# PDF Tools — Tips & Tricks > Tricks for PDF Tools: privacy as the selling point, the 50 MB limit, Simple vs. Rich HTML, searchable text, and combining with other JPKCom tools. Source: https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/tips/ Back to the overview: [PDF Tools](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/) · Open the tool live: [www.jpkc.com/tools/pdf/](https://www.jpkc.com/tools/pdf/) The [Manual](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/manual/) explains every feature, the [Examples](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/examples/) show the workflows. This page is about what both assume but rarely state: why privacy is the real argument here, which limits you should know, and when which conversion path is the right one. ## Privacy is the selling point here The biggest difference from most online PDF services: **your files never leave your device.** There is no upload and no server processing your PDFs — every operation runs locally in your browser via JavaScript. - **Sensitive documents are safe.** Contracts, payslips, HR records, internal reports, completed applications — what is never uploaded cannot sit on someone else's server or be intercepted. With classic "merge PDF online" services, your document lands on their infrastructure. - **Works offline.** Once the libraries are loaded, the actual work needs no connection — the processing happens in the browser. - **No account, no install.** No login, no desktop software, no data trail. If someone asks whether an online PDF tool is "okay" for a confidential file, that is precisely the answer: a purely client-side tool like this one is, an upload service is not. ## The 50 MB limit and large files Files may be **up to 50 MB**; larger ones are rejected. This is **not** a server limit but a safeguard for your browser's memory — all processing happens locally, after all. - **Very large or page-heavy PDFs** may take noticeably longer to process in the browser or, depending on the device, hit memory limits. An older laptop struggles with a 300-page scan more than a current desktop. - **Workaround via Split:** if you only need to work on part of a huge PDF, first extract the relevant pages (*Split*) and continue with the smaller excerpt. - **Shrink images first.** High-resolution photos bloat an *Images → PDF* heavily. For non-PNG/JPEG formats (WebP, GIF, BMP, TIFF) the tool rasterises via a canvas anyway and caps the edge length at 4000 px — so very large images add no value but cost memory. ## Simple HTML or Rich HTML? The decision that matters The *Convert* tab offers two HTML paths that differ fundamentally — the choice decides the quality of your result: - **Simple HTML** (pdfmake) translates the markup into **real PDF text**. The result is **searchable, copyable and compact** — but **CSS styling is ignored**. Use this when the content matters and the layout can be plain. - **Rich HTML** (html2pdf.js) renders the page **visually, like a browser** — with CSS, colours, flexbox, images. In return the output is **raster**: the page goes into the PDF as an image, the **text is not selectable or searchable**, and the file gets larger. Rule of thumb: **searchable text → Simple HTML or Markdown. Pixel-perfect look → Rich HTML.** For Rich HTML, the **Quality Scale** option controls the resolution: 1× is fast, 2× is the default, 3× is for print — higher scaling means sharper, but slower and larger. ## Searchable text, OCR and scans - **Markdown and Simple HTML produce real text** — you can search and select text in the result later. That is the invisible but big advantage over image PDFs. - **There is no OCR.** The **Text** feature (in the *Viewer & Editor*) and text extraction only read an existing text layer. A pure scan PDF without a text layer therefore returns almost nothing — that is not a bug but the absence of text recognition. For such cases you need a dedicated OCR tool. - **The Info "Tagged" field** comes from the PDF's AcroForm flag and says more about the presence of form fields than about a true tagged-PDF structure. Do not read too much real accessibility into it. ## Small tricks - **Reuse Creator templates.** If you regularly build similar documents (quotes, minutes), save the structure once via **Export JSON** and load it next time via **Import JSON** — including embedded images. That saves re-clicking it all. - **Duplicate blocks instead of rebuilding.** In the Creator every block has a **Duplicate** button; a fully formatted table or paragraph is there a second time in seconds. - **Order matters when merging.** The merged PDF strictly follows the table order — sort before clicking **Merge All**, not after. - **Fit Mode per image.** In *Images → PDF* you can set the Fit Mode not only globally but **per image** — handy when a landscape photo needs "Fill" and a portrait scan needs "Fit". ## Combining with other JPKCom tools PDF Tools convert existing input into PDF — and you best produce that input in the matching specialist tool: - **[Markdown Editor](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/md/)** — write Markdown with a live preview, then convert it to PDF here in the *Convert* tab (searchable text). - **[WYSIWYG Editor](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/wysiwyg/)** — build HTML visually, then convert it as Simple HTML (searchable) or Rich HTML (pixel-perfect). - **[Graphic Editor](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/graphic/)** — crop, scale and convert images to the right format before bundling them with *Images → PDF*. --- More context: the [overview](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/) for the big picture, the [Manual](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/manual/) for every feature, and the [Examples](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/tools/pdf/examples/) for the step-by-step workflows. You can try everything directly in the [tool](https://www.jpkc.com/tools/pdf/).