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Work with PDFs ​

PDF Tools has three tabs: Compress, Merge and Split. They need no extra software on any platform.

Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened. The app reports Could not open … — is it a valid, unencrypted PDF? Remove the password in another program first.

Compress ​

  1. Open PDF Tools. The Compress tab is open.

  2. Add one or more PDFs.

  3. Select Compress PDF (or Compress 3 PDFs).

The PDF is rebuilt with the strongest compression for its internal data. Results get _compressed added to the name, and each row shows the size before and after.

PDFs made mostly of large scanned images may shrink only a little, because the images themselves are not changed.

Merge ​

  1. Open the Merge tab.

  2. Add at least two PDFs, in the order you want them.

    PDFs are combined in the order they were added. To move a file, remove it and add it again; it goes to the end.

  3. Select Merge, which shows the count, for example Merge 3 PDFs.

The result is named after the first PDF with _merged added. Its row shows the total number of pages.

Split ​

  1. Open the Split tab and add one or more PDFs.

  2. Under Split mode, choose:

    • Every page (default): each page becomes its own PDF.
    • Page range: one new PDF with only the pages from From page to To page, both included.

  3. Select Split into pages or Extract pages.

Every page creates a folder named after the PDF with _pages added, holding files such as report_page_01.pdf, report_page_02.pdf. Page range creates one file such as report_p2-5.pdf.

If the range is not valid (empty, below 1, or To page before From page), the app asks you to Enter a valid page range, e.g. 2 to 5. A range past the last page fails with a message giving the allowed range.

Next steps ​