Merge, split, compress, convert and protect PDFs

The tools in PDF tools work on files in your Drive and save the result back to Drive. Choose a tool, pick the files, set any options and press Run.

Run a tool

1. Open PDF tools. The Available PDF Tools list is on the page.
2. Choose a tool.
3. Under Files (in order), choose Choose from Drive and pick the file or files. For tools that take several files, choose Add files and use the arrows to put them in order.
4. Fill in any options.
5. Choose Run.
6. When it finishes you see "Saved" and the new file name, with Open and Show in Drive buttons. Your original is not changed.

Small jobs finish at once. Bigger ones (over 15 MB in total) run in the background, and you get a notification when they are ready. Each file can be up to 100 MB.

What the tools do

• Merge: join several PDFs into one, in the order you pick.
• Split: cut a PDF after the pages you list, for example 2,5. You get a .zip of the parts.
• Rotate: turn every page 90 degrees clockwise, 180 degrees or 90 degrees counter-clockwise.
• Compress: make the file smaller. Choose Light, Balanced, Strong or Strongest (may blur images).
• Images to PDF: turn images into a PDF, one per page.
• Office to PDF: convert a Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
• PDF to images: every page as an image (PNG or JPEG), with a Resolution (DPI) option. You get a .zip.
• Make searchable (OCR): recognise text in scanned pages so you can search and copy it. Pick the Language (for example English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Hindi).
• Watermark: stamp text across every page, with an Opacity (%).
• Remove pages: delete the pages you list, for example 1,4-6.
• Add a password: require a password to open the PDF.
• Remove the password: save an unprotected copy (you need the current password).

Page lists use numbers starting at 1, separated by commas, with ranges such as 4-6.

Tips

• For scans, run Make searchable (OCR) first, then Compress.
• Merge before you add a watermark so it appears on every page.
• The two password tools always run immediately, not in the background.

Common problems

• "... is larger than 100 MB, the most PDF tools can work with." Split or compress the original elsewhere first.
• "This file isn't a PDF" (or an image or office document). Each tool states what it accepts. Check the file type.
• "PDF tools aren't switched on." The workspace's server-side tools are not set up. You can still view PDFs and edit pages.
• A page list was rejected. Use only numbers, commas and ranges, and keep numbers within the page count.