Which PDF Tool Do I Need? A Problem-to-Solution Cheat Sheet

Most people arrive at a PDF tool with a problem, not a tool name. The file is too big to email. One page is sideways. Two documents need to become one. Someone wants a Word version. The trouble is that similar-sounding tools do quite different things, and choosing the wrong one wastes time: splitting when you meant to extract, or compressing when you should have deleted pages.

This cheat sheet works backwards from the problem. Find the sentence that sounds like yours, use the tool named next to it, and read the short note about what the tool does and does not do. All fifteen tools on this site run in your browser, so your files are processed on your own device.

If you have too many files

"I need to join several PDFs into one file"

Use the merge PDF tool. Add two or more PDFs, drag them into the order you want, and download one combined file. The order you set is the order of the result, so arrange carefully before you merge.

"I have photos and need a PDF"

Use the JPG to PDF tool. It accepts JPG and JPEG images, turns each into a page, and lets you choose fit to image, A4, or US Letter. Choose A4 or US Letter for official documents.

"I have a Word document and need a PDF"

Use the Word to PDF tool. It converts a DOCX file into a simple PDF. It handles text and paragraph content well, but complex layouts, floating objects, and advanced tables may not match the original, so always check the result.

If you have too many pages

"I want to remove a few pages"

Use the delete PDF pages tool. Tap the pages you do not want, and download the new file. At least one page must remain.

"I want to keep only a few pages"

Use the extract PDF pages tool. Tap the pages you want to keep. Extracted pages keep their original order, whatever order you tapped them in.

"I want every page as its own file"

Use the split PDF tool. It turns each page into a separate PDF and bundles them in a ZIP. Note that it splits into single pages; it does not cut a document into custom ranges. For a range, extract those pages instead.

A simple way to choose between the last three: count how many pages you are keeping and how many you are removing, and pick whichever needs fewer taps.

If your pages are in the wrong shape

"A page is sideways or upside down"

Use the rotate PDF tool. Select the pages, choose a direction, and download. Unlike the rotate button in most viewers, this saves the rotation into the file so every reader shows the page upright.

"The pages are in the wrong order"

Use the rearrange PDF tool. Drag page thumbnails into position or use the arrow buttons. There is also a rotate button on each page, so you can fix orientation and order in one pass.

If your file is too big

"The upload or email says the file is too large"

Use the compress PDF tool. Choose High, Medium, or Express, or use target file size and enter a limit such as 800 KB or 2 MB. Some files cannot reach very small targets without a visible loss of quality, especially multi-page scans, so check readability afterward.

The first thing to try, before any compression, is removing pages you do not need. It is often the biggest saving, and it costs no quality at all.

If you need a different format

"I need to edit the text in a PDF"

Use the PDF to Word tool. It extracts the text and basic structure from a PDF with selectable text and builds a DOCX file. Expect a good first draft rather than a perfect copy. Scanned PDFs are pictures of pages, and getting text out of a picture needs OCR, which this tool does not do.

"I need a page as an image"

Use the PDF to JPG tool for a JPG, or the PDF to PNG tool for a PNG with crisp text edges. Choose the pages and download. Several pages come as a ZIP. The result is a picture, so its text cannot be selected or searched.

If there is something you want gone

"There is a watermark I have the right to remove"

Use the watermark remove tool. Its Smart mode scans the PDF for watermark objects, such as semi-transparent text, logos and stamps, and deletes the ones you tick after a before-and-after preview. If the watermark is part of a scan or page image, Manual mode lets you draw a box and cover the area with a matching colour, which hides the content rather than erasing it. Only use it on documents you have the right to modify. See the full guide on how to remove a watermark from a PDF.

A quick reference table

Common combinations

Real jobs rarely need only one tool. These sequences come up again and again.

• Scanned packet: JPG to PDF, then rotate, then rearrange, then compress. See our phone scan workflow.
• Application bundle: convert each piece, merge them in order, delete extras, then compress last. See the application checklist.
• Sharing part of a document: extract the pages, check them, then compress if needed.
• Word draft to final: edit in Word, convert to PDF, check the layout, then send.

Mistakes that come from choosing the wrong tool

• Splitting when you wanted only a few pages. Extract is quicker and gives you one file instead of many.
• Compressing repeatedly. Run it once on the original with a stronger setting rather than compressing a compressed file.
• Converting to images when you needed editable text. Images cannot be edited as text.
• Expecting a converter to reproduce a complex layout exactly. Simple documents convert well; complex ones need checking.
• Merging before fixing pages. Rotate and reorder first if pages are wrong.

What none of these tools do

It helps to know the limits. These tools do not read text out of scanned images, so there is no OCR. They do not fill in or sign forms. They do not password-protect files. If your task needs one of those, you will need different software. Being clear about this saves you from hunting for a feature that is not there.

Privacy

All fifteen tools process files in your browser, so documents are handled on your own device rather than being uploaded to a server first. For how to verify that for yourself, read are online PDF tools safe.

Before you send anything

Whatever tool you used, open the final file and check it. Our 12-point final checklist takes about two minutes and catches the problems that the tools cannot.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between extract and split?

Extract keeps the pages you choose in one new file. Split turns every page into its own file.

Which tool should I use first?

Use content-fixing tools first (delete, extract, rotate, rearrange), then merge, then compress last.

Can one tool do everything?

Each tool does one job so it stays simple. Combining them in sequence handles almost every everyday task.

Do the tools change my original file?

No. Each one produces a new file for you to download and leaves your original untouched.

Which tool helps with a scanned document?

Rotate for sideways pages, rearrange for order, delete for blanks, and compress for size. Turning scanned text into editable text requires OCR, which is not offered here.

Bookmark this page, and the next time a PDF misbehaves, find your problem in the list, use the matching tool, and check the result. Most PDF frustrations turn out to be a two-minute fix once you know which tool does what.