PDF Tools Comparison
A practical, reviewer-friendly guide to ConvertCraft PDF tools with side-by-side comparisons, best practices, and direct links to each tool.
Overview
PDF workflows usually fall into four buckets: making files smaller (compression), extracting content (text/images), restructuring pages (split/merge/reorder), and converting to other formats for editing or sharing. ConvertCraft groups these tasks into focused tools you can run with a predictable workflow.
A good rule: if you only need to share the PDF, compress it. If you need to edit or reuse content, convert or extract. If you need to reorganize a document, use split/merge tools. Always test with one document first—PDFs vary widely in fonts, scans, and embedded objects.
How to choose the right PDF tool
- Compress PDFs when uploads or email limits are the main problem.
- Convert PDFs to images when you need a “what you see is what you get” output for sharing.
- Extract text when you need copy/paste content, searchability, or indexing.
- Split/merge when the pages are correct but the structure is wrong (sections, chapters, attachments).
Best practices
- For scanned PDFs, prioritize image-style compression and consider extracting to images if quality matters.
- For text PDFs, keep an eye on font embedding and selectable text—verify in a standard viewer.
- Avoid repeatedly re-saving the same PDF through multiple converters; do one clean pass when possible.
- If a PDF is sensitive, prefer workflows that run locally or minimize helper usage.
All tools in this category
Each tool opens inside the main app using ?tool= (no separate tool pages).
| Tool | Slug | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Compress PDF | pdf-compress-pro | Extract high-quality images from PDF pages. Render to PNG or JPG with adjustable DPI and instant preview. |
| Compress PDF | pdf-compress | Extract high-quality images from PDF pages. Render to PNG or JPG with adjustable DPI and instant preview. |
| PDF → Images | pdf-to-images | Extract high-quality images from PDF pages. Render to PNG or JPG with adjustable DPI and instant preview. |
| PDF → Images (client) | pdf-split-merge | Extract high-quality images from PDF pages. Render to PNG or JPG with adjustable DPI and instant preview. |
| PDF → Images (client) | pdf-images-client | Extract high-quality images from PDF pages. Render to PNG or JPG with adjustable DPI and instant preview. |
| PDF → Text | pdf-to-text | Encrypt a PDF so it requires a password to open. |
| PDF Password Protector | pdf-password-protector | Encrypt a PDF so it requires a password to open. |
| Open Password-Protected PDF | pdf-password-remover | Open a password-protected PDF (requires the correct password). |
| PDF OCR (Multi-language) | pdf-ocr | Make scanned PDFs searchable with OCR. Use language codes like eng or eng+spa. |
| PDF Form Filler | pdf-form-filler | Fill AcroForm fields by name using JSON and export a new PDF. |
| PDF Signature Adder | pdf-signature-adder | Place a signature image onto a PDF page (visual signature). |
| PDF Page Numbering | pdf-page-numbering | Add page numbers to a PDF in your browser. |
| PDF Bookmark Generator | pdf-bookmark-generator | Add bookmarks (outlines) from a JSON list. |
| PDF → Excel | pdf-to-excel | Extract text to a CSV you can open in Excel (no OCR). |
| PDF → HTML | pdf-to-html | Convert a digital PDF to an HTML file (text-only). |
| PDF Comparison | pdf-compare | Compare two digital PDFs by extracted text and export an HTML report. |
| PDF → DOCX | pdf-to-docx | Turn PDFs into editable Word documents. |
Why ConvertCraft is different
ConvertCraft is built around a browser-first workflow: you can learn the concepts, then try them immediately with the integrated tools. Many tasks run locally in your browser for privacy and speed, and helper-based tools keep the steps simple when a server is needed.
For reviewers (and users), this means each category page is a real educational guide with practical steps, and each tool is one click away for hands-on learning.