On this page
- Introduction
- Get your bearings
- Job 1, step 1: fill the form
- Step 2: sign it
- Step 3: shrink it under the limit
- Job 2, step 1: find what needs to go
- Step 2: clean the file
- Step 3: download and check
- Job 3, step 1: bring the scans together
- Step 2: tidy the pages
- Step 3: make it searchable
- Tips that save you starting over
Introduction
The best way to learn a workspace with this many tools is to do real jobs in it. This guide follows three: filling, signing and shrinking a form for an upload portal; redacting a document before you share it; and turning a stack of scanned pages into one tidy, searchable PDF. Each one moves through several workspaces without saving in between.
Get your bearings
Open the PDF Workstation and open a PDF from your device. Undo and redo work across every workspace, and autosave keeps your work if the tab closes. Once a file is open:
- The menu bar runs along the top: File, Read, Organize, Edit, Fill & Sign, Protect, Convert, Tools and AI. Each workspace's menu lists its sections.
- The page rail on the side shows thumbnails, the outline and comments.
- The Control Panel shows the settings for the section you picked.
- ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) searches every action, if you don't know where something lives.
Job 1, step 1: fill the form
Open Fill & Sign › Fields. Every field in the form is listed, and Tab moves through them in order. Fill them in on the page or in the list.
If the form is flat, with lines to write on but no fields, just click on a blank and type. Save your name, address and other details under My details and you can fill them in one tap next time.
Step 2: sign it
Open Fill & Sign › Sign. Draw, type or upload your signature, and place it on the page. The workstation keeps it in this browser for next time.
If the portal needs a digital signature, choose your certificate file (.p12 or .pfx) instead. The signature stays valid even if a field is filled or a comment added afterwards.
Step 3: shrink it under the limit
Open Convert › Compress and set a size limit, such as 5 MB, rather than a preset. Then use File › Download PDF. Three jobs, one file, and nothing uploaded along the way.
Job 2, step 1: find what needs to go
Say you're sending a document to a supplier and it's full of personal details. Open Protect › Redact. Choose what to look for (e-mail addresses, phone numbers, card numbers, IBANs, ID numbers, dates, or any words you type) and run the search. Every match is listed.
Untick anything that should stay, such as your own company's contact address, and mark the rest. To redact something the search can't find, like a face in a photo, drag a box over it on the page.
Step 2: clean the file
Open Protect › Sanitize and remove metadata, scripts, attachments and hidden content. Author names and edit history often hide there.
Step 3: download and check
Download the PDF. Before you get it, the workstation reads the saved file again; if any marked text can still be found, the download is stopped rather than handing you a leaky file. If the supplier should only open it with a password, add one under Protect › Password before downloading.
Job 3, step 1: bring the scans together
Open the first scan, then use Organize › Insert to add the rest, as PDFs or as images. Drag thumbnails into the right order in Organize › Pages, and rotate any that came in sideways.
Step 2: tidy the pages
Organize › Clean up finds blank pages (the backs of single-sided sheets) and duplicates, so you can delete them in one go. Layout can make every page the same size, and Stamp adds page numbers.
Step 3: make it searchable
Open Tools › OCR and run it on the whole document. It straightens tilted pages first, then lists words it wasn't sure of so you can correct them. Afterwards the scan is searchable, and you can copy and edit its text. For another language, import its pack first.
Finish with Convert › Compress if the file is big, then download.
Tips that save you starting over
A few habits that save time.
- Mark redactions whenever you like. Redaction is applied last, when the file is saved, so anything you add under a mark later is removed too.
- Use split view to compare. Open a second PDF and view it beside the first.
- Turn a routine into a recipe. If you do the same steps every week, build them in Tools › Batch, save the recipe, and run it on the next pile of files.
- Check the privacy indicator. It lists every request the page sends with data, so you can see your document isn't one of them.
Written by
Ankit Kumar
Senior Software Engineer & Founder at ToolBuddy
Engineering browser-first utilities with zero upload requirements using WebAssembly, Web Audio, and Canvas technologies.