PDF guides: practical how-tos for everyday document jobs
Plain-English guides for the jobs people actually need to do with PDFs and images: merging, splitting, shrinking, converting, signing and hiding sensitive details.
Each guide is written around the tools on iLoveDocuments. It explains when you need a tool, walks through the steps, describes what you will get back, and is open about the limits. Where something is better done in a desktop program, we say so. For a quick reference to every tool, see all tools explained; to understand how the tools handle your files, read how our tools work.
- How to Make a Passport Size Photo at HomeTake the photo with your phone, get the size and background right, and print a 4 × 6 sheet.
- How to remove the password from a PDFSave a copy of a bank statement, e-Aadhaar or salary slip that opens without the password – when you know it.
- How to resize your photo and signature for online formsMeet the KB range and pixel size of exam and job forms – with a plain background and a clean signature.
- How to compress a PDF to 100 KB or 200 KB for online formsGet a PDF under 100 KB, 200 KB or any limit a portal sets – and keep names and numbers readable.
- How to Merge PDF Files Online for Free (No Upload)Join PDFs and photos in the right order and check the result.
- Guide to Splitting PDFs: Page Ranges, Batch Cuts & Avoiding Numbering MistakesPick pages, cut one document into several files, avoid page-number mistakes.
- How to Delete, Rotate and Reorder PDF Pages OnlineRemove blank pages, fix sideways scans and reorder pages in one view.
- How to Compress a PDF and Reduce File Size OnlineWhat makes a PDF large, what each compression level does, and hitting a KB limit.
- How to Convert JPG to PDF (and PNG, Photos) OnlinePhotos to one PDF, A4 pages and keeping the file under a size limit.
- How to Convert PDF to JPG Images Online for FreePages as images: choosing the resolution and converting only some pages.
- How to Convert Word to PDF Free Online (DOCX to PDF)What carries over from .docx and when to use Word’s own export.
- PDF to Word Formatting Guide: What Converts, What Breaks & How to Fix ScansWhat a PDF to Word tool can really do, OCR for scans, and tidying the result.
- How to Sign a PDF Online for Free (Step by Step)Draw, type or upload a signature, and when a simple signature is not enough.
- How to Redact a PDF: Black Out Sensitive InformationWhy black boxes leak, and how to remove text for good.
- Are Online PDF Tools Safe? What to Check Before You UploadA checklist for judging any PDF tool, and how to test “no upload”.
Where to start
- New to online PDF tools? Read Are online PDF tools safe? first.
- File too big for a form? Start with compressing a PDF to 100 KB or 200 KB or the full guide to reducing PDF size.
- Uploading a photo and signature? See resizing a photo and signature for online forms.
- Need a passport or visa photo? Read how to make a passport size photo at home.
- Sending documents with personal details? Read how to redact a PDF and how to extract only the pages you need.
Guides are checked against how the tools behave today and are updated when the tools change. Found an error? Tell us.