JPKCom DB

PDF Tools — Examples

Hands-on walkthroughs with PDF Tools: merge PDFs with page selection, extract pages, fill in forms, annotate, convert Markdown, split protected PDFs.

Back to the overview: PDF Tools · Open the tool live: www.jpkc.com/tools/pdf/

The Manual explains every tab and feature in detail. This page adds concrete workflows: typical tasks played through step by step. The interface is in English, so tab and button names appear in their original spelling.

Example 1: Merge two PDFs into one

The classic — you have a cover sheet and a main document and want both as a single file.

  1. Open PDF Tools and switch to the Merge & Split tab. The Merge sub-tab is already active.
  2. Drag the first and second PDF files in one after another (or both at once) onto the drop zone. Both appear in the table with page count and size. If one of them is password-protected, the tool asks for the password.
  3. Check the order. The merged PDF takes the table order top to bottom. If the cover sheet should come first, move it to the first position with Move up.
  4. Optional: pick pages. If the cover file has two pages and you only need the first, enter 1 in the Use pages column. Leave the field empty ("all") and every page goes in.
  5. Click Merge All. The tool copies the selected pages of both files, in the order shown, into a new document.
  6. Download the result via Download Merged PDF. If the first file is called cover.pdf, you get cover-merged.pdf.

Open the result in the Viewer & Editor and the sidebar shows one bookmark per source file; bookmarks the main document already had are nested underneath. The pattern scales: you can add any number of files, reorder them, and merge in one go. At least two are required. If a scanned sheet lies sideways, turn that file's pages with Rotate pages by 90° before merging.

Example 2: Extract specific pages from a PDF

You only need pages 1 to 3 and page 10 from a 40-page report — say, for an excerpt.

  1. Switch to Merge & Split and there to the Split sub-tab.
  2. Drag the PDF file onto the drop zone. The tool shows the name, size and total page count.
  3. Leave the mode on Extract page ranges and enter 1-3, 10 in the field. Comma-separated, you can freely combine single pages and ranges.
  4. Click Split. This produces one file with exactly those four pages (1, 2, 3, 10) — in the order you typed them. With 10, 1-3, page 10 would come first.
  5. Download it from the results list. If the report is called report.pdf, the file is named report_p1-3_10.pdf.

If instead you need each page separately, pick the Extract each page as single PDF mode — you then get one file per page. And with Split every N pages you break a large PDF into equal chunks (for example one part every 10 pages).

Example 3: Fill in a PDF form

You have a PDF with interactive form fields (an application, say) and want to fill it in on screen, without printing it.

  1. Stay in the default Viewer & Editor tab and drag the PDF onto the drop zone (or Browse Files).
  2. The embedded viewer shows the form fields as fillable fields. Click into them and enter your values; operate dropdowns and checkboxes directly.
  3. Once all fields are set, save via the viewer's Save function. The completed form is downloaded as a new PDF file.

Note: there is no server-side storage — your completed form exists only as a local download. That is exactly what makes this safe even for sensitive applications, because the document never leaves your browser.

Example 4: Annotate, highlight and sign a PDF

You need to comment on a contract PDF, mark a passage, and sign it at the end. The viewer's tool names follow your browser language; the labels below are the English ones.

  1. Open the PDF in the Viewer & Editor.
  2. Highlight: activate the Highlight tool, pick a colour, and drag over the relevant text passage.
  3. Add a note: with Text (FreeText) you place a text note directly on the page — colour and font size are adjustable.
  4. Draw: if you need an arrow or a handwritten mark, use Draw with colour, opacity and stroke width.
  5. Sign: the viewer has no signature tool enabled. If you have your signature as an image (a scanned PNG, say), insert it with Add or edit images and drag it into place. Without an image, sign directly with Draw — using a mouse, touchpad or pen.
  6. Save the result via Save — all annotations are contained in the downloaded file.

If you just want to check what the document says, the Text button helps alongside: it pulls out all text content (with word and character statistics) for you to copy or save as .txt.

Example 5: Turn Markdown into a clean PDF

You have a README or docs in Markdown and need a tidy, searchable PDF from it.

  1. Switch to the Convert tab, Markdown sub-tab.
  2. Type your Markdown into the editor, load a .md file via the folder button (Open Markdown File), or click Load Example to see the key elements (headings, lists, code blocks, tables, blockquotes, links). Task lists, ~~strikethrough~~ and simple inline HTML such as <u> work too.
  3. Under Page Settings pick the format, orientation, font size and margin.
  4. Generate PDF renders the preview; page through it with the arrows.
  5. Download saves markdown.pdf. Because pdfmake produces real text, you can search and copy text in the result.

Watch the messages after Generate PDF: if your README references images by URL, they only show up in the PDF as a placeholder [Image: …]. And if the text contains arrows, emoji or other characters the Roboto font does not know, the warning "Not in the PDF font, left out: …" lists them — replace them in the Markdown, for example → with ->.

If you need visual CSS styling rather than plain body text, the Rich HTML sub-tab is the way — but note that its output is raster and therefore not searchable (see Tips & Tricks).

Example 6: Bundle several images into one PDF

You want to hand over a set of screenshots or scanned receipts as a single PDF.

  1. Go to Convert → Images.
  2. Drag all images onto the drop zone. Supported are JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP and TIFF (TIFF only in browsers that can display the format themselves); each image lands on its own page. You do not need to rotate phone photos first — the tool reads the EXIF orientation of JPEGs.
  3. Once the list is complete, choose the Fit Mode per image in the list: Fit places the image undistorted (preselected), Fill fills the area inside the margins and crops the overflow, Stretch distorts to the area. Leave this for last, because adding or removing an image resets every entry to Fit.
  4. Set the format, orientation and margin under Page Settings.
  5. Generate PDF → Download saves images.pdf.

If the images still need cropping or converting to the right format, do that in the Graphic Editor and then bundle them here.

Example 7: Split a password-protected PDF into chapters

You have a 40-page manual protected with an open password and want to split it into three chapter files: pages 1–12, 13–25 and 26 to the end.

  1. Switch to Merge & Split → Split and drag the PDF onto the drop zone.
  2. The Password required dialog asks for the password. Enter it and click Open. The page count is now followed by "decrypted".
  3. Leave the mode on Extract page ranges and enter 1-12; 13-25; 26-end. The semicolon separates the output files, and end stands for the last page — so you do not even need to know the page count.
  4. Click Split. The result list shows three files, such as manual_p1-12.pdf, manual_p13-25.pdf and manual_p26-40.pdf.
  5. Download them one by one or all together via Download all (ZIP) as manual-split.zip.

Keep in mind: the parts are no longer password-protected. If you pass them on, protect them another way — with an encrypted archive or a secure transfer channel, for instance.

Going deeper: the overview for the big picture, the Manual for every feature in detail, and the Tips & Tricks for tricks and pitfalls. You can try everything directly in the tool.