at the top of the sidebar: type a part of a name (for example water or rename) and the list shows only the matching tools
38 tools in 7 groups, each group with its own colour dot: Core PDF, Convert, Modify PDFs, Forms & Privacy, Media, Analysis & Archive, Help
The work area shows the title and a one-line description of the tool, then its settings. Tools that change pages show a live preview: thumbnails on the left, the big page on the right, with page buttons, zoom (- + Fit), page jump and a Result / Original switch
Theme button (bottom left): Auto (follows Windows), Light, Dark, Midnight, Sand, Emerald, Violet
Recent files button (bottom left): files you used and files the session made, ready to send to another tool
Drag a file onto any input box instead of pressing Browse
The window maximizes by itself when you load a PDF into a tool with a preview
Three rules that always hold: the original file is never overwritten (every tool writes a new file); look first, then save (nothing is final until you press the big button); everything is offline

Themes

Requirements and start

Windows 10 or 11, Windows PowerShell 5.1 (included), Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime for the text editor (included with Windows 10 / 11)
Download, extract the archive completely, keep the LIBS folder next to the script, double-click START.bat

Components

Thanks to the authors and communities of these projects. They are used unchanged and every component lives under LIBS.

Component	Used for
PDFium (`LIBS\pdfium`)	fast page pictures, positions of words on a page
Microsoft Edge WebView2 (`LIBS\webview2`)	shows the text editor
ProseMirror	editing core of the text editor
Ghostscript	draws pages, converts and compresses
qpdf	fast, safe page and structure work
PDFtk Server	stamping and some older functions
FFmpeg	video and audio
PSWriteOffice	Word, Excel and PowerPoint conversion
Poppler (optional)	page pictures and text

New in 5.5

What's New in 5.5

Interleave Merge, one of the new tools of version 5.5.

Everything that was added or changed since the previous release, 5.4-modern. The tool count went from 31 to 38.

New tools

Interleave Merge - mix the pages of several PDFs one by one (front sides and back sides scanned as two files)
Rasterize PDF - turn every page into a picture and build a new PDF from the pictures
PDF to EPUB / MD / Excel - save a PDF as Markdown, EPUB or Excel (tables)
EPUB to PDF - an e-book as PDF
Remove Watermark - finds repeating text, picture and stamp watermarks; you tick the ones to remove
Annotations - list comments, highlights and notes; remove the ticked kinds or flatten them
PDF Collage - many pages of one or several PDFs on grid sheets
Metadata Edit - change title, author, subject, keywords and dates (now one tab with View / Clean)

Changed in existing tools

PDF Merge: Bookmark per file and Keep own bookmarks (both optional, off by default); the pages of the chosen file are shown
Metadata: choose the dates of the cleaned file (in the PDF and in Windows) with a date and time picker
PDF Collage and N-up & Booklet: choose a sheet colour with the colour picker (painted behind the pages; No colour keeps the paper white)
PDF Split: Split by file size (KB or MB); Preview parts shows the pages and the real size of every part
Grayscale: Boost contrast keeps white pages white, so no boxes remain where Remove Header / Footer covered something
Rotate / Delete Pages: Add to list works when pages are only marked for deletion

The text editor (Edit & Organize)

File > New PDF document starts from a blank page
Replace swaps a picture for another one in the same place and size
Crop: select a picture, press Crop and drag the black handles; drag back to restore. The cut is kept when you save the PDF
Dark themes (Midnight and others): the toolbar, menus, find bar and dialogs use the colours of the theme
Minimize, maximize and close stay on the first toolbar row, at the right

The left list

The groups (Core PDF, Convert, Modify PDFs ...) fold and unfold like spoilers; only the group of the open tool is open at first
Search tools uses the same words as this help: type what you want to do (for example remove footer, edit pdf file) and the matching tools are listed, the best first

Recent files

Send to tool lists every tool that can take the file, and the file lands in the box you see (also in Metadata with its two pages)
An EPUB file can be sent to EPUB to PDF; a PDF to PDF to EPUB / MD / Excel

Known limits

Remove Watermark cannot remove a watermark that is part of a scanned page picture
OCR is not included yet
The illustrated User Guide (PDF, 104 pages) describes every tool of version 5.5, screenshot by screenshot

Tip: The full list with download links is also in the file CHANGELOG on the project pages.

Interleave Merge

Interleave Merge: mix the pages of several PDFs one by one.

Mix the pages of several PDFs one by one: page 1 of A, page 1 of B, page 2 of A, page 2 of B...

Steps

Add two or more PDFs to the list
Set the order with Move Up / Move Down
Click the merge button and choose where to save

Notes

Page numbers printed on the pages are not changed, so they look mixed in the result. This is expected
When a file has fewer pages, the others go on until they end
The originals are never changed

Tip: Typical use: front sides and back sides scanned as two separate files.

Rasterize PDF

Rasterize PDF: turn every page into a picture inside a PDF.

Turn every page into a picture and build a new PDF from the pictures. Text can no longer be selected, but the look is fixed.

Steps

Choose the PDF
Choose the quality (DPI)
Click the button and choose where to save

Notes

A higher DPI means a sharper page and a bigger file
Good for removing hidden layers, odd fonts or content that does not print well

Warning: The text is lost as text. Keep the original if you need to search or copy from it.

PDF to EPUB / MD / Excel

PDF to EPUB / MD / Excel: choose the target format and what to recognise.

Save a PDF in other formats: Markdown (.md), EPUB, and Excel (.xlsx) for the tables.

Steps

Choose the PDF
Choose the format
Click the export button

Notes

Markdown and EPUB keep headings, paragraphs and lists as well as the text allows
Excel export looks for tables and puts each in its own sheet
Scanned pages have no text, so they give nothing

Tip: To go the other way, use EPUB to PDF.

EPUB to PDF

EPUB to PDF: make a PDF from an EPUB book.

Make a PDF from an EPUB book.

Steps

Choose the .epub file
Check the output name
Click the convert button

Notes

Protected (DRM) books cannot be converted
Complex layouts can look a little different from the reader

Metadata Edit

The Edit tab: change the fields and the dates of the PDF and of the new file in Windows.

Read and change the information stored in a PDF: title, author, subject, keywords, and the Created and Modified dates.

This is the Edit page of the tab Metadata View/Edit/Clean (the other page is View / Clean).

Steps

Open the tab Metadata View/Edit/Clean and its Edit page
Choose the PDF; its current values appear
Change the fields you want
Click save and choose the output name

Notes

The original is not changed, a new file is saved
To remove the hidden data instead, use the View / Clean page of the same tab

Remove Watermark

Remove Watermark: find watermarks and remove the ticked ones.

Find a watermark that repeats on the pages and take it out.

Steps

Choose the PDF
Click FIND: the program lists what looks like a watermark (text, picture, stamp)
Tick the ones to remove
Click REMOVE and choose where to save

Notes

Works when the watermark is a separate object on the page
A watermark that is baked into the page picture (scans) cannot be removed
Check the result: the program shows what it found, but you decide

Warning: Remove a watermark only from files you own or have the right to change.

Annotations

Annotations: find comments and marks, remove or flatten them.

List all comments, highlights, notes and drawings of a PDF, and remove or flatten them.

Steps

Choose the PDF and click FIND
The list shows page, type, text and author
Tick the types to remove and click REMOVE TICKED, or click FLATTEN ALL to make them part of the page
SAVE LIST writes the list to a text file

Notes

Form fields are not touched here (use Form Fill & Flatten)
Flatten keeps how the notes look but they can no longer be edited

PDF Collage

PDF Collage: several pages on one sheet with the sheet colour you pick.

Put many pages of one or several PDFs on sheets, in a grid: like a contact sheet or a poster board.

Steps

Add the files (Move Up / Move Down sets the order)
Set columns and rows, the paper and its direction
Set margin and gap in millimetres; tick a frame if you want, and choose a sheet colour with the colour picker if you want one
Click the button and choose where to save

Notes

Each page keeps its proportions and is fitted into its cell
Rotated pages are handled
Bookmarks and links of the sources are not kept in the collage

Tip: For printing several pages on one sheet with a booklet order, use N-up & Booklet.

Merge with Bookmarks

Bookmark per file and Keep own bookmarks are options of PDF Merge.

When merging in PDF Merge, tick the option to make one bookmark for each file. The bookmark takes the file name and leads to the first page of that file.

Notes

Useful for long merged documents: the bookmark panel works like a table of contents
The bookmarks that already exist in the files are kept below their file bookmark when possible

Editor: New Document and Replace Picture

New PDF document

In the editor, File > New document makes a blank page and opens it for typing. Write, format, add tables and pictures like in Word, then save as PDF.

Replace picture

Click a picture, then use the replace command and choose a new file. The new picture takes the place and size of the old one.

Notes

The editor works like a standard word editor: undo, redo, find and replace

Essentials

Getting Started

The main window: tool list on the left, the selected tool on the right.

A complete offline toolkit for PDF files, pictures, Office documents and video. Everything runs on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Start in one minute

Choose a tool in the list on the left (or type a few letters in "Search tools..." above the list)
Choose your file: press Browse, or drag the file onto the box, or use "Recent files" at the bottom of the left side
Set the options. Tools with a preview show the result at once, so you can see it before you save
Press the big button of the tool (for example REMOVE FROM PDF, CREATE NEGATIVE PDF, APPLY WATERMARK) and choose the new file name
When it is done, the result is announced. Your original file is never changed

Three rules that always hold

Your original file is never overwritten. Every tool writes a new file (the output must be a different file than the input)
Look first, then save: tools that change pages show a preview with thumbnails. Nothing is final until you press the big button
Everything is offline: no internet, no account, no telemetry

The window

Left side: the tools, grouped (Core PDF, Convert, Modify PDFs, Forms & Privacy, Media, Analysis & Archive, Help). The group colour is the colour of the dot before each tool
"Search tools...": type a part of a name (for example "water" or "rename") and the list shows only the matching tools
Theme: the button at the bottom of the left side. Choose Auto (follows Windows), Light, Dark, Midnight, Sand, Emerald or Violet
Recent files: files you used, and files this session has made, ready to be sent to another tool (see "Recent Files & Drag and Drop")
The window is maximized when you load a PDF in a tool with a preview, so the pages have room. Restore it with the normal window button

Where files come out

Tools that change a PDF: you choose the new file when you start, or it is placed next to the input with a short ending (_negative, _resized ...)
PDF Split: into the folder you set. Conversions: the Desktop by default, or the folder you choose
When a job is finished, the result message tells the path

What is bundled (the LIBS folder)

Ghostscript - draws pages, converts and compresses
qpdf - fast, safe page and structure work
PDFtk - a helper for stamping and some old functions
FFmpeg - video and audio
PSWriteOffice - Word, Excel and PowerPoint conversion
PDFium - fast page pictures and the places of words (LIBS\pdfium)
Microsoft Edge WebView2 - shows the text editor (comes with Windows; its .NET wrapper is in LIBS\webview2)
ProseMirror - the editing core inside the text editor
pdftoppm / pdftotext (Poppler) - quick page pictures and the text of pages, if they are in LIBS. The program also works without them, a little slower and with fewer helpers

The full list is in the topic "Components and Licences".

Where to look when you are stuck

"Quick Recipes" in this Help: the most common jobs, step by step
"Which Tool Do I Need?": you know the wish, not the tool
"Troubleshooting": messages and problems with their fixes
The note under the preview: it always says why a preview cannot be made

Tip: Drag a file onto any input box. No need to press Browse.
Tip: Right-click any file list for Open, Open Location, Export and Import.
Warning: The black console window behind the app belongs to the program. Closing it closes the app at once.

All Tools at a Glance

Every tab of the app, in the order of the left-hand list. A tool with a preview shows thumbnails and a big page.

CORE PDF

PDF Merge - join many PDFs into one, in the order you set, with optional compression. Click a file to see its pages
PDF Split - cut a PDF into parts: by page ranges or every N pages
PDF Encryption - password and permissions (AES-256)
Unlock PDF - remove a password or restrictions from a PDF you are allowed to open

CONVERT

IMG <-> PDF Convert - PDF pages to pictures, and many pictures to one PDF (with a preview of the PDF that will be made)
Word to PDF - documents (docx, rtf, txt, html, md, odt) to PDF, one file or a whole folder
PDF to Word - a PDF to an editable Word file
Excel/PPT to PDF - spreadsheets and presentations to PDF

MODIFY PDFS

Negative PDF - invert the colours or make a high-contrast black and white copy (preview)
Watermarking - text or picture on all pages, the current page or the pages you choose (preview)
Add: Header / Footer / Numbering - page numbers, headers and footers (preview)
Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering - hide a page number, header or footer: mark it once or let the program find it (preview)
Rotate / Delete Pages - rotate and delete pages, all in one step (preview)
Crop / Resize - fit the pages to a paper size (preview)
Grayscale - colour pages to gray (preview)
Metadata View/Clean - read and remove the hidden data of a PDF (author, dates, programs)
Batch Rename - rename the PDFs of a folder by their own first line of text
N-up & Booklet - several pages on one sheet, or a booklet for printing (preview)
Remove / Replace Pages - find blank pages in scans and take them out, or replace them with text or a picture
Edit & Organize (Page Organizer) - edit the text of the pages like in Word (fonts, lists, tables, pictures, find and replace), and sort, turn, crop, delete, copy and insert pages: drag and drop, sort by the printed page numbers, right-click menu
Interleave Merge - mix the pages of several PDFs one by one
Rasterize PDF - make every page a picture
PDF to EPUB / MD / Excel - Markdown, EPUB and Excel
EPUB to PDF - an e-book as PDF
Metadata View/Edit/Clean - one tab: read, edit (title, author, dates) and strip the metadata, and choose the dates of the cleaned file
Remove Watermark - find a repeating watermark and take it out
Annotations - list, remove or flatten comments and notes
PDF Collage - many pages on grid sheets

FORMS & PRIVACY

Form Fill & Flatten - fill in form fields and make the answers permanent
Stamp & Signature - text stamps, pictures and signatures: on the pages you choose, at the place you draw, several in one go (preview)
Redact & Mask - black out text and areas for real, and delete pages (preview)

MEDIA

PDF to Video - turn the pages into a slideshow video
Video Compression - make video files smaller
Video to PDF - frames of a video as PDF pages

ANALYSIS & ARCHIVE

PDF Repair - try to recover a damaged PDF
PDF Diff - what differs in the text of two PDFs
Visual Diff - what differs in the look of two PDFs
PDF/A & Linearize - archive format, and fast web view

HELP

Help & Docs - this guide

Tip: Not sure which tool? Open "Which Tool Do I Need?" in this Help.

Live Preview and Thumbnails

Thumbnails on the left, the big page on the right: the result is seen before it is saved.

Most tools that change pages show a preview: you see the result before you save it.

Where it is

Negative PDF, Watermarking, Add: Header / Footer / Numbering, Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering, Rotate / Delete Pages, Crop / Resize, N-up & Booklet, PDF Merge, IMG <-> PDF Convert, Grayscale, Stamp & Signature, Redact & Mask

The parts

Thumbnails (left): all pages of the file. Click one to see that page
Big page (right): the page as it will be in the new file
< and > : previous / next page. The page number is shown between them. Type a number in the small box and press Go to jump to a page
- and + : zoom out / in. Fit returns to the width of the window
Result / Original (where shown): switch between the new page and the old one to compare. The thumbnails follow this switch too (Negative PDF)
The note under the page tells what you see, or why the preview could not be made

Mouse

Wheel: scroll the page. At the end of the page the next page opens
Ctrl + wheel: zoom
Middle button: next page (Shift + middle button: previous)
Click on a thumbnail: show that page

The preview follows your settings

Change a setting and wait a moment: the page is made again
Pages made once are remembered, so going back is quick
The preview uses a lower resolution than the saved file. The saved file is made at full quality
Big files: the thumbnails appear a few at a time. You can work while they are coming

Tick boxes on the thumbnails

Watermarking, Rotate / Delete Pages, Crop / Resize, Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering, Stamp & Signature and Redact & Mask have small boxes on the thumbnails
A tick means "this page is chosen". The page list in the tool and the ticks always show the same pages: tick a box or type the pages, both work
Typing the pages in the box (for example 1-5, 8) ticks them

Drawing on the page

Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering, Stamp & Signature and Redact & Mask let you draw a box on the big page with the mouse. In Stamp & Signature a drawn box can be moved and resized afterwards, on the page where it was drawn

Note: N-up & Booklet builds the whole result first, then shows its sheets. Big files show only the first pages in the preview. The saved file has all pages.
Note: In IMG <-> PDF Convert the preview shows the PDF that will be made from the list: the pages are in the order of the list. It is rebuilt a moment after you add, remove or move a picture.
Tip: If the preview cannot be made, the note under the page tells why. Protected PDFs must be unlocked first (Unlock PDF).

Quick Recipes

The most common jobs, step by step. The tool name is in brackets.

Put pages in order and join files

Join several PDFs: add them in PDF Merge, set the order with Move Up / Move Down, press INSTANT MERGE
Make one PDF from photos or scans: IMG <-> PDF Convert, Images to PDF: load the pictures, check the order in the preview, COMPILE TO PDF
Find and remove blank pages of a scan (or replace them with a text or a picture page): Remove / Replace Pages
Cut a PDF into parts: PDF Split (ranges like 1-3, 4-6, or every N pages)
Turn or delete pages: Rotate / Delete Pages: click the page, choose the direction, APPLY ALL

Make a PDF smaller or lighter

Smaller file: PDF Merge with "Compress after merge" (Smart Auto picks a method)
Smaller video: Video Compression
Lighter colours for printing: Grayscale, or Negative PDF for a high-contrast copy

Page numbers, headers and stamps

Add page numbers, a header or a footer: Add: Header / Footer / Numbering
Put a watermark such as DRAFT or a logo: Watermarking (all pages, the current page, or chosen pages)
Put a stamp or a signature on one page, or on several pages: Stamp & Signature. Draw the place on the page, press Add to list for each stamp, then APPLY
Remove an old page number, header or footer: Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering. Press "Find automatically", check the red lines, REMOVE FROM PDF

Privacy

Hide a name or a number for real: Redact & Mask (the text under the black box is gone)
Remove the author, dates and program names: Metadata View/Clean
Protect a file with a password: PDF Encryption. Remove a password: Unlock PDF
Make covered text really disappear: Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering with "Output as scanned images"

Convert

A Word, Excel or PowerPoint file to PDF: Word to PDF, Excel/PPT to PDF
A PDF to Word: PDF to Word (editable text is read from the PDF)
Every page of a PDF as a picture: IMG <-> PDF Convert, PDF to Image
A PDF as a video slideshow: PDF to Video

Forms

Fill in a PDF form and keep the answers: Form Fill & Flatten

Check and repair

A PDF will not open: PDF Repair
What changed between two versions: PDF Diff (text) or Visual Diff (look)
Save for archives, or for fast opening on a website: PDF/A & Linearize

Print

Several pages on one sheet, or a booklet: N-up & Booklet
Fit pages to a paper size: Crop / Resize

Many files at once

Rename the PDFs of a folder by their first line: Batch Rename
Convert a whole folder of documents: Word to PDF, Batch (Folder) mode

Tip: Use the result of one tool as the input of the next: "Recent files" at the bottom of the left side lists the files this session has made, with "Send to tool".

Which Tool Do I Need?

Find the tool by what you want.

I want to change the pages of a PDF

Turn them: Rotate / Delete Pages
Put them in another order (drag and drop): Edit & Organize (Page Organizer)
Change or add text, pictures and tables on a page: Edit & Organize > Edit text... (topic: Edit & Organize: Text Editor)
Delete some of them: Rotate / Delete Pages (pages you choose), Redact & Mask (its delete pages part) or Remove / Replace Pages (blank pages found automatically)
Replace blank pages with a page of text or a picture: Remove / Replace Pages
Cut the file in pieces: PDF Split
Join files: PDF Merge
Several pages on one sheet: N-up & Booklet
Make the pages another size: Crop / Resize

I want to add something to the pages

Page numbers, headers, footers: Add: Header / Footer / Numbering
A watermark: Watermarking
A stamp, a signature, a picture: Stamp & Signature
Answers in a form: Form Fill & Flatten

I want to hide or remove something

An existing page number, header or footer: Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering
Names, numbers, any text or area, for real: Redact & Mask
The hidden data of the file: Metadata View/Clean
A password: Unlock PDF

I want to protect a file

A password and permissions: PDF Encryption

I want another format

Pictures to PDF, or PDF to pictures: IMG <-> PDF Convert
Word / text / html to PDF: Word to PDF
PDF to Word: PDF to Word
Excel / PowerPoint to PDF: Excel/PPT to PDF
PDF to video, video to PDF, a smaller video: PDF to Video, Video to PDF, Video Compression
For archives: PDF/A & Linearize

I want to change how the pages look

Colours: Negative PDF, Grayscale
Size of the file: PDF Merge (compression)

I want to check or fix something

The file is damaged: PDF Repair
What is different between two files: PDF Diff, Visual Diff
Too many files with bad names: Batch Rename

Themes and the Window

The theme button at the bottom of the left side opens the list of colour themes.

Theme

The Theme button at the bottom of the left side opens a list of looks: Auto (follows Windows), Light, Dark, Midnight, Sand, Emerald, Violet
The choice is applied at once to every tab, the dialogs and the Help
Auto changes the look with the Windows setting for apps (light or dark)

The left list

The tools are grouped. Click a name to open the tool
"Search tools...": type a part of a name, the list shows the matching tools. Clear the text to see all tools again
The coloured dot before a name shows its group

The window

Tools with a preview maximize the window when a PDF is loaded, so the pages have room. You can restore the size at any time
When the window is narrow, the preview moves under the settings, so you never need to scroll sideways
A "Please wait" window with a moving bar shows while a longer job runs. Wait until it closes

Buttons

The big coloured button of a tool starts the work
Small buttons are helpers (Browse, Add, Move Up ...)
A red outlined button removes something from a list (Remove, Clear)
The orange "Mark element" button in Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering is the one to start with by hand: it lets you draw a box on the page

Messages

Success and error messages are shown in small windows. Press Esc or OK to close them
Details of errors are also printed in the black console window behind the app

Tips and Shortcuts

Everywhere in the app

Browse button on every file field, and drag and drop onto any input box or list
Ctrl+V pastes a path from the clipboard into a box
Right-click a file list: Open, Open File Location, Delete from list, Clear, Export List to TXT, Import List from TXT
Recent files (bottom of the left side): reuse a file, or send it to another tool
The window is maximized when you load a PDF in a tool with a preview
"Search tools..." above the list finds a tool by a part of its name

Preview (tools with thumbnails)

Mouse wheel scrolls; at the end of the page it turns the page
Ctrl + wheel zooms. Middle button = next page
Click a thumbnail to see that page
Tick boxes on thumbnails choose pages (Watermarking, Rotate / Delete Pages, Crop / Resize, Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering, Stamp & Signature, Redact & Mask)
Where a tool asks for a place on the page (Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering, Stamp & Signature, Redact & Mask), draw a box on the big page with the mouse

Merge tab

Add PDFs (multi-select) or Add Folder, or drag many files into the list
Move Up / Move Down to reorder
Click a file to see its pages in the preview
The Statistics line shows the count and the total size

IMG <-> PDF Convert

Load Folder takes every picture of a folder, Add Files takes the ones you choose, or drag pictures and folders onto the list
The list sets the page order. Move Up / Move Down change it, the preview shows the result
Right-click the list: Open, Open File Location, Delete from List, Clear List

Rotate / Delete Pages

Click a thumbnail, then choose the direction in the drop-down: that page turns
"Original (no rotation)" puts the page back
APPLY ALL does the rotations and the deletions in one step, after you confirm the list

Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering

Start with "Find automatically": the program marks the page numbers, headers and footers that repeat. Look at the red dashed lines on a few pages
Use "Mark element" (the orange button) to add something it missed
The text is only covered. For real removal tick "Output as scanned images"

Batch Rename

SCAN / RESCAN to build the plan
Double-click a row to open that PDF in your viewer
Right-click then Export Rename Plan to keep a text record
CANCEL PLAN discards the plan without touching any file

Output naming

A PDF that is changed gets a short ending (_repaired, _decorated, _resized, _negative ...) when the program proposes the name
Batch input: the original file name is kept, the output goes to the folder you chose
When finished, Explorer opens to the result in many tools

Console window

A black PowerShell console stays open behind the main window
Progress messages and diagnostic errors are printed there. If you report a problem, copy the last lines from it
Closing it terminates the application immediately

Troubleshooting

"Missing tools: PDFtk, Ghostscript, QPDF"

Place the tools in the LIBS folder next to the script (see "Bundled Tool Versions" for the folders)
Restart the app
The program tells which tab needs which tool, and the other tabs keep working

The preview is empty or says it cannot be made

Read the note under the preview: it tells the reason
A PDF with a password must be unlocked first (Unlock PDF tab), then chosen again
A damaged PDF: try PDF Repair, then use the repaired file
Ghostscript or qpdf not found: see the first point

"Ghostscript: Unrecoverable error"

The input PDF is malformed or partially corrupted
Open the PDF Repair tab and try a recovery pass first, then repeat the operation

The thumbnails or the preview do not follow my change

Wait a second: the page is made again a moment after the last change
Switch to another page and back, or press Fit
Negative PDF: the thumbnails change with the Mode and with Result / Original. If they do not, wait until the thumbnails are drawn again

Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering did not cover something

"Find automatically" looks at up to 40 pages from page 2, in the top and bottom 15% of the page. A header that changes on every page (for example the chapter name) can have a low score. Mark it by hand with "Mark element"
Look at the Marked list: every automatic mark shows how sure the program is. Remove the ones you do not want ("Remove selected mark")
The marked box must be on the print, not beside it. The program shrinks the box to the print inside it
Pages where the element is not found are left as they are. The result message says how many
"Search area %" too small: raise it. Too large: it catches the text next to the element
Covered text can still be selected and copied. For real removal tick "Output as scanned images"

Stamp & Signature: the stamp is not where I expected

Choose "Custom" and draw the box on the page. Only the page where you drew it shows the box. Add the page to the list with "Add to list", then draw on the next page
Check "Placements": everything in that list is applied when you press APPLY. A stamp that is not in the list and not ticked on the page is asked about before it is applied

IMG <-> PDF Convert: the preview waits

With many large pictures the preview is made once from small copies of them, so it can take some seconds. A "Please wait" window shows while it works
The saved PDF is made from the original pictures at full quality, not from the small copies

Merge takes a very long time

qpdf likely fell back to pdftk (slower) because at least one PDF is password-protected
Remove user-password-protected PDFs from the merge list, or decrypt them first

Word / Excel / PowerPoint conversion fails

Confirm PSWriteOffice is present under LIBS\PSWriteOffice\
Look at the console window for the specific error
For very large source files, try a smaller file first

Turkish, Azerbaijani or Russian text is garbled after PDF to Word

The tool reads PDF text as UTF-8, so this should not happen. If it does, keep the exact input PDF and report it

Out of memory on very large PDFs

Split the PDF first (PDF Split) into 500-page chunks
Process each chunk separately
Join the results with PDF Merge

The program seems frozen

A long operation is running. A "Please Wait" window should be visible
Do not click other buttons until it closes

"Send to tool" does not list a tool

The list shows only the tools that can take that kind of file: PDF files go to the PDF tools, pictures to IMG <-> PDF Convert, documents to Word to PDF, spreadsheets and presentations to Excel/PPT to PDF, videos to the video tools
A page that keeps its files in a list (PDF Merge, the pictures of IMG <-> PDF Convert) adds the file to the list

Windows Defender / SmartScreen warning

This is normal for a script that is not signed. Click "More info", then "Run anyway"
The app never contacts the internet

Recent Files & Drag and Drop

Recent files

Click "Recent files" at the bottom of the left side
"Results of this session": files this session has made. The usual next step is to give them to another tool
"Recent files": the files you used before. The list is stored in LIBS\recent.txt
Click a file to use it on the page you are on
Move the pointer to the right of a file for more:
Use on this page - the same as clicking the file
Send to tool - choose another tool; the tool opens with the file in its first box (a picture goes to the list of IMG <-> PDF Convert, a PDF to PDF Merge adds it to the list)
Show in folder, Open with default app, Copy path
Remove from list

Send to tool: which tools are listed

PDF: all PDF tools (also PDF Merge, PDF Diff, Visual Diff, IMG <-> PDF Convert)
Pictures: IMG <-> PDF Convert
Word, text, html, markdown: Word to PDF
Excel, PowerPoint: Excel/PPT to PDF
Video: Video Compression, Video to PDF

Drop anywhere

Drag a file from Explorer onto any free place of a page, not only onto the input box
The page decides whether it can use the file. Wrong types are ignored

Tip: Drop a PDF on the page and start working at once.

Core PDF

PDF Merge

PDF Merge with two files in the list: click a file to see its pages; the settings are below the preview.

Combine many PDF files into one, in the exact order you choose.

Steps

Click Add PDFs to pick files, or Add Folder for a whole directory
Drag files straight into the list to add them
Click a file to see its pages: thumbnails on the left, the big page on the right
Use Move Up / Move Down to arrange the final order (top = first page)
Optional: tick "Compress after merge" and pick a method
Click INSTANT MERGE, choose where to save, done

The preview

It shows the pages of the file you clicked in the list (not the merged result)
< > and the mouse wheel turn the pages, - + Fit zoom
The window is maximized when you pick a file, so there is room

The settings area

Compress after merge, the method, image quality and PDF version are below the preview
The Statistics line shows the number of files and the total size

Compression methods (post-merge)

Smart Auto (Recommended) - inspects the file and picks the best method
Image Optimized - aggressive, 40-50% JPEG quality, best for scans
Font Subset (90%) - best for text-heavy PDFs
Balanced - moderate quality for text + images
Rebuild from Text - strips everything except text (loses layout)
Maximal + PDFtk Strip - smallest possible file, slowest

Tip: Right-click a row for Open, Open Location, or Remove.
Warning: Files protected by a user password cannot be merged. Remove or decrypt first.

PDF Split

PDF Split with "Split by file size": the list shows the pages and the real size of every part before you split.

Break one PDF into multiple smaller files by range or fixed page count.

Steps

Browse or drag the input PDF
The page count is detected automatically
Pick a mode:
Custom ranges: type "1-3, 4-6, 7-10" or "1,3,5,7"
Every N pages: tick the checkbox and enter N
Choose the destination folder
Click SPLIT PDF

Range syntax

1-10 pages 1 through 10
1,3,5 pages 1, 3, and 5
1-5, 7, 9-12 mixed ranges and singles

Auto-Split button

"Auto-Split All Pages" fills the range box with every page number
Combined with Custom ranges mode, this produces one PDF per page

Tip: Output files are named <original>Nparts.pdf, where N is the range index.
Tip: Use "Split every N pages" for uniform chunking of long documents.</original>

Split by file size (KB / MB)

Tick "Split by file size, max:" and enter the largest size a file may have (1 MB = 1024 KB)
The PDF is cut in order; every file gets as many pages as fit under the limit
The sizes are measured on real files (pages share fonts and pictures, so they do not simply add up)
"Preview parts" lists the pages and the real size of every part before you split
One page that is larger than the limit alone stays a file of its own (it cannot be cut smaller); the list marks it
Files are named <original>_part01.pdf, <original>_part02.pdf ...</original></original>

PDF Encryption

PDF Encryption: passwords, permissions and the destination file.

Protect any PDF with a user password, an owner password, or both.

The two passwords

User (open) password - required to open the document at all
Owner password - required to change permissions (print, edit, copy)

If you only set an owner password, the file opens without any prompt but the permissions restrictions apply.

Steps

Browse the input PDF
Type a user password and/or an owner password
Tick Show to reveal the characters while you type
Pick a destination path
Click ENCRYPT PDF (AES-256)

Standard permissions applied

Printing: allowed
Copy / extract text: allowed
Accessibility: allowed
Editing / annotating: restricted
Reassembly: restricted

Warning: There is no recovery. If you forget the user password, the file is unrecoverable.
Tip: AES-256 is the strongest available PDF encryption. No tool can crack it without the password.

Unlock PDF

Unlock PDF: remove the password or restrictions of a PDF you may open.

Remove the password and the restrictions from a PDF that you are allowed to open.

Two kinds of protection

Open password: the PDF asks for a password when you open it. Type that password in the box.
Permissions only: the PDF opens freely but blocks printing, copying or editing. No password is needed.

Steps

Choose the PDF
Type the password if the PDF asks for one
Check the output name (default ends with _unlocked)
Click REMOVE PASSWORD / RESTRICTIONS

Notes

The original file is never changed
This tool does not guess or break passwords. You must know the password of a PDF that is closed

Tip: To protect a PDF again, use PDF Encryption.
Warning: Use this only on files you own or have the right to open.

Convert

IMG <-> PDF Convert

IMG <-> PDF Convert: pages to pictures (top), pictures to one PDF (bottom).

Convert PDF pages to pictures, or many pictures to a single PDF.

PDF to Image

Browse the input PDF
Pick the output folder
Choose the format (PNG / JPG / TIFF) and the DPI (150 is good for screens, 300 for printing)
Press EXTRACT IMAGES: one picture per page

Output names: page-1.png, page-2.png ... A higher DPI makes sharper and bigger pictures.

Images to PDF

Load Folder takes every picture of a folder, Add Files takes the ones you choose. You can also drag pictures or a folder onto the list
The list sets the page order, top = first page. Select a picture and use Move Up / Move Down, Remove or Clear All
Choose the output PDF
Press COMPILE TO PDF

Each picture becomes one A4 page, scaled to fit and centred. The pictures are stored as JPEG (quality 92).

The preview

On the right you see the PDF that will be made: the pages of it as thumbnails and the big page, in the order of the list
Select a picture in the list and its page opens. Click a page thumbnail and the picture is selected in the list
After you add, remove or move pictures, the preview is made again a moment later
The preview is made from small copies of the pictures, so it is quick. The saved file uses the originals

The list

It shows the file name and the folder of every picture
Right-click: Open, Open File Location, Delete from List, Clear List

Tip: Check the order in the preview before you press COMPILE TO PDF.
Tip: When a folder is loaded, pictures are put in order by the number in the file name (1, 2, 10 ...).

Word to PDF

Word to PDF: one file or a whole folder.

Convert Word documents and other text formats to PDF.

Supported inputs

.doc, .docx - Word documents
.rtf - Rich Text Format
.txt - plain text
.html, .htm - web pages
.md - Markdown
.odt - OpenDocument Text

Steps (single file)

Pick Single File mode
Browse for the input document
Choose the output PDF path
Click CONVERT TO PDF

Steps (batch folder)

Pick Batch (Folder) mode
Browse for the source folder
Choose the output folder
Tick "Overwrite existing" if you want to replace existing PDFs
Click CONVERT TO PDF

The list at the bottom shows per-file status: OK, FAILED, or Skipped.

Tip: Batch mode processes every supported file in the folder automatically.
Warning: For very complex Word files with charts and embedded objects, output may differ from Word's own PDF export.

PDF to Word

PDF to Word: choose what to recognise and press CONVERT TO WORD.

Convert PDF documents to editable .docx files.

Steps (single file)

Choose Single File mode
Browse for the source PDF
Pick the output .docx path
Tick the import options you want (see below)
Click CONVERT TO WORD

Steps (batch folder)

Choose Batch (Folder) mode
Pick the source folder with PDFs
Pick the output folder
Click CONVERT TO WORD

Import options

Headings - detect and mark heading levels
Paragraphs - group sentences into paragraphs
Lists - preserve bulleted and numbered lists
Tables - reconstruct tables
Images - embed images (larger .docx)
Normalize PDF - fixes some LibreOffice-exported PDFs

Known limits

OfficeIMO has a hardcoded 1000-page / 512 MB limit
If the limit is hit, split the source first (PDF Split) and convert in chunks

Tip: For scanned PDFs, run OCR first. This tool has no built-in OCR.
Warning: Best results with text-based PDFs, not scans.

Excel/PPT to PDF

Excel/PPT to PDF: spreadsheets and presentations to PDF.

Convert spreadsheets and presentations to PDF.

Supported inputs

.xlsx, .xls, .xlsm - Excel workbooks
.pptx, .ppt, .ppsx - PowerPoint presentations

Steps (single file)

Choose Single File mode
Browse for the source file
Choose the output PDF path
Click CONVERT TO PDF

Steps (batch folder)

Choose Batch (Folder) mode
Pick the source folder
Pick the output folder
Tick "Overwrite existing" if needed
Click CONVERT TO PDF

Tip: Batch mode filters the folder for Excel and PowerPoint files only.
Warning: Charts with live data or external links may render differently than in Office.

Modify PDFs

Negative PDF

Negative PDF with a file loaded: the live preview shows the inverted page.

Invert colours in a PDF. Black becomes white, white becomes black.

Modes

Invert All Colors (Recommended) - inverts every colour in the file
Invert All Colors (Keep Text Selectable) - same result, different Ghostscript path
High Contrast B/W - converts to pure grayscale, best for scanned documents

Steps

Browse the input PDF. Its pages appear as thumbnails with a big preview
Pick a mode. The page you look at is shown in the new colours at once
Choose an output path
Set DPI (150 recommended; only affects raster fallback)
Click CREATE NEGATIVE PDF

The preview

Result shows the page with the chosen mode, Original shows the page as it is now
Click other thumbnails to check more pages before you save

What is preserved

Text stays vector - still selectable and searchable
File size stays similar to the original
Images are inverted too in the first two modes

Tip: Useful for dark-mode reading of scanned documents.
Tip: The high-contrast mode greatly reduces file size on scans.

Watermarking

Watermarking: text or picture, opacity, rotation, position and pages, with a live preview.

Add text or image watermarks to all pages, to the current page, or to pages you choose.

Watermark types

Text - type any message (e.g. CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT, name)
Image - use a logo, stamp, or photo

Steps

Browse the input PDF. Its pages appear as thumbnails with a big preview
Choose Text or Image mode
Enter the text (or browse the image)
Set size, opacity, rotation
Choose a position (Center, corners, Custom X/Y, or Drawn area)
Choose "Apply to" (see below)
Click APPLY WATERMARK and save (or add more watermarks to the Placements list first, see below)

Apply to

All pages - every page gets the watermark
Current page - only the page you see in the preview
Selected pages - tick the thumbnails or type ranges in the Pages box, for example 1-5, 8. The buttons Odd, Even, All and None fill the box for you
Pages without the watermark are copied unchanged into the new file

Drawn area

Choose the position "Drawn area" (or press DRAW AREA above the page picture) and draw a box on the page with the mouse
The watermark is made as large as fits into the box and is centred in it. A tilted watermark is fitted by its tilted outline, so it never leaves the box
The page where you draw the box is ticked automatically and becomes one of the chosen pages ("All pages" changes to "Selected pages"). To put the same box on every page, press All after drawing
Every page can have its own box: draw on page 1, go to page 2 and draw there again. Each page keeps the box drawn on it. A chosen page without its own box uses the box that was drawn last
The box can be moved (drag inside it) and resized (drag a corner) at any time. The preview follows
The box is kept as a part of the page (for example "from 10 % to 50 % of the width"), so it lands in the same place on pages of other sizes
With "Turn with the page" ticked the box is attached to the page content: on a page that is turned differently from the page where you drew it, the box turns with it, and the watermark lies along that page
The Size box (text size or picture width) is not used for a drawn area: the box decides the size
If the box is tall and narrow, the watermark is turned by 90 degrees automatically (it reads from top to bottom) when it then fits clearly larger
"Turn with the page" follows the rotation setting (/Rotate) of the page. A page whose drawing is only drawn sideways, without being rotated in the PDF, is not turned by it; use the tilt box (for example 90) or a tall box instead

Placements (several watermarks in one go)

Every item of the list is a complete watermark: its own text or picture, opacity, tilt, place (also a drawn area) and its own pages
Set up the first watermark, press "Add to list", then change the settings and add the next. Example: DRAFT in the centre of all pages, and a logo in a drawn area on the first page only
The preview shows all watermarks of the page you look at. The one that is only set up in the form, not in the list, is shown too, and a note says it is not in the list yet
Load (or double click an item) puts it back into the form. To change an item, Remove it and Add the new one. Clear empties the list
When the list is not empty, APPLY places the watermarks of the list in the order of the list (the last one is on top). If the form has one that is not in the list, you are asked whether to add it
When the list is empty, APPLY uses the form, as before
The pages of an item are fixed when you add it ("Current page" becomes that page number)

The preview

The page you look at shows the watermark as it will be saved
A page that is not among the chosen pages is shown without it, and a note says so
Change text, size, opacity, rotation or position and the preview follows

Options explained

Opacity (0-1) - 0.3 = faint, 1.0 = solid
Rotation (degrees) - 0 = horizontal, 45 = classic diagonal
Position - Center, or one of 8 anchor points, or Custom, or Drawn area
Size - for text, the font size in pt; for image, the target width in pt

Tip: Standard A4 page is 595 x 842 pt. Center is 297.5, 421.
Note: Pages that are turned (rotated) in the PDF keep their rotation. The watermark is placed on the page as you see it, upright, and the ready places (Center, corners ...) follow the real size of each page. Custom X, Y are points from the lower left corner of the page as it is shown.
Note: Some PDFs are stored upright and only displayed sideways (the page is "turned" by 90 or 270 degrees). If the watermark should lie along the text of such a page, tick "Turn with the page (follow its rotation)": the watermark and its place then follow the page itself, so you do not have to type a rotation by hand. With this tick, Custom X, Y are measured on the page as it is stored.
Tip: Right-click the colour button after picking a colour to see the RGB values.
Warning: If "Selected pages" is chosen and no page is ticked, you get a message and nothing is saved.

Add: Header / Footer / Numbering

Add: Header / Footer / Numbering with the preview of the first page.

Add page numbers, headers, and footers to any PDF.

Three separate sections

Page numbering

Format: Arabic (1,2,3), Roman (I,II,III), Page N of Total, etc.
Position: Header or Footer
Alignment: Left, Center, Right
Start at: any number
Font size and colour
Margin in pt
Option to skip the first page (cover)

Header

Three zones: Left, Center, Right
Each zone can have text AND/OR an image
Image button toggles the image for that zone
Font size and colour
Margin in pt
Optional horizontal line under the header

Same layout as Header
Optional horizontal line above the footer

The preview

Thumbnails and a big page show how numbers, header and footer will look
Every change in the boxes is shown after a moment
Click other thumbnails to check the first page, a middle page and the last page

Placeholders

{PAGE} current page number
{TOTAL} total pages
{DATE} current date (yyyy-MM-dd)
{TIME} current time (HH:mm)
{YEAR} current year
{FILENAME} source file base name

Steps

Browse the input PDF
Tick the options you want enabled
Fill in your text and settings
Choose the output path
Click APPLY TO PDF

Tip: To take away page numbers, headers or footers that are already in the PDF, use Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering.
Tip: Use {FILENAME} to add the source name to every page automatically.
Note: Turned (rotated) pages keep their rotation, and pages of different sizes get their own size: the numbers, header and footer stand upright on the page as you see it.
Note: For a page that is stored upright and only displayed sideways, tick "Turn with the page (follow its rotation)" (next to the page count under Input PDF): the numbers, header and footer then lie along the text of the page, not along the screen.
Warning: Rendering is done at 150 DPI. Very small fonts may look slightly soft at print.

Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering

Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering: mark the element once or let the program find it.

Hide an existing page number, header or footer on the pages of a PDF. You mark it once, the program finds it on the other pages.

Steps

Choose the PDF. The pages appear as thumbnails with a big preview
Press the orange "Mark element" button above the page list (or start with "Find automatically", below), then draw a box on the page around a page number, a header or a footer. The box shrinks to the real print inside it. Mark more elements the same way, for example the header and then the footer. They are listed under "Marked"
Look at other pages in the preview: the covered places are shown with a red dashed line (you can turn the line off)
Choose where to apply: all pages, selected pages (tick the thumbnails or type 3,8-12), odd, even, or all except the first
Press REMOVE FROM PDF and choose the new file

Find automatically

Press "Find automatically" above the page list. The program looks at up to 40 pages (starting from page 2, because the first page is often a cover) and finds the header, the footer and the page number that stand in the same place on most pages. It needs a PDF of at least 4 pages. The marks you drew by hand before are replaced by the found ones without asking (when something is found); mark by hand after the search to add more
Three different methods look at the pages and vote: A = the same visible piece (text, line, picture) in the same place on most pages, B = the text of the PDF itself (the same line again and again, and a number that grows with the page number is recognised as the page number), C = a map of the places where ink appears on most pages. Each gives a probability, the average of them decides, and 50 % or more is marked
A popup shows for each found header, footer, page number or rule line what each method said and the average. The Marked list also shows how sure the program is. If the PDF has no text (scanned pages) or pdftotext.exe is not in the LIBS folder, method B is left out and the average is taken from A and C
The top and the bottom of the page are each looked at as one block: the text (header text, page number) together with the lines near it. Only the top and the bottom 15% of the page are looked at, and what is joined to the text of the page is left out
The found elements are added to the Marked list. Look at the pages: the covered places have a red dashed line. If you do not want one of them, choose it in the list and press "Remove selected mark"
Elements that are only on odd pages, or only on even pages (for example a page number on the right of odd pages and on the left of even pages) are found too and marked [odd pages] or [even pages]
It works on scanned pages too, but a very dirty or crooked scan may give a wider place than the real text. Check the red lines

Turned (rotated) pages

Some PDFs have pages that are shown turned by 90, 180 or 270 degrees, for example a page that is stored upright and displayed sideways. There the header and the page number are not at the top and the bottom of what you see
"Find automatically" compares the pages that have the same rotation and the same size together. For each such group it tries two ways of reading: the page as you see it, and the page turned back so that its text is upright. The way that gives the surer result is used. The popup names each group, for example "turned 90 deg, pages 2,4,5" and "read upright". A group of fewer than 3 pages cannot be compared: mark it by hand
The found marks of a group only work on the pages of that group, so a header found on the turned pages does not cover anything on the other pages
"Turn the marks with the page (follow its rotation)": for the marks you draw by hand. A mark drawn on a page that is seen sideways is turned the same way on the pages that have another rotation, so the same element is looked for in the right place on all of them. Tick it when some pages of the file are turned and some are not. Leave it off when all pages are turned the same way
The cover is put on the page as you see it, so it sits on the right place of a turned page too, and the turn of the page stays as it was (except with "Output as scanned images": there the pages become pictures that look the same, and the turn is no longer stored)

How the element is found on the other pages

Follow the element on every page: the program looks near the marked place on every page and finds the exact print there. This works when the number or header is not at exactly the same place (for example a page number that moves). A line under a header is not taken as a part of it
Search area %: how far from the marked place the program looks. A larger value finds more, but can also catch the text next to it
Margin pt: a little extra around the found print
Without "Follow", the marked place itself is covered on every page
Mirror on the opposite pages: when odd and even pages have the element on opposite sides (the page number is on the right on odd pages and on the left on even pages), mark it once and tick this

The cover

Cover colour: Auto uses the colour of the page around the element. White or a colour of your choice can be set
Pages where the element is not found are left as they are, and the result message says how many

Output as scanned images

Tick "Output as scanned images" when the text under the cover must really be gone. The covered pages (or all pages) are turned into pictures. A message tells the downsides before it is turned on:
All text of those pages is gone too: no searching, selecting or copying. Links and form fields stop working. There is no text recognition (OCR) in this program. The file can be much bigger, and quality depends on the dpi you choose
Keep your original file: this cannot be undone

Warning: Without the scanned-images option the text is only COVERED, not deleted. It can still be selected and copied, and the cover can be removed with a PDF editor. For sensitive data use the scanned-images option or Redact & Mask.
Tip: Text that is only on some pages (for example the first lines of the text) is not taken as a header. If the automatic search misses something, mark it by hand.
Tip: The covers are put on the pages as a separate sheet, so the text and the pages themselves are not changed.

Rotate / Delete Pages

Rotate / Delete Pages: rotate and delete pages in one step.

Rotate and delete pages of a PDF, see the result first, then do everything in one step.

The screen

Thumbnails (left) with a small box on each, the big page (right)
"Ticking a page fills": Pages to delete / Pages to rotate. The ticks go into the box you choose
The boxes on the left side show the same pages as the ticks. Tick a box or type the pages, both work

Rotate pages

Browse the input PDF
Tick the pages to rotate (or type them, e.g. 1-5, or 1,3,5)
Choose the direction in the drop-down: 90 clockwise, 90 counter-clockwise, 180, or Original (no rotation)
The choice goes to the page you just ticked, or the thumbnail you clicked. Every page keeps its own direction
"Original (no rotation)" puts that page back as it is in the file

Rotations list (different directions for different pages)

Choose a direction in the drop-down and tick the pages (or type them in "Pages to rotate")
Press "Add to list". The pages go into the Rotations list with their direction and the box is emptied
Choose the next direction, tick the next pages, press "Add to list" again. For example 1-5 turned counter-clockwise, then page 7 turned 180
The preview and the thumbnails show every page of the list in its direction. APPLY ALL and ROTATE PAGES turn the pages of the list together with the pages that are still in the box
Remove takes out the chosen line (all its pages), Clear empties the list. To change one page of the list, choose another direction while that page is selected: it goes back to the box. "Original (no rotation)" takes it out of the list
The turn is added to the turn the page already has in the file. A page that is shown sideways (turned 90 clockwise in the file) and gets 180 will then be turned to 270

Delete pages

Choose "Pages to delete" and tick the pages (red cross = will be deleted), or type them
"Delete ticked pages" deletes the ticked pages at once

APPLY ALL (rotate + delete)

Does all the changes in one step
First a list shows which pages will be DELETED and which pages will be ROTATED (by direction), and how many pages the new file has
Click Yes to continue and choose where to save. No does nothing
A page that is in both lists is deleted

Quick buttons

Use All Pages - fills the active box with every page
Odd Pages - only odd-numbered pages
Even Pages - only even-numbered pages
Untick all - clears the ticks

Range syntax

1-5 pages 1 through 5
1,3,5 specific pages
2-10,15,20 mix

The old buttons

ROTATE PAGES and DELETE PAGES still work, each one on its own. ROTATE PAGES also keeps the direction of every page

Tip: Deletion keeps the remaining pages in their original order.
Note: Here you choose the pages yourself. To find blank pages in a scan automatically and remove them, use Remove / Replace Pages.
Warning: Every operation writes to a new file; the original is never modified.

Crop / Resize

Crop / Resize: fit the pages to a paper size.

Resize pages so they fit a standard paper size: all pages, or only the pages you choose.

Paper sizes supported

A4, A3, A5
Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Executive

Steps

Browse the input PDF. Its pages appear as thumbnails with a big preview
Pick a paper size from the list
Choose "Apply to": all pages, or selected pages (tick the thumbnails or type 88,12,55). The other pages stay exactly as they are
Tick "Force Landscape" if you want wide pages. Tick "Rotate pages to fill the paper" if a portrait page should be turned to fill a landscape paper (and the other way round) instead of leaving empty margins
Check the preview: the page is shown on the new paper. The bold line under the page tells the paper size, and which size the thumbnail and the page picture show
Choose the output path
Click RESIZE PDF

What happens

Each chosen page is scaled to fit the target size, keeping its proportions, and centred
White margins are added where the shape of the page differs from the paper
Pages of different sizes in one file are handled one by one. Big files are processed in parts

The preview

Result shows the page on the new paper, Original shows the page as it is
Pages you did not choose are shown as they are

Tip: Use this before printing to make mixed-size PDFs uniform.
Tip: A big file (hundreds of pages) is faster to preview: the page you look at is made first and kept.

Grayscale

Grayscale: convert colour pages to gray.

Convert any colour PDF to grayscale. Cheaper to print, consistent across printers.

Steps

Browse the input PDF. Its pages appear as thumbnails with a big page
Choose the output path
Optional: adjust JPEG quality (for image-heavy PDFs)
Optional: enable downsampling and set a target DPI
Optional: enable contrast boost for scanned documents
Click CONVERT TO GRAYSCALE

Options explained

JPEG Quality - controls image compression; lower = smaller file
Downsample images - reduces image resolution to shrink file size
Target DPI - 150 is a good balance, 300 is print-quality
Boost contrast - applies an S-curve to darken text and lighten paper

The window

It is maximized when you load a PDF, so the pages have room

Tip: Text remains vector, still selectable and searchable.
Tip: For scanned documents, use High Contrast B/W in the Negative PDF tab instead.

Metadata View/Clean

Metadata View/Clean after ANALYZE: the report lists every field.

Analyze and strip metadata from any PDF.

ANALYZE (read-only)

Reports, in a structured text view:

Full path, filename, size in bytes / KB / MB
Created, modified, accessed timestamps
Page count
SHA256 and MD5 cryptographic hashes
Every Info dictionary field (Author, Title, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, dates)
PDF identifiers (PdfID0 / PdfID1)
Page sizes summary
Encryption status

STRIP METADATA (destructive)

Rewrites the file with all metadata wiped:

qpdf removes XMP streams
pdftk overwrites the Info dictionary with blank values
"Also reset the document ID" (ticked by default) gives the new file a fresh hidden identifier, so the cleaned copy cannot be linked to its original through it

EXPORT REPORT

Saves the last analysis as a UTF-8 text file.

Steps

Browse the input PDF
Click ANALYZE, review the report
Optionally EXPORT REPORT for the record
Click STRIP METADATA, pick the output, done

Tip: ANALYZE never modifies the source file.
Warning: STRIP is irreversible. The output cannot be un-stripped.

Dates of the cleaned file (STRIP)

The tab Metadata View/Edit/Clean has two pages: View / Clean and Edit. Under the STRIP buttons you can choose the dates of the cleaned file:

In the PDF, Created and Modified: Remove (the default), Now, Set to a date and time, or a Random time in a range
In Windows, Created, Modified and Opened: Leave as is, Same as the PDF date, Now, Set to, or Random in range
The range (from - to) is used by every Random choice. Modified is never earlier than Created when both are random
Nothing is blocked: you may choose any dates

Batch Rename

Batch Rename: scan a folder, check the new names, then apply.

Rename every PDF in a folder based on its first line of text.

How it works

Pick the source folder
Optional: enable recursive mode for subfolders
Optional: set a prefix and/or suffix
Click SCAN / RESCAN. The tool reads each PDF's first text line
Review the Preview column. You can spot conflicts before applying
Click APPLY RENAME to do it, or CANCEL PLAN to start over

Automatic conflict resolution

When two files would land on the same name, the second one gets _2, _3, etc. appended. No overwrites.

Thumbnail preview

Click any row to see a low-resolution render of page 1 in the right panel.

Open - launch the file in your default viewer
Open File Location - select it in Explorer
Export Rename Plan to TXT - save the plan as a record

Double-click a row

Opens the PDF in your default viewer.

Tip: Use this to rename scanned invoices, court exhibits, and receipts by their own content.
Warning: A rename cannot be undone from within the app.

N-up & Booklet

N-up & Booklet: several pages on a sheet, or a booklet for printing.

Print several pages on one sheet, or lay out a booklet.

N-up

Choose 2, 4, 6, 9 or 16 pages per sheet
Choose the sheet size and the orientation (Auto fits best)
Pages stay upright and in reading order

Booklet

Choose Booklet
Pick the sheet size (A4 gives A5 pages)
Choose the binding edge
Print double-sided, flip on the SHORT edge, fold the stack in half and staple

The preview

The new sheets are shown as thumbnails with a big page: you see the result before you save
Change the number of pages per sheet, the sheet size or the orientation and the sheets are made again
Big files show the first 48 pages only in the preview; the saved file has all pages

Sheet colour

Choose a colour with the colour picker: it is painted behind the pages of every sheet (N-up and Booklet)
No colour keeps the paper white

Notes

The page count is rounded up to a multiple of 4 with blank pages at the end
Text stays sharp. Links and bookmarks are not kept in the new file

Tip: For a right-to-left language choose Right edge.

Remove / Replace Pages

Remove / Replace Pages: find blank pages and remove or replace them.

Find blank pages in scanned documents and remove them.

Steps

Choose the PDF
Set how much ink still counts as blank (default 0.10 %)
Click SCAN PAGES. Pages that look blank are ticked
Tick or untick pages by hand if needed
Choose what happens to the ticked pages: remove them, replace them with text, or replace them with a picture
Click the big button at the bottom

Replacing pages

Text: type the text, pick the font, size, Bold / Italic / Underline, alignment, text colour and background colour
Picture: choose an image; Fit inside keeps its proportions, Fill crops it to cover the page, Stretch distorts it
PREVIEW THE REPLACEMENT shows the result on the right, in the size of the selected page
Every replaced page keeps the size of the page it replaces. The new page is a picture, so its text cannot be selected

How pages are judged

The program draws every page and measures how much of it is clearly darker than that page's own paper colour, so grey or yellowish scan paper is not a problem
Ignore page edges (default on) skips the outer 5 % of the page, where scanners leave dark borders and punch holes
Blank: at or below your value (default 0.01 %, strict: a page with even a short line of text is not ticked). Almost blank: up to 5 times your value, not ticked, check it with the preview on the right
Round dark spots inside the outer 12 % of the page (punch holes) and dark areas that touch the page edge (scanner borders, skewed corners) are ignored
Scans with specks, dirt or a faint bleed-through: raise the value to 0.05 - 0.2 % and watch the list update
A page with only a page number is usually "almost blank", so it stays unless you tick it

Tip: Change the value after scanning and the ticks update at once.
Note: Bookmarks, form fields and document properties of the pages that stay are kept.

Page Organizer

The Page Organizer: drag pages, turn them, delete them, copy and insert pages.

This tool is shown as Edit & Organize in the list on the left. It has two parts: the page organizer (this topic: order, turn, crop, delete, copy, insert and export pages) and the Word-like text editor (the topic "Edit & Organize: Text Editor": Edit text...).

Organize the pages of a PDF: change the order by drag and drop (or by the page numbers printed on the pages), turn, crop, delete, copy them, insert blank pages or pages of another PDF, and save or export them. Click a page with the right mouse button to see the menu of everything you can do with it.

Steps

Choose the PDF (Browse, drag a file onto the box, or drop it on the pages). Every page appears as a thumbnail
Drag a page to the place you want. The orange mark shows where it will land
To move several pages at once, select them first: Ctrl + click, Shift + click, or Select all
To turn a page, click the round arrow on it (left arrow = counter-clockwise, right arrow = clockwise). If the page is selected together with others, all the selected pages are turned
To delete a page, click the red cross at the top of it (or select pages and press Delete). They are not saved in the new file. Reset all brings them back. At least one page must stay
To see a page big, double click it or press the Preview button on it. The window shows the page as it will be saved (turned or not). Use the arrows in the window (or the Left / Right keys) to look at the next or the previous page in the new order, the round arrows there turn the page, Esc closes it
To cut the white margins of a page (crop), open the big view and press Crop. Drag on the page to choose the part you want to keep, then drag its corners or edges to change it. Auto trim finds the content by itself. Done closes the crop mode. Click outside the chosen part to clear it
Click SAVE PAGES IN THIS ORDER (it is above the pages) and the new file is made

Crop

Crop is saved for every page separately. The pages show the cropped part in the list
Auto trim looks for the text and the pictures. Thin frame lines and tiny marks (small dots, a small page number) are not counted, so check the border and widen the chosen part by hand if a small mark must stay
"Smart: keep page numbers, skip decorations" (on by default): every small mark outside the text (a page number, a dot, a line in the header or footer) is checked in three ways: where it is on the page, how it looks (size and shape like a digit, or like a dot or line) and whether it is the same on other pages of the document (a decoration repeats exactly, a page number changes). If the average chance that it is content is 50% or more, the mark stays in the page. The first Auto trim also looks at a few other pages, so it takes a moment. Switch it off to trim only by the main text
Auto trim leaves the same empty margin on all four sides. Set its size with Trim margin % (default 2); the same setting is in the big view
When Auto trim works on several pages, a window in the middle of the program shows "Auto trim: N / all", the percent and an animated bar. Cancel stops it; the pages that are already done keep their crop (Undo takes them back)
Auto trim (in the big view) works on the page you look at. Auto trim selected pages (above the list) works on all selected pages (or all pages, after a question)
Crop selected pages (above the list) opens the big view of the first selected page in the crop mode. Choose the part, close the window and answer Yes to give it to all selected pages. Same for all pages (in the crop mode) gives it to every page of the list
Same for copies of this page (in the crop mode) gives the part you chose to the other copies of the same page: the copies made with Copy page, and the pages inserted from another PDF that are the same page of that PDF. Only these pages are changed, the other pages keep their own crop. The text next to the button tells how many copies the page has
Same for selected pages (in the crop mode) gives the part you chose to all selected pages of the list
Clear crop of selected removes the crop from the selected pages. Reset all removes all crops
A crop is made with the page boxes of the PDF, the content that is cut away stays in the file (it is only not shown). It is not a safe way to hide secret content: use Redact & Mask for that
Crop the page size too: when it is on (default), the page size is cut as well, so every viewer and printer shows the same. When it is off, only the visible part is changed
Your own turn is applied after the crop

Undo and Redo

Undo / Redo (above the list, or Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y) go back or forward over moving, turning, deleting, copying, blank pages, arranging and crop changes
The selection is not restored by Undo

Deleting

Deleting pages (red cross or the Delete key) asks you to confirm. Undo brings them back

Select pages

Select pages: write numbers like 1-5, 8, 12-20 and press Select (or Enter). The numbers are the numbers under the pages (the ORIGINAL page numbers)
The box always shows the numbers of the pages you have selected (by clicking too), so you can copy them or change them and press Select
Odd / Even select every first, third, fifth... or every second, fourth... page of the list as it is now (by position, not by the number under it)

Copy and blank pages

Copy page makes a copy of every selected page and puts it right after the original. The label shows "(copy)"
Insert blank page... adds an empty page before or after EVERY page of the list, or before or after every SELECTED page, or at the start or the end of the file (useful for printing on both sides). The blank page has the size of the neighbour page and is marked "blank"

Insert pages from another PDF

Insert PDF pages... puts pages of ANOTHER PDF into the list. It has the same places as Insert blank page: before or after every page (all pages), before or after every selected page, at the start or at the end of the file
After the place you choose the PDF. A window opens with all its pages as pictures: click the pages you want (click again to take one off, Shift + click chooses a range, Choose all / Clear, or write numbers like 1-3, 7 and press Choose). Double click a page to see it big; in the big view use the arrows (or the Left / Right keys) to look through the pages and Space to choose or remove the page. "Insert in the reverse order" puts the chosen pages the other way round. The same pages are inserted in every place, so before every page of a 10 page file it adds 10 times the pages you chose
The new pages are named with the file name and the page number (for example "cover p2"). You can move, turn, crop, copy, delete them and use Undo like any other page
The other PDF must have no password (use Unlock PDF first). The file must stay in its place until you save. Auto trim works on these pages too, but the Smart check compares only with the main file, so check the result by eye
The links of a page inside its own PDF are kept; bookmarks of the other PDF are not added

Arrange

Arrange... changes the order of the whole list: odd pages then even pages in reverse (1 3 5 ... 6 4 2, for a double-sided scan made in two passes), odd then even, even then odd, or fronts and backs together (first, last, second, last but one ...)

Page size

Page size: Fit all pages to A4 / Letter puts every page on a sheet of that size (the page is made smaller or bigger to fit, with the proportions kept, and centered). The sheet is turned to the same direction as the page. Limits: links and form fields of such pages are removed. Keep every page size changes nothing

Sort by the printed page numbers

Arrange... > By the page numbers printed on the pages (or right-click > Move > Sort by the printed page numbers...) reads the page numbers that are PRINTED on the pages (usually at the bottom or top of a page) and puts the pages in order, ascending (1, 2, 3 ...) or descending (... 3, 2, 1)
A window shows what was found for every page: the number and where on the page it is. You can check it and correct a number: double-click a row and type the right number (0 = the page has no number). The new order is shown before you press Sort the pages
Numbers like 5, - 5 -, Page 5, Page 5 of 10, 5/10, (5) and roman numbers (i, ii, iv ...) are understood. Pages with roman numbers go before the pages with ordinary numbers (ascending). A number that is on many pages (a year, a document number) is not taken as a page number
Pages without a number (a blank page, a scanned picture, a cover): choose what happens to them: they stay behind the page that is before them now (default), or go to the end, or go to the start
If several pages are selected you can sort only them: they stay in the same places and only get in order among themselves; or sort all pages
Limits: the numbers are read from the text of the pages. A scanned page is a picture without text, the program has no OCR: such pages show no number, and you can type the number by hand. The text of the page must be readable (some PDFs have broken text). pdftotext.exe must be in the LIBS folder next to pdftoppm.exe (the same file is used for the header / footer tool)
Undo (Ctrl+Z) brings the old order back

The big view window

The window of the big view (and of the Edit mode) has Minimize and Maximize buttons next to the close button. Maximize fills the screen (the task bar stays visible) and the same button brings the old size back; a double click on the top bar and the key F11 do the same. Minimize puts the window on the task bar (click it there to come back). Drag the top bar to move the window

Print a page

Open the big view of a page and press Print. The page is printed the way it will be saved: with its crop, its turn, and the text and pictures you put on it. Choose the printer in the window that opens. The page is made as big as the paper allows (a quarter inch margin) and is turned sideways by itself when that fits better

Click a page with the right mouse button. If the page is not selected, it becomes the selected page; if it is one of several selected pages, the menu works for all selected pages (the first line says which)
Preview, Crop..., Auto trim, Clear crop, Rotate right / left / 180 degrees, Copy page, Delete
Insert blank page and Insert pages from another PDF: before or after the page (before or after each selected page, if several are selected)
Move: to the start, to the end, to a place you type (the first selected page gets that place, the others follow it), one place earlier / later, and Reverse the selected pages (they stay in their places but their order is turned round)
Select: all pages made from this page (its copies), from this page to the end, from the start to this page, invert the selection, odd pages, even pages, all pages
Export this page / the selected pages: opens the Export window with the selected pages already chosen
Copy the page numbers puts numbers like 1-5, 8 on the clipboard (blank and inserted pages have no number)
Right-click on the empty place of the list: insert a blank page or pages from another PDF at the start / the end, and the selection commands
Everything in the menu can be undone with Undo (Ctrl+Z)

Write text, add pictures and boxes (Edit)

NOTE: when the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime of Windows is there (it is on Windows 10 / 11), the Edit and Edit text buttons open the Word-like text editor, described in the topic "Edit & Organize: Text Editor". The tools below (Text, Picture, Box, Area) are the older way and are used when that runtime is missing
Open the big view of a page (double click it) and press Edit. The tool bar has: Text, Picture..., Box, Delete item, Undo, Redo, the font, the size, B (bold), I (italic), U (underline), S (strikethrough), left / centre / right, Colour, Highlight and Opacity
Text: press Text, drag a box on the page (or just click) and type. Ctrl+Enter or a click outside finishes. Double click a text to change it. Any font of your computer can be used
Double click: on a Box it opens the text in the place of the box (draw a Box over old text, then double click it and write the new text); on an empty place of the page it starts a text there; on a text it changes it
The same font as the page: when 'Copy the font of the page for new text' is ticked (it is by default), a new text gets the font, size and colour of the page text that is at its place (or the nearest one), so the new text looks like the old one. The button Match page font does the same for the chosen text. The font must be on your computer (if not, the nearest name is used and the window says so). A page with several fonts: the font of the text under the box is used. Needs pdftohtml.exe in the LIBS folder next to pdftotext.exe. A scanned page has no text to copy
Zoom: Ctrl + the mouse wheel (the place under the mouse stays), the - and + buttons, Fit (the whole page), Ctrl + plus / minus / 0. Move the zoomed page with the right mouse button (or the wheel; Shift + wheel goes sideways). The page gets sharper when you zoom in
Ruler (tick Ruler): rulers in cm along the top and the left of the page, with a red mark where the mouse is. Under the page you see where the mouse is in mm and, for the chosen item, its margins (left, right, top, bottom) and width: when left and right are equal, the item is in the middle. Drag from a ruler onto the page to make a guide line; drag it back onto the ruler to remove it. Guide lines are only helps, they are not saved in the PDF
Snap (tick Snap): a moved item or a resized edge sticks to the guide lines, the middle of the page, the edges of the page and the edges and middles of the other items; a pink line shows what it stuck to
Crop a picture: choose the picture, then drag one of the four middle handles (top, bottom, left, right) inwards: that side is cut and the picture keeps its size. Drag the handle outwards to get the cut part back. The corner handles make the picture bigger or smaller (its shape is kept). When the cut is right, press the small Crop button on the picture (or Set crop in the bar): the cut is now final and the button says Cropped. After that the top, bottom, left and right squares stretch the picture instead of cutting it, so you can make it big enough to cover text of the page; the corners keep its shape. Press the button again to cut more. Reset crop (or the right button menu) shows the whole picture again. The cut part is not saved in the PDF, so it is also gone from the file
Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+D, or the buttons, or the right mouse button menu): for the text, pictures and boxes you put on a page. Paste puts the thing on the page you are looking at, so you can move things from one page to another. To front / To back change which thing is on top. Center on page puts the chosen thing in the middle (the right button menu has the vertical one too). Arrow keys move the chosen thing a little (Shift = more)
Area...: for what is ALREADY on the page. Drag a rectangle: the place stays chosen (like the selection of Paint). Drag its small squares to make it bigger or smaller (so that more of the page is inside it). If you already moved it and need a bigger place, press Undo: the place is chosen again. Then drag it to move it (the old place is covered with the colour of the page and the content moves as a picture that looks exactly the same), press Delete to erase it, Ctrl+X to cut it, Ctrl+C to copy it, or use Center on page. Right click it for more: Take the text (every line keeps its own font, size, bold and colour, as vector text; it can be moved and made bigger or smaller, but its words cannot be changed), Take as a picture, or Take as plain text (one font, one size: the words can be changed, but mixed bold parts and the spaces between paragraphs are lost). Esc or a click somewhere else lets the place go. WARN: the old content is only COVERED, it is still in the file under the cover (it can be selected, copied and searched). For secret content use Redact & Mask. Taking the text needs a page with text (not a scan); a picture of the place is made in 300 dpi
Pick colour: click a place of the page to take its colour for the chosen item or for the next text
A chosen Area works like a chosen item: Center on page, Cut (Ctrl+X), Copy (Ctrl+C) and Delete use it (a picture of the place is used, so nothing of the look is lost; the old place is covered)
Open it from the right click menu of a page: Edit (text, pictures, boxes)... opens the big view directly in Edit. Keep the mouse over any button for a moment to see what it does
Keys like in Word: Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U = bold / italic / underline, Enter or F2 = change the chosen text, Delete = delete the item, Ctrl+X / C / V / D = cut / copy / paste / duplicate, Ctrl+Z / Y = undo / redo, arrows = move the item a little (Shift = more)
The cover that hides an old place (after Cut or Erase) stays under everything you write or add, cannot be chosen by a click, and To back never sends an item under it. To get the old content back, use Undo
While you type in a text, Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U change the whole text and Ctrl+A chooses all of it
Styles inside a text (like Word): while you write, choose some letters with the mouse or Shift + arrows and press B, I, U or S (or Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U): only the chosen letters change. With no letters chosen the style is used for what you type next. The buttons keep the focus, so the text stays open. The font, the size and the colour boxes work the same way: with letters chosen only they change (a word can be bigger, red or in another font), with nothing chosen they are used for what you type next. Highlight gives the chosen letters a background colour (choose No highlight to take it away). When no text is open (the text item is only chosen) Font, Size, Colour and Highlight change the whole text. Alignment and Opacity are always for the whole text. Lines with letters of different sizes stand on the same base line, like in Word. Match page font and Copy the font of the page give the whole text one font and clear the parts. When the text is turned (a turned page) a small window is used and the looks of the letters are not kept
Font group (like Word): A+ / A- grow or shrink the size (Ctrl+Shift+> / <, or Ctrl+] / [). The arrow next to U gives single, double, thick, dotted, dashed and wave underline. x2 is subscript (Ctrl+=) and x2 (up) is superscript (Ctrl+Shift+=). Aa changes the case: Sentence, lower, UPPER, Capitalize Each Word, tOGGLE (Shift+F3 goes round). Clear takes away all looks of the chosen letters (Ctrl+Space). Highlight and Colour have an arrow with a palette: Automatic, theme shades, standard colours and More Colours. Font... opens the Font window (font, style, size, colour, underline, strikethrough, super / subscript, small caps, all caps, letter spacing; Ctrl+Shift+F). Painter is the Format Painter: choose letters (or a text), press Painter, then choose the letters or the text that must get the same look; press it again to cancel. Not supported: double strikethrough, shadow and a different colour for the underline
Edit the text that is already in the PDF: in Edit mode press Edit text and click a sentence of the page (or double click the text of the page). The whole paragraph opens for writing with the font, size, colour, bold and italic it has on the page, so you can change a word or the whole sentence; the lines are set again when the text changes. The old text is covered with the colour of the page (it stays in the file under the cover: use Redact & Mask for secrets). A paragraph is found by the line spacing, the size of the letters and the left edge, so two paragraphs that touch each other may be taken as one: use Area > Make it plain text for an exact place. When the paragraph becomes longer or shorter, the text below it in the same column goes down or up with it (Move text below, on by default): those paragraphs also become texts that can be changed. Pictures, lines, tables, and text near the bottom of the page (page numbers) are not moved. A scanned page has no text to take. If the font of the page is not on the computer a similar one is used, so the lines can break in other places
Resize like in Word: choose a text or a box and drag the small squares. The left and right squares of a text make its width bigger or smaller (the lines wrap again); the top and bottom squares make it taller or shorter, but never shorter than its text (it grows by itself when the text needs more place); a box has the same four squares; the corners change both. Dragging near the side line is enough
Picture...: choose a PNG / JPG / BMP / GIF / TIF file; it appears in the middle of the page. Drag it to move, drag a corner to resize (the shape is kept). Opacity makes it see-through
Box: a filled box (white by default) that covers what is under it. Choose its colour with Colour
Click a text, picture or box to choose it: the tool bar then shows its settings, and a change goes to it. With nothing chosen, the settings are used for the next text
Delete (key) or Delete item removes the chosen item. Esc leaves the Edit mode. Everything can be undone (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y), also after you close the window
The things are saved when you save or export the pages. In the list, a page with text or pictures has an orange number
Limits: the text becomes drawn letters in the PDF, so it cannot be selected or searched. The text that is already in the PDF cannot be changed here (cover it with a Box and write over it). A picture is saved in at most 300 dpi. The photo turn of a JPG (EXIF) is not applied. If you turn a page after you wrote on it, the text turns with the page

Thumbnail size

Thumbnails: Small shows more pages on the screen (good for 95+ pages), Large shows them big. Extra large shows exactly 3 pages in a row, as big as the window allows (it follows the window size), and sharper, to read small text: the first time you choose it, the thumbnails are made again at a higher quality (a few seconds more for big files; the old pictures stay until the new ones are ready). It stays sharp after that

Links and bookmarks

Clickable links (for example a table of contents) and bookmarks between the pages are kept in the new file and follow the pages to their new places. A link to a page that you deleted does not work any more (the page is not there). Pages that are copied keep their links
When a page size (A4 / Letter) is used, the links are kept and moved with the page. Other notes of the page (form fields, comments, stamps) are removed. A link that points to a place inside a page (not to the top) can land a little off on a page that was made smaller

Export pages

Export pages... (above the list) saves the selected pages, or all pages, as ONE new PDF file with those pages together (default), or as separate files: one PDF for each page, or JPG / PNG pictures
The pages are exported as you see them: in the new order, without deleted pages, turned and cropped. Files are named like name-01.pdf, in that order
For pictures choose the sharpness (DPI): 150 is good for the screen, 300 for printing. JPG files are smaller, PNG is sharper
If the folder already has files with the same names, you are asked before they are replaced

The window

When a file is loaded in this tool, the window is maximized, so the thumbnails and the big view have room

The thumbnails

The number under a page is its ORIGINAL page number
A page that is moved or turned gets an orange number
Thumbnails are made a few at a time, so a big file can be used at once; the pictures fill in

Buttons

To the start / To the end - move the selected pages to the beginning or the end
Reverse all - the last page becomes the first
Reset all - back to the order and the turns of the file
Select all - or press Ctrl + A

Notes

Only the order, the turns and the deletions you made change. The original file is never changed
A turn is added to the turn the page already has in the file, so a page that already looks turned is turned further
When you drag near the top or the bottom edge of the list, it scrolls
Bookmarks and links keep pointing to their pages, so after sorting they may point to another place in the document
If the PDF is password protected, unlock it first (Unlock PDF)

Tip: For a long document drag the page near the edge of the list, wait for the scroll, and drop it.

Edit & Organize: Text Editor

The text editor of the Edit & Organize tool works like a small Word. The pages of your PDF open as one continuous document: you write, delete, change the look of the text, add pictures and tables, and when you save, only the pages you changed are rebuilt. The pages you did not touch stay exactly as they were in the original file.

Open the editor

Edit & Organize tab > Edit text... (above the page list). The editor opens at the page you selected (or at the first page)
Double click a page (or press Preview on it) to see it big, then press Edit or Edit text
Right-click a page > Edit (text, pictures, boxes)...
The editor fills the page window. It needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime that comes with Windows 10 / 11. Without it the older Edit tools of the big view (Text, Picture, Box, Area) are used instead; they are described in the topic "Edit & Organize" (Page Organizer)
Your original file is never changed. The result is a new file you choose when you save the pages

What you see

The window has the menu (File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Table, Help), the tool bar, the rulers, and the pages with the page break between them
The bar at the bottom shows "Page X of Y" and the number of words
A blank page of the PDF has no text: it is shown empty, and you can write on it
Frozen pages (see below) are shown as pictures and cannot be edited

Save, Done, Close

Save (Ctrl+S): rebuilds the changed pages and keeps the editor open. If nothing changed it says "Nothing to save"
Done (File > Save and close): saves and closes the editor
Close (File > Close without saving): leaves without saving
What is saved: pages whose text, layout or pictures changed are made again; every other page is copied unchanged from the original

Write and edit text

Click in any text and write. Enter starts a new paragraph. Shift+Enter makes a line break inside the paragraph. Backspace and Delete work as in Word, also across paragraphs
Ctrl+A selects everything. Cut, Copy and Paste (Ctrl+X, C, V) work with the keyboard and with the Edit menu. Edit > Paste as text pastes the clipboard without any formatting
Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z) go back and forward through your changes; the buttons are at the left of the tool bar
Tab inside normal text writes four spaces. At the start of a bulleted or numbered line Tab makes the item deeper and Shift+Tab brings it back. In a table, Tab goes to the next cell (in the last cell it adds a new row)
The text keeps the font, size, colour and bold of the PDF. The footer of the page (for example the page number) is shown at the bottom of every page
Words are not underlined as misspelt: there is no spell checker in this editor

Text on several pages

The text flows from page to page like in Word. When you write more, the text that does not fit goes to the next page; when you delete, the next page's text comes up
A page gets a new page break when the text needs it, and when you press Ctrl+Enter (Insert > Page break before, or the "Page" button): the paragraph under the cursor starts on a new page
Go to page: Ctrl+G asks for a page number and moves there
Pages that are the end of a text and are changed by the flow may get a different number of pages than the original file: this is normal

Bold (Ctrl+B), Italic (Ctrl+I), Underline (Ctrl+U), Strikethrough (button S): for the chosen letters. With no letters chosen they work for what you type next
Font size: the size list (8 to 48 points). Change it for the chosen letters, or for the next text
Text colour (the A button) and Highlight (the "ab" button): choose a colour from the colour window. The x button next to Highlight removes the highlight
Style list: the paragraph styles that were found in the document (headings, body text and so on). Choose one to give the paragraph that look
Clear all formatting (Tx button, Ctrl+Space): removes bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, size, colour and highlight of the chosen text, and sets the paragraph back to plain: left aligned, no indent, no frame or background, normal line spacing
Align left (Ctrl+L), Centre (Ctrl+E), Align right (Ctrl+R), Justify (Ctrl+J): for the paragraphs that you chose
Line spacing: the list 1, 1.15, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 (or Ctrl+1 for single, Ctrl+5 for 1.5, Ctrl+2 for double). The number shown is how many times the natural line height of the text. A line spacing of 1.5 is kept after you save, export and open the file again
Spacing (the paragraph mark button): Before +6 / -6 / +12, After +6 / -6 / +12, and Remove spacing. These change the empty space above and below the paragraph (the numbers are in points)
Bullets and Numbering buttons make a list from the paragraphs; the same button again takes the list off. Decrease indent / Increase indent move the paragraph or list item left and right
The chosen look is shown in the tool bar: the size, the line spacing and the style show the values of the text where the cursor stands

Rulers

View > Rulers shows the horizontal and the vertical ruler in centimetres
The markers on the horizontal ruler are the edges of the paragraph the cursor is in: the first line, the left indent and the right indent. Drag a marker to change them; the paragraph moves at once
A marker shows the edges of the whole paragraph (like Word), not the place of the cursor. Click inside another paragraph and the markers jump to that paragraph's edges
The ruler works also for paragraphs of the PDF with a hanging indent (a list item whose first line starts to the left of the rest)

Find and Replace

Find (Ctrl+F or the Find button) opens the search bar. Write the word: every hit is marked, and the bar shows how many were found. Enter goes to the next hit, Shift+Enter to the previous one; the arrows do the same. "Match case" makes the search case sensitive. Esc closes the bar
Replace (Ctrl+H, or Edit > Replace...) adds the "Replace with" box. Replace changes the hit that is chosen and goes to the next; Replace all changes every hit at once. One Undo (Ctrl+Z) takes back Replace all
If a word is chosen when you open the bar, it is written in the search box for you

Pictures

Insert > Picture... (or the Picture button) chooses an image file. You can also paste an image from the clipboard (Ctrl+V) or drag an image file onto the page
Click a picture to choose it (a blue frame with a square handle in the corner). Drag the handle to make it bigger or smaller; the shape is kept
Border (button) puts a line around the picture or takes it off; the colour button next to it and the width list (0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2.25, 3 pt) change the look of the line. Everything is under Format > Picture border on / off and Picture border colour...
Write under a picture: click in the empty place under the picture (anywhere from the picture down to the next text or the end of the page). One click (or two) closes the picture choice and opens an empty line right under it: write your own caption, with the look you want. You can also press Enter or just start typing while the picture is chosen
Caption (button, or Insert > Caption under picture): adds a centred line "Şəkil N)" with the next number under the chosen picture. Change the text as you like
Delete a picture: choose it and press Delete or Backspace
Pictures that are part of a page of the PDF are kept and can be chosen, resized and bordered like new ones

Tables

Table list (or Table menu) > Insert table 3 x 3 puts a table at the cursor. Tables that already exist in the PDF are opened as tables when the program can read them
Row above, Row below, Column left, Column right: add a row or a column next to the cell you are in
Delete row, Delete column, Delete table
Merge cells (choose several cells first) and Split cell
Tab moves to the next cell; in the last cell it adds a new row. Shift+Tab goes back. The cell borders of the table are kept

Zoom

The Zoom list: 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 (default) and 200 %. Also View > Zoom, and Ctrl + plus / Ctrl + minus
Zoom changes only how big the page looks on the screen; it does not change the file

Pages that cannot be edited (frozen pages)

Some pages are shown as a picture and keep their original content. They are not changed when you save, and the text around them still flows normally. A page is frozen when:

it has three or more columns of text
it has dotted leaders (a table of contents with dots)
text is written over a picture
it has a table the program cannot read
it has drawn lines or shapes that the editor cannot reproduce
it has no text that the program can read (a scan)
If you need to change such a page, use the older Edit tools of the big view (Text, Box, Picture), or Redact & Mask / Remove / Replace Pages.

Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+Z undo, Ctrl+Y redo, Ctrl+Shift+Z redo
Ctrl+B bold, Ctrl+I italic, Ctrl+U underline, Ctrl+Space clear formatting
Ctrl+L left, Ctrl+E centre, Ctrl+R right, Ctrl+J justify
Ctrl+1 single, Ctrl+5 1.5, Ctrl+2 double line spacing
Ctrl+Enter page break before the paragraph, Shift+Enter line break
Ctrl+F find, Ctrl+H replace, Ctrl+G go to page
Ctrl+A select all, Ctrl+X / C / V cut, copy, paste
Ctrl + plus / minus zoom, Tab / Shift+Tab deeper / shallower list item or next / previous table cell
Esc closes the search bar

Limits and tips

Not every effect of the original page can be reproduced exactly: line breaks and the width of letters can differ a little from the original, so a long text may flow a little differently
Text in languages written from right to left (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian) has not been tested in this editor
A scanned PDF is a picture: there is no text to edit (the program has no OCR)
If something looks wrong after saving, Undo is still available while the editor is open; the original file is never touched
The log file kpt_edit_debug.log in the Windows Temp folder records what the editor did (useful when you report a problem)

Forms & Privacy

Form Fill & Flatten

Form Fill & Flatten: fill in the fields and make the answers permanent.

Fill in the fields of a PDF form, or make a form permanent so nobody can change it.

Steps

Choose the PDF and click LOAD FIELDS
Select a field in the list
Type the value (or pick one for tick boxes and drop-down lists) and click SET VALUE
Repeat for every field you want to change. Changed rows are shown in bold
Tick Flatten if the result must not be editable any more
Click SAVE PDF

Flatten only

Tick Flatten and click SAVE PDF without changing any field
The fields and visible comments become part of the page

Note: Tick boxes show their choices, for example Off / Yes. Pick the one you need.
Tip: Names with special letters are supported.
Warning: Forms made with XFA (some government forms) are not supported. Open them in the original viewer.

Stamp & Signature

Stamp & Signature: text stamps, pictures and signatures with a live preview.

Put a text stamp such as APPROVED, or a picture of your signature, on chosen pages: where you want it, as many as you want.

Text stamp

Choose Text stamp
Pick a word from the list or type your own
Choose the colour, border and tilt

Signature or image

Choose Signature / image and pick a PNG or JPG
Keep "Make the white background transparent" ticked for a signature on white paper
Optionally add a caption under it. {DATE} becomes today's date
Press Save (next to the list of saved signatures) to keep a copy of the picture. Next time, choose it from the list. The copies are kept in the Signatures folder next to the tools of the program. Del removes the saved copy only, never your original picture

Which pages

Pages: first, last, all, or Selected pages. For Selected pages, tick the thumbnails or type a list such as 1,3-5

Where on the page

Position: nine ready places, or "Custom (draw on the page)"
Custom: press DRAW PLACE above the page list and draw a box on the page. The stamp or signature is fitted inside the box, with its proportions kept. The page you draw on is added to the chosen pages automatically (and its thumbnail is ticked). The place is saved as a part of the page, so it lands at the same relative place on pages of other sizes
Width and margin are used for the nine ready places. With Custom the box sets the size. Opacity and tilt work everywhere
Once a place is drawn, a red dashed box with four small squares stays on the page. Drag the box to move it, drag a square to change its size. The stamp follows when you let go
The small picture of the stamp (Preview) follows the text, colour and other settings by itself. The big preview shows the stamp on the real page

Several stamps in one go (Placements)

Make the first stamp (type, pages, place) and press "Add to list"
Change the settings for the next stamp and press "Add to list" again. For example: DRAFT on all pages in the centre, and your signature on the last page, bottom right
"Load" puts the chosen item back into the form so you can change it (then Remove the old one and Add the new one), "Remove" deletes the chosen item, "Clear" empties the list
While you set up the next stamp, the preview shows the stamp of the form too (marked in the note under the page as not in the list yet). Only the stamps of the list are placed. If the form has a stamp that is not in the list when you press APPLY, you are asked whether to add it

Tip: Pages that are rotated are handled. The stamp always stands upright.
Tip: If the stamps overlap, they are placed in the order of the list: the last one is on top.
Warning: This is a picture on the page. It is not a certified digital signature.

Redact & Mask

Redact & Mask: black out text and areas for real.

Cover sensitive text or areas so that the covered content is really gone from the file. Also: delete pages.

How it works

You mark areas. Pages that have marks are drawn as pictures with the areas painted black
The text under the black boxes no longer exists in the new file
Pages without marks are left exactly as they were

Steps

Choose the PDF. The first page appears and the window is maximized
Drag with the left mouse button to cover an area. Right-click a covered area to remove it
Or type words (one per line) and click FIND AND MARK to cover every match automatically
Go through all pages with the < and > buttons
Click REDACT AND SAVE

Delete pages

Tick the small boxes on the thumbnails (left of the page), or right-click a thumbnail or the page and choose "Delete page ..."
Delete key on the thumbnails or the "Delete ... page(s)" button on the right does the same. With no box ticked it means the page you are looking at
You are asked to confirm. The ORIGINAL FILE IS NOT CHANGED: a new file is made (default name ends with _pages-deleted) and opens in this tab
Page numbers: "Renumber" closes the gap (1, 2, 3 ...). "Keep the original numbers" shows 1, 2, 4, 5 ... in the PDF viewer. Numbers printed on the pages themselves do not change; add new ones with Add: Header / Footer / Numbering
Marked areas move with their pages

Checks

After saving, your search words are looked up in the new file. Any page that still has them is listed
Scanned pages have no text, so mark them by hand

Note: Marked pages cannot be searched or copied afterwards. Choose 200 or 300 dpi for sharper pictures.
Warning: Bookmarks and document properties are not carried over to the new file.
Warning: Black rectangles drawn in a normal PDF editor do NOT remove text. This tool does.

Media

PDF to Video

PDF to Video: the pages become a slideshow video.

Turn a PDF into an MP4 slideshow.

Steps

Browse the input PDF
Pick the output MP4 path
Set seconds per page (default 3)
Choose resolution: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, or 4K
Choose FPS: 24, 30, or 60
Choose background colour (Black, White, Dark Gray, Navy Blue)
Choose quality preset (CRF 18 = high, 23 = standard, 28 = smaller)
Click CREATE VIDEO

How it works

Each PDF page is rendered at 200 DPI to PNG
FFmpeg stitches them into an H.264 MP4 with yuv420p pixel format
Uses faststart flag for streaming-friendly output

Tip: Combine with Watermarking or Page Numbers first for branded slideshows.
Warning: A 100-page PDF at 3 sec/page takes several minutes to encode.

Video Compression

Video Compression: make video files smaller.

Reduce video file size using FFmpeg.

Steps

Browse the input video
Choose the output path and container
Choose codec, quality, resolution, preset, audio bitrate
Click COMPRESS VIDEO

Codec options

MP4 (H.264) - most compatible, plays everywhere
MP4 (H.265 / HEVC) - smaller files, slower to encode, some older players do not support it
MKV (H.264) - flexible container
MKV (H.265) - best quality per byte for storage
WebM (VP9) - open format, good for browsers

Quality (CRF)

Lower = better quality, larger file. 18 is near-lossless, 23 is standard, 28 is noticeably compressed, 32 is the smallest.

Resolution

"Keep Original" preserves the source dimensions. Otherwise the video is scaled to the chosen size.

Preset

Trade speed vs file size. "medium" is a good default; "slow" or "veryslow" make smaller files but take longer.

Tip: For archiving, prefer H.265 / CRF 20.
Tip: For sharing on chat apps, H.264 / CRF 26 / 720p is a good balance.

Video to PDF

Video to PDF: frames of a video become PDF pages.

Extract frames from a video into a PDF (one frame per page).

Steps

Browse the input video
Choose the output PDF path
Set "seconds per frame" (1.0 = one frame per second)
Set JPEG quality (85 recommended)
Optional: scale percentage (100 = original size)
Optional: max pages (0 = unlimited)
Click CREATE PDF FROM VIDEO

Common uses

Contact sheets of a long recording
Extracting key moments from CCTV footage
Turning screencasts into printable handouts

Tip: Set interval to 5-10 seconds for a summary PDF of a long video.
Warning: A 1-hour video at 1 sec/frame produces about 3600 pages and can take many minutes.

Analysis & Archive

PDF Repair

PDF Repair: try to rescue a damaged PDF.

Attempt to recover a corrupted or unreadable PDF.

Recovery pipeline

The tool runs five escalating attempts, stopping at the first success:

Step 1 - Diagnose with qpdf --check
Step 2 - qpdf full rebuild
Step 3 - qpdf recovery (replace-input mode)
Step 4 - Ghostscript permissive rebuild
Step 5 - Text-only rescue (extracts text, discards layout and images)

What you get

A detailed colour-coded log showing exactly which step succeeded or failed.

Steps

Browse the broken PDF
Choose an output path
Click REPAIR PDF
Review the log
Click Save Log to File to keep the report

Tip: If Step 5 succeeds, only the text is preserved. Formatting, images, and layout are lost.
Tip: Use this before opening a PDF in other tabs if it fails to load.

PDF Diff

PDF Diff: compare two PDFs (summary, metadata, text).

Compare two PDFs on three axes: hash, metadata, and text content.

What it reports

SHA256 hash - bit-for-bit identity check
File size comparison
Page count comparison
Full metadata diff (every Info dictionary field)
Text similarity percentage (set-based)
Line-by-line text diff with [-], [+], and [=] markers

Steps

Pick PDF A (reference / old)
Pick PDF B (new / compare)
Click COMPARE PDFS
Review the three tabs: Summary, Metadata, Text Content
Optional: click Export Report to save as TXT or HTML

The three result tabs

Summary - hash, size, pages, similarity, verdict
Metadata - table of every field with status SAME / DIFF / A ONLY / B ONLY
Text Content - line-by-line diff, colour coded

Tip: Export the HTML version for a nicely formatted, browser-readable report.
Tip: The set-based similarity differs from positional (line-by-line) matching. The summary reports both.

Visual Diff

Visual Diff: page-by-page picture comparison.

Pixel-level comparison of two PDFs, page by page.

Steps

Pick PDF A (reference)
Pick PDF B (compare)
Choose render DPI (96 recommended for speed, 150 for detail)
Set max pages to compare (30 default)
Click RUN VISUAL DIFF

The output

Left list shows each page with a % diff and status
Right preview shows the visual diff for the selected page:
- Red pixels = differences
- Faded original = unchanged background
Bottom status line shows summary counts

Status values

DIFFERENT - the two pages differ
SAME - pixel-identical at the rendered resolution
ONLY IN A - page exists in A but not in B
ONLY IN B - page exists in B but not in A

Tip: Use 96 DPI for a fast scan, then 150 or 200 DPI for pages flagged as different.
Warning: Resolution matters. A visually identical pair at 96 DPI may differ at 200 DPI due to anti-aliasing.

PDF/A & Linearize

PDF/A & Linearize: archive format and fast web view.

Two archival and web-optimization tools.

PDF/A conversion

PDF/A is the ISO 19005 standard for long-term archival:

All fonts are embedded
Colour is device-independent
Encryption and JavaScript are removed
Interactive elements are flattened

Levels supported:

PDF/A-1b - PDF 1.4 baseline, most compatible
PDF/A-2b - PDF 1.7 baseline, recommended
PDF/A-3b - PDF/A-2b plus embedded files support

Steps:

Browse the input PDF
Pick the PDF/A level
Choose the output path
Click CONVERT TO PDF/A

Linearize

Linearization ("Fast Web View") reorders a PDF so the first page renders before the whole file downloads.

Steps:

Browse the input PDF
Choose the output path
Click LINEARIZE

Tip: Use PDF/A for legal, government, and library submissions.
Tip: Use Linearize before publishing a PDF on a website.

Reference

About This App

Help & Docs: the searchable manual, tool versions and About.

Version

V5.5 - MODERN EDITION (5.5-modern)
Build: 27.10.2026

Author

Tural (with the help of AI)

Project URLs

SourceForge: sourceforge.net/projects/kerimspdftools
GitHub: github.com/Kerim4ik4/PDF-Compress-and-Merge

Licence summary

Personal use: free.
Commercial use: check the licences of the bundled components. They are listed in the topic "Components and Licences".

Open source spirit

This program uses the work of open source and free software projects and gives credit to them. Their work is used unchanged and all rights stay with their authors.

Privacy

This app processes everything locally. No data is ever transmitted to any server. No telemetry, no analytics, no automatic update check.

Tech stack

PowerShell 5.1 on Windows
Ghostscript - PDF rendering and rewriting
qpdf - fast structural PDF operations
PDFtk - legacy fallback for stamping
PDFium - fast page pictures and page text positions
Microsoft Edge WebView2 + ProseMirror - the text editor
FFmpeg - audio/video encoding
PSWriteOffice - Office document conversion
WinForms (System.Windows.Forms) - GUI

Bundled Tool Versions

The "Bundled Tool Versions" button shows the exact version of every tool that was detected at startup. The full list of components, their authors and licences is in the topic "Components and Licences".

What is detected

Ghostscript (gswin64c.exe / gswin32c.exe)
qpdf (qpdf.exe)
PDFtk (pdftk.exe)
FFmpeg (ffmpeg.exe, optional)
PSWriteOffice module (optional, needed for Word/Excel/PPT)
PDFium (pdfium.dll, optional: fast previews and the text editor)
WebView2 (optional: the text editor window)

Where they live

By default, the app searches the LIBS folder next to the script:

LIBS\gs\<version>\bin\gswin64c.exe</version>
LIBS\qpdf\bin\qpdf.exe
LIBS\PDFtk Server\bin\pdftk.exe
LIBS\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe
LIBS\PSWriteOffice\PSWriteOffice.psd1
LIBS\pdfium\pdfium.dll
LIBS\webview2\Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core.dll, Microsoft.Web.WebView2.WinForms.dll and WebView2Loader.dll

If a tool is missing, the corresponding tabs will not work (without PDFium or WebView2 the program still works, with older and slower helpers).

Tip: Copy an updated version into LIBS to upgrade a tool. No rebuild required. Every new component belongs under LIBS.

Components and Licences

Kerim's PDF Tools uses the following outside components. Thanks to their authors and communities. They are separate programs and libraries, used unchanged, and every new component is placed under the LIBS folder.

Components

PDFium (LIBS\pdfium) - fast page pictures and the places of words on a page
Microsoft Edge WebView2 (runtime of Windows; .NET wrapper in LIBS\webview2) - shows the text editor
ProseMirror - the editing core of the text editor
Ghostscript (LIBS\gs) - draws pages, converts and compresses
qpdf (LIBS\qpdf) - fast, safe page and structure work
PDFtk Server (LIBS\PDFtk Server) - stamping and some older functions
FFmpeg (LIBS\ffmpeg) - video and audio
PSWriteOffice (LIBS\PSWriteOffice) - Word, Excel and PowerPoint conversion
Poppler: pdftoppm and pdftotext (optional, in LIBS) - page pictures and text
PowerShell 5.1 and .NET WinForms - part of Windows

Where to find them

PDFium: pdfium.googlesource.com/pdfium (Windows builds: github.com/bblanchon/pdfium-binaries)
WebView2: developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2
ProseMirror: prosemirror.net
Ghostscript: ghostscript.com
qpdf: qpdf.org
PDFtk: gitlab.com/pdftk-java/pdftk
FFmpeg: ffmpeg.org
PSWriteOffice: github.com/EvotecIT/PSWriteOffice
Poppler: poppler.freedesktop.org

Notes

Without PDFium or WebView2 the program still works, with older and slower helpers
You can replace a component with a newer version in LIBS

Tip: Use the button "Bundled Tool Versions" to see which of the tools were found on your computer.

Your Files and Privacy

What happens to your files

The program reads your file and writes a new one. The original is never changed
All the work is done on your computer by the tools in the LIBS folder. Nothing is sent over the network
There is no account, no telemetry, no automatic update check

Temporary files

Previews and some jobs make temporary files in the Windows temp folder. They are removed when the job or the program ends
If the program is closed in a harsh way (the console window closed, a crash), some may stay. They are safe to delete

What stays on the disk

LIBS\recent.txt: the list of your recent files (paths only). Remove entries in the Recent files menu
Saved signatures of Stamp & Signature: in the signature folder of the program, so you can use them again

Hiding information for real

Covering is not removing: a white box over text hides it on the screen, but the text is still in the file (Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering without the scanned-images option)
Removing for real: Redact & Mask deletes the text under its black boxes; "Output as scanned images" in Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering turns pages into pictures
Before you send a file to somebody: use Metadata View/Clean to see and remove author names, dates and the programs that made the file

Passwords

PDF Encryption uses AES-256. There is no way to recover a forgotten password, keep it safe
Unlock PDF works only for files you are allowed to open: it needs the password, or removes restrictions that do not need one

Glossary

DPI - dots per inch: how sharp a page picture is. 150 is fine for screens, 300 for printing. Higher = sharper and bigger
Thumbnail - a small picture of a page
Preview - a picture of how the result will look, before it is saved
Rasterize / scanned images - a page turned into a picture. The text on it can no longer be selected or searched
Flatten - make fields, notes or stamps a permanent part of the page, so they cannot be changed
Redact - remove text or an area for real (not only cover it)
Watermark - a text or picture put behind or over the page content on many pages
Metadata - hidden information about a file: author, program, dates, title
Linearize / Fast Web View - order the file so the first page can open before the whole file has been downloaded
PDF/A - a PDF format for long-term archives. All fonts are inside the file
N-up - several pages on one sheet
Booklet - pages put in the print order for a folded booklet
OCR - text recognition on pictures. This program does not have it
LIBS - the folder next to the program with the tools it uses (Ghostscript, qpdf, PDFtk, FFmpeg ...)
Placement - in Stamp & Signature: one stamp with its place and its pages, kept in the list until you apply them all
Follow element - in Remove: Header / Footer / Numbering: find the marked print again on every page, even if it moved a little
Search area % - how far from the marked place the program looks for the print on other pages

Documentation

Illustrated User Guide (PDF, every tool screenshot by screenshot): https://sourceforge.net/p/kerimspdftools/wiki/5.5/attachment/Kerims_PDF_Tools_Documentation_5.5.pdf
Built-in Help & Docs tab, with search (for example: remove footer, image to pdf, password)