PDF Tools

About this tool

This page does two everyday PDF jobs inside your browser: merge — pick two or more PDF files and download one combined document — and split — hand in one PDF and get every page back as a separate file. Nothing is uploaded; the files are read, rearranged and written on your own device, which matters when the contents are a contract, an ID scan or an invoice you would rather not hand to a stranger's server. The limits deserve equal billing. There is no convert feature: the tool cannot turn a PDF into a Word file, a JPG or plain text, and it does not compress, edit page content, remove passwords or rotate pages. Split always produces one file per page — there is no page-range picker — and merge combines whole documents in the order they are listed. Password-protected files fail with an error. Interactive form fields, bookmarks and the file's title metadata do not survive into the output. What does carry over is the pages themselves: text stays selectable and embedded fonts — including Khmer — stay embedded, because pages are copied rather than re-rendered.

How it works

Both operations run in pdf-tools-client.tsx on pdf-lib, a JavaScript PDF library loaded on demand — no file is uploaded at any point. Each chosen file is read into memory with file.arrayBuffer(); PDFDocument.load parses it; copyPages clones the page objects — content streams, images and embedded font references — into a fresh document; and save() produces a Blob that downloads immediately. Merge creates one merged.pdf containing every page of every selected file, in the order the files are listed after you pick them. Split loops over the source's page count and writes page-1.pdf, page-2.pdf and so on — a hundred-page document means a hundred separate downloads, which is why the browser may ask to allow multiple downloads. Password-protected input stops at load: pdf-lib refuses encrypted documents and the page shows the error message. Because the copy happens at the page level, AcroForm fields and document-level extras such as the title and bookmark outline are dropped — confirmed on a real Khmer-text PDF when this page was written.

Use cases

• A graduate merging a cover letter, CV and scanned certificates into the single PDF a scholarship or ministry application portal accepts.
• A bank or visa applicant combining a national ID scan, a passport copy and a printed form into one file to upload once.
• A seller splitting a multi-page scanned contract to send just the signature page to a buyer on Telegram.
• An office assistant splitting a combined invoice bundle so each page can be filed or forwarded on its own.
• A freelancer joining monthly invoices and receipts into one PDF to hand an accountant at tax time.
• An NGO staff member splitting a printed-form PDF into individual pages to file into a document archive.
• A family member merging medical reports or school letters into a single document for a hospital or school submission.

Frequently asked questions

• Can this tool convert a PDF to Word, JPG or text?

  No. There is no conversion feature — the page merges whole PDFs into one file and splits one PDF into single-page files, nothing else. Earlier descriptions of this tool mentioned "convert"; that was inaccurate and has been corrected. To turn a PDF page into an image or editable document you need a different tool; for the specific case of extracting Khmer text from a scanned page, the Khmer Image to Text tool on this site is the one that does it.

• Will a password-protected PDF work?

  No. An encrypted or password-protected PDF fails the moment the library loads it, and the page shows the error message the library returns. The tool cannot remove the password for you either. Open the file in a PDF reader, unlock it with the password, and export or print an unprotected copy — then merge or split that copy here.

• Is Khmer text kept readable and selectable after a merge or split?

  Yes for real text. Pages are copied whole, not rasterised, so embedded fonts — including Khmer — and selectable text survive exactly as they were in the source file; this was verified on a Khmer-language PDF when the page was written. The exception is a scan: a scanned page is a photograph of text, and copying it keeps the photograph — it does not become searchable. For that, use the Khmer Image to Text tool.

• Why did splitting give me so many separate downloads?

  Because split always writes one PDF per page — page-1.pdf, page-2.pdf and so on — and downloads them all at once. There is no page-range option, so a 30-page document produces 30 files, and the browser may ask for permission to download multiple files before they start. If you only need a few pages, the practical approach today is to split, then keep the page files you want and delete the rest.

• Is there a file size or page-count limit?

  There is no coded limit — the ceiling is your device’s memory, because every selected file is read fully into the browser tab before it is written again. Multi-megabyte scans merge fine on a typical phone, but very large documents or hundreds of pages can stall or fail, in which case the page shows an error. If that happens, split or merge on a laptop with more memory.

• Are my PDF files uploaded anywhere?

  No. Each file is read into memory inside your browser tab and written back out by the PDF library running on your device — no request carries a file or its contents to a server. You can confirm it yourself in the browser’s network tab while you merge or split. The page does record anonymous usage events — that a merge happened with a file count, or a split with a page count — never filenames or content.

• What is lost when I merge or split a PDF?

  The output is a fresh document containing only copied pages, so things that live at document level do not come across: interactive form fields become flat pages, the bookmark outline is dropped, and the file’s title and author metadata are empty. Page content itself — text, images, embedded fonts — arrives intact. If your source is a form people fill in, expect the merged copy to be a flattened document, not a fillable one.

• The merged pages came out in the wrong order — why?

  Merge appends whole documents in the order they appear in the picker after you select them — there is no reorder control and no way to pick a range of pages inside a file. If the order matters, rename the files so they sort the way you want before selecting, or split the source, merge the pieces you need, and drop the rest.

Data and accuracy

Content last reviewed 19 October 2026