Quick reference
Find what you need to do and jump straight to the relevant section.
Combining documents
When you have several separate PDF files that belong together, merging combines them into a single document in the order you choose. Common cases include submitting multiple supporting documents as one file, assembling a report written in sections, or archiving related scans together.
The page order in the merged file follows the file order you set — so arrange them before merging. If the resulting file ends up larger than you need, you can run it through the Compress tool afterward.
How to merge PDF files → | Open Merge tool →
Breaking a document into parts
Splitting takes one PDF and produces multiple separate files from it. With PDFDistrict you can either select which pages go into each output file manually, or split automatically — every N pages, or into a chosen number of equal parts.
Use split when the goal is to divide a document into distinct, standalone pieces — for example, distributing individual chapters of a longer document, or separating a multi-job print file.
How to split a PDF → | Open Split tool →
Keeping specific pages
Extracting means selecting a set of pages and saving them as a new PDF, while leaving the original document completely unchanged. This is the right choice when you need a subset of a document — one chapter from a report, a few slides from a presentation, or a handful of pages from a contract — without modifying the source.
How to extract pages from a PDF → | Open Extract tool →
Removing pages
Deleting pages creates a new version of the document with certain pages removed. The original file is not changed. This is useful when you want most of a document but need to trim a few pages before sharing it — a blank cover page, a confidential appendix, or outdated content.
How to remove pages from a PDF → | Open Delete tool →
Split, extract, or delete — which one?
These three operations overlap enough that it’s worth being deliberate about which one fits your situation:
- Split — you want several output files, each containing a group of pages.
- Extract — you want one new file with specific pages, and you’re keeping the original untouched.
- Delete — you want the same document minus a few pages.
For a more detailed breakdown, see When to split, extract, or delete PDF pages.
Reducing file size
PDF compression works by removing redundant structural data from the file. It’s most effective on text-heavy documents and least effective on files that are already dominated by compressed images or were already optimized by their creator.
If a PDF barely shrinks after compression, the content itself is the bottleneck. In that case, reducing the page count with the Extract or Delete tools is usually more effective than trying to compress the same content further.
How to compress a PDF → | Open Compress tool →
Changing the page order
The Reorder tool lets you rearrange pages by dragging their thumbnails. Original page numbers stay visible while you work, so you can reorder confidently without losing track of what’s what.
This is useful after scanning a document in the wrong order, combining pages from different sources, or reorganizing a presentation’s structure.
How to reorder PDF pages → | Open Reorder tool →
Fixing page orientation
Pages sometimes end up sideways or upside down — usually because a scanner saved them that way, or because content was created in landscape when the document is portrait. The Rotate tool lets you fix individual pages or the whole document in 90° increments.
How to rotate PDF pages → | Open Rotate tool →
Turning images into a PDF
The Image to PDF tool converts JPG, PNG, WebP and other common image formats into a PDF document. You can convert a single image or a batch, and choose the output page size. This is commonly used for scanned documents saved as images, photos that need to be submitted as PDF, or collections of screenshots.
How to convert images to PDF → | Open Image to PDF tool →
Reviewing a document before sharing
The Preview tool displays every page of your PDF as a thumbnail grid. It’s a quick way to check page count, content, and order before editing or sending a file — especially useful after merging, reordering, or splitting, when the structure may have changed.
How to preview PDF pages → | Open Preview tool →
Your files stay on your device
Every tool described in this guide runs inside your browser using your device’s resources. Your files are not uploaded to any server at any point — they never leave your device. Once the page has loaded, the tools work even without an internet connection.
If you handle documents that shouldn’t leave your network, that’s worth knowing. For more on how browser-based PDF tools handle your files, see Are online PDF tools safe?
All PDF tools, in one place
Merge, split, compress, reorder, rotate, extract, delete, and convert — all free, all in your browser.
Explore PDFDistrict tools →