How to merge PDF files
- Open PDFBench and add the files: choose them, drag them onto the page or paste them with Ctrl+V. You can mix PDFs and pictures (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and any other format your browser can open).
- The pages appear as thumbnails in the order you added the files. Each file has its own colour dot, so you can see where every page came from.
- Put the pages in order (see the next section), choose One PDF in the Save panel and press Save PDF.
The pages are copied into the new file as they are: text stays text you can select and search, links keep working and pictures keep their quality. Fonts and pictures shared by the pages of one file are copied once, so the result is usually no bigger than the files together.
Reorder, turn and delete pages
- Move: drag a thumbnail to its new place. On a touch screen, hold your finger on a page for a moment until it lifts, then drag; a quick swipe just scrolls.
- Select: click or tap pages, Shift+click to select a range, or type numbers such as
1-3, 8, 10-into the field and press Select. Select all, None and Invert are next to it. - Turn and delete: the buttons under every thumbnail, or the toolbar buttons for all selected pages at once.
- Undo: the undo button or Ctrl+Z takes back the last 50 changes.
- Keyboard: arrows move between pages, Space selects, R turns right and Shift+R left, Delete removes the page, and Alt or Ctrl with an arrow moves it.
Turning a page changes only how it is shown (the page rotation), so nothing on it is redrawn or loses quality.
How to split a PDF or extract pages
Choose Split in the Save panel and how to cut the document:
- Each page: every page becomes its own PDF.
- Every N: parts of N pages each, for example every 2 pages for double-sided forms.
- Ranges: one file per range, such as
1-3, 4-10, 11-. A range written backwards,5-1, saves the pages in reverse order.
Several parts come as one ZIP archive, numbered in order. To extract a few pages into one new file, select them and save One PDF with Pages: Selected; to remove pages, delete them and save the rest.
PDF to JPG or PNG, pictures to PDF
Pictures in the Save panel turns every page (or only the selected ones) into an image:
| Resolution | A4 page becomes | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Screen, 72 dpi | 595 × 842 px | previews, messengers |
| Document, 150 dpi | 1240 × 1754 px | reading on screens, presentations |
| Print, 300 dpi | 2480 × 3508 px | printing, small text |
JPG is smaller and suits scans and photos (quality 40–100%); PNG is lossless and keeps text and lines crisp. Several pictures come in one ZIP.
To make a PDF from pictures, simply add them like PDF files: each picture becomes a page. Choose the page size under Page size for pictures: A4 or Letter, turned to match the picture and with optional 10 mm white margins, or As picture, where the page is exactly the size of the image. JPEG and PNG files are placed as they are, without recompressing.
What metadata reveals and how to remove it
Besides the pages, a PDF carries a description of itself that viewers rarely show. The i button next to a file in PDFBench shows all of it:
- Title, author, subject and keywords: the author is often your full name or your login on a work computer.
- Made with and PDF software: which program and version made the file, for example a word processor or a scanner app.
- Created and modified: exact dates and times, often with your time zone.
- XMP metadata: a second, longer copy of the same and more, such as editing history.
- Custom fields, bookmarks, forms, attached files and protection.
There are two ways to clean a file:
- Remove metadata & save in the file details cleans that one file and keeps everything else: text, links, bookmarks and forms. It also drops old versions of the metadata that edited files keep inside.
- Metadata: Remove in the Save panel writes the new PDF without a title, author, software, dates, XMP or page metadata. Keep copies the fields of the first PDF, and Edit writes only what you type.
Pictures you add never bring their EXIF data into the PDF: the GPS location, camera model and serial number are removed. Note that metadata is not the only place for personal data: names in the text, comments and scanned signatures stay as they are.
Making a PDF smaller
PDFBench does not promise lossless compression: it cannot re-encode fonts or pictures inside a PDF without losing something. Merging and splitting copy pages as they are, so the size stays about the same.
For heavy scans and photo documents there is an option: Make smaller: turn pages into JPEG pictures (100, 150 or 200 dpi, quality 30–95%). Each page is redrawn as a picture, which often shrinks a scan several times. The price is high and PDFBench warns about it: text can no longer be selected or searched, links, bookmarks and form fields stop working, and small print may get blurry. For documents made of text, the result is often bigger than the original; PDFBench then says so. Always keep the original.
Privacy
Files are opened, edited and saved by your browser; nothing is uploaded to fof.lol or anywhere else, and PDFBench works for confidential documents. The only things downloaded are the open-source libraries PDF.js (by Mozilla, draws the pages) and pdf-lib (writes the new file), both from cdnjs. The Recent jobs list keeps only the name, the number of pages and the size of what you saved, in this browser; it never stores the files themselves.
Limitations
- Protected files. A PDF with an opening password cannot be added. A file with restrictions (encrypted without a password) can be viewed and saved as pictures, but its pages cannot be copied into a new PDF.
- Bookmarks and forms. When pages are rearranged into a new file, bookmarks (the outline), form fields and attached files of the original are not carried over; links and comments on the pages are. Removing metadata from one file keeps all of them.
- Digital signatures become invalid after any change, including removing metadata.
- Very large files. There is no size limit, but everything happens in the device’s memory. Hundreds of pages work on a computer; on a phone, save fewer pages at a time or use a lower resolution. A ZIP cannot be larger than 4 GB.
- Pictures in formats the browser cannot open (for example HEIC outside Safari) cannot be added; convert them in PhotoBench first.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to merge confidential PDFs here?
Yes. The files never leave your device: PDFBench has no server that receives them. You can check it in the browser’s developer tools: no request carries your files.
Is there a limit on file size or the number of pages?
No fixed limit. The only limit is your device’s memory, and the progress bar shows how far the work is, with a Cancel button.
Will the quality of my PDF get worse?
No, unless you turn on the JPEG option. Merging, splitting, turning and deleting copy the original pages without redrawing them.
How do I remove one page from a PDF?
Add the file, press the bin under that page and save One PDF.
Can I edit the text in a PDF?
No. PDFBench works with whole pages; it does not change the text or pictures on them.