PDF tools overview: what each OnCloudPDF tool does and its limits

OnCloudPDF offers 35 free PDF tools that run in your browser, grouped as Organize, Convert, Edit, Optimize, Analyze and Security. This page lists each tool with a one-line answer and its most important limit, so you can pick the right one before you open it.

Updated October 29, 2026 · Runs in your browser, no upload, no account

How to read this list

Each entry links to the tool and states the first limit you should know about. Several tools are intentionally simple: for example Compress optimizes the internal file structure only, and the Grayscale, N-up, PDF to Scan and PDF/A tools turn pages into images, which makes the text unselectable. Nothing here is uploaded to a server; see how to verify where your files go.

Directory

Organize tools

• Merge PDF – To merge PDF files online for free with OnCloudPDF, select or drop two or more PDFs, drag the file previews into the order you want (or sort A-Z / Z-A), click "Merge PDF's" and download the single combined file. Key limit: All pages of every file are merged. There is no page-range selection per file in this tool; to keep only some pages, use Extract Pages or Delete Pages first.
• Split PDF – To split a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, upload one PDF, define page ranges (custom ranges, fixed-size chunks, or a typed list like 1,2-3,5) and click Split. Key limit: The output is always a ZIP archive with one PDF per range, named like yourfile_1-3.pdf (or yourfile_5-5.pdf for a single page).
• Rotate PDF – To rotate a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, add one or more PDFs, click a file's preview to cycle its rotation through 90, 180 and 270 degrees, click "Rotate PDF's" and download the ZIP. Key limit: The angle is applied to all pages of a file. There is no way to rotate only selected pages in this tool.
• Delete PDF Pages – To delete pages from a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click the thumbnails of the pages you want to remove, then click "Delete Selected Pages" and download the new PDF. Key limit: Pages are chosen by clicking thumbnails; there is no field to type page ranges, so very long documents mean a lot of clicking.
• Extract PDF Pages – To extract pages from a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click the thumbnails of the pages you want to keep, click "Extract Selected Pages" and download a new PDF containing only those pages. Key limit: The result is one PDF containing all selected pages, always in ascending page order. To rearrange them, use the Reorder tool afterwards.
• Reorder PDF Pages – To reorder PDF pages online for free with OnCloudPDF, upload your PDF, drag the numbered page entries (or use the up and down arrows) into the order you want, then click Apply New Order. Key limit: The page list shows only page numbers, not thumbnails, so you cannot see page content while arranging.
• Reverse PDF – To reverse the page order of a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, select your file and click "Reverse Page Order"; the last page becomes the first and the first becomes the last. Key limit: The whole document is reversed. You cannot reverse only a range of pages, or choose a custom order, with this tool; use Reorder for that.
• Duplicate PDF Pages – To duplicate pages in a PDF with OnCloudPDF, open the Duplicate Pages tool, click the page numbers you want to copy, then click Duplicate Pages and download the file. Key limit: Duplicates are always added after the last page; they are not inserted next to the source page. To put a copy elsewhere, follow up with the Reorder Pages tool.
• Add Blank Pages – To add a blank page to a PDF with OnCloudPDF, open the Add Blank Pages tool, choose how many pages, whether they go at the start or the end, and a page size (A4, Letter, Legal or A5), then download the result. Key limit: Only two positions exist: before the first page or after the last page. Inserting a blank page in the middle is not supported; add it at the end and move it with Reorder Pages.
• Split PDF to Pages – To split a PDF into single pages with OnCloudPDF, upload the file and click Split to Pages; you receive a ZIP archive containing one PDF per page. Key limit: The output is always a ZIP with one PDF per page; there is no option to split by range or into larger chunks (use the Split tool for that).
• Rotate All PDF Pages – To rotate all pages of a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, choose 90 degrees clockwise, 180 degrees or 90 degrees counter-clockwise, then click Rotate All Pages and download. Key limit: The same angle is applied to every page; use the Rotate tool for per-page control.

Convert tools

• PDF to Image – To convert a PDF to images with OnCloudPDF, upload one or more PDFs, pick PNG or JPEG and a quality level, then download a ZIP containing one image per page. Key limit: Output is always a ZIP archive, even for a single-page PDF. Files are named like yourfile_page_1.png, one per page, with every uploaded PDF in the same ZIP.
• PDF to Word – To convert a PDF to Word with OnCloudPDF, upload the PDF and download a ZIP containing an editable .docx with the document's text. Key limit: Text only. Images, tables, columns, headers, footers, fonts, colours and bold or italic styling are not carried over.
• PDF to Text – To extract text from a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click Extract Text, preview the result and download a plain .txt file. Key limit: Only text that is embedded in the PDF is extracted. Scanned or image-only pages have none, so they give empty or near-empty output; use OCR first.
• PDF to HTML – To convert a PDF to HTML with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click Convert to HTML and download a single .html page containing the document's text. Key limit: Text only. Images, vector graphics, tables, columns, fonts and links are not recreated.
• Images to PDF – To combine images into a PDF with OnCloudPDF, select your JPG, PNG or GIF files, click Create PDF and download one PDF with one page per image. Key limit: Accepted input types are JPEG/JPG, PNG and GIF. JPEG and PNG are embedded directly; a GIF is redrawn on a canvas and saved as a JPEG, so only its first frame is used and animation is lost.
• PDF to Scanned PDF – To make a PDF look scanned with OnCloudPDF, upload it, choose Black and White or RGB, and download a ZIP with a new PDF whose pages are images with light grain and a faint paper tint. Key limit: Each page is rendered at 2x as an image and saved inside a new PDF as a JPEG (quality 0.85). All text becomes pixels: it can no longer be selected, searched or copied. It does not add a text layer, so use OCR if you want one.
• PDF to PDF/A – OnCloudPDF's PDF/A tool turns each page of your PDF into a fixed image and saves a new PDF with archival-style metadata. Key limit: Not validated against ISO 19005: no embedded color profile, tagging or XMP conformance data are written.
• OCR PDF – To make a scanned PDF searchable with OnCloudPDF, upload it, choose the document language and click Run OCR. Key limit: Languages offered: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese; one language per run.

Edit tools

• Sign PDF – To sign a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, draw your signature on the canvas or upload an image of it, choose the first, last or all pages, set the position and size, and click Add Signature. Key limit: It adds an image of a signature only. It does not create a certificate-based digital signature or verify who signed, so it may not meet requirements for contracts that need a qualified electronic signature.
• Add Watermark to PDF – To add a watermark to a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, type your watermark text, adjust size, opacity, rotation and colour, then click Add Watermark. Key limit: Text only: there is no image or logo watermark option.
• Add Page Numbers to PDF – To add page numbers to a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, choose a position, a format such as "Page 1 of 10", a font size and a margin, then click Add Page Numbers. Key limit: Numbering always starts at 1 and applies to every page; you cannot skip a cover page or choose a start number.
• Add Stamp to PDF – To stamp a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, choose one of six preset labels (Confidential, Draft, Approved, Rejected, Copy or Final), set the size and opacity, and click Add Stamp. Key limit: Only six preset labels are available; you cannot type your own stamp text (use Watermark for that).
• Edit PDF Metadata – To edit PDF metadata online with OnCloudPDF, open the Edit Metadata tool, select your file, change the Title, Author, Subject, Keywords or Creator fields that load automatically, and click Save Metadata. Key limit: Five fields are editable: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords and Creator. Producer is read and written back unchanged, and creation and modification dates cannot be edited (the dates are only shown for reference).
• Crop PDF – To crop a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, enter how many points to trim from the top, bottom, left and right (or pick a preset), and click Crop PDF. Key limit: Cropping sets the page's crop box. Content outside it remains in the file and can be restored by software that resets the crop box, so it is not a way to redact information.
• Resize PDF Pages – To resize a PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload it, choose A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal or Tabloid and click Resize Pages. Key limit: Supported sizes are A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal and Tabloid, all in portrait orientation.
• Flatten PDF – To flatten a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click Flatten PDF and download the result; the fillable form fields (text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns) become fixed page content. Key limit: Only interactive form fields are flattened; the tool does not specifically flatten comments, highlights or other annotations.

Optimize tools

• Compress PDF – To compress a PDF online for free with OnCloudPDF, select your file, click "Compress PDF" and download the result; the page shows the size before and after. Key limit: Only the internal structure is optimized (the file is loaded and re-saved with PDF object streams). Embedded images are not re-encoded, resampled or downsampled.
• Grayscale PDF – To convert a PDF to grayscale with OnCloudPDF, upload the file, click Convert to Grayscale and download a PDF in shades of grey. Key limit: Every page is rendered at 2x and re-saved as a grey JPEG (quality 0.92) inside a new PDF. Text and vector graphics become pixels, so text can no longer be selected, searched or copied.
• N-up PDF – To print several PDF pages on one sheet with OnCloudPDF, open the N-up PDF tool, choose 2, 4, 6 or 9 pages per sheet and a horizontal or vertical reading order, then download the result. Key limit: Only four layouts exist: 2-up (2 columns x 1 row), 4-up (2 x 2), 6-up (3 columns x 2 rows) and 9-up (3 x 3). There is no custom grid.
• Repair PDF – To try to repair a damaged PDF with OnCloudPDF, upload it, click Repair PDF and download the re-saved copy. Key limit: Best-effort only: the tool loads the PDF with tolerant options and saves it again; it does not reconstruct missing data.

Analyze tools

• PDF Info – To check a PDF's properties online with OnCloudPDF, open the PDF Info tool and select your file; it shows the page count, file size, title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, creation and modification dates and the size of each page. Key limit: The page table shows only the first 10 pages, followed by a note with the number of remaining pages. Page sizes for later pages are not listed.
• PDF Word Count – To count the words in a PDF with OnCloudPDF, open the Word Count tool and select your file; the statistics appear automatically, with no button to press. Key limit: Only the PDF's embedded text layer is counted. Text inside images, scans or drawings is not read, so scanned PDFs show 0 words.
• Compare PDFs – To compare two PDFs with OnCloudPDF, open the Compare tool and select two PDF files; it automatically checks the page counts and the extracted text of each page and reports whether they are identical. Key limit: Only text is compared. The text of each page is extracted and compared as a whole string; fonts, colours, images, layout and drawings are ignored, so a purely visual change is reported as identical.

Security tools

• Unlock PDF – OnCloudPDF Unlock copies the pages of your PDF into a new document that carries no encryption or permission settings. Key limit: This is not a password cracker: it never tries to guess or recover a password.

Common tasks and the tool to use

• Put several PDFs into one file: Merge PDF.
• Pull a few pages out of a PDF: Extract Pages, or Delete Pages to remove the rest.
• Turn each page into a picture: PDF to Image.
• Make several pages print on one sheet: N-up PDF.
• Count words in a PDF: Word Count.
• Make a clean PDF look like a scan: PDF to Scan.
• Add a signature image: Sign PDF.
• Read text from a scanned PDF: OCR PDF.

Frequently asked questions