PDFBYHAND

How We Work

Every tool on this site runs in your browser. When you pick a file, your browser reads it on your own phone or computer, does the job there, and gives you a finished file to download. Your documents are never sent to us. That is not a policy layered on top of the tools; it is how the tools are made.

The libraries under the bench

The tools are made with two open-source libraries, named honestly: pdf-lib and PDF.js. Both are widely used, publicly readable pieces of software for working with PDF files in a browser. Open-source means anyone can read how they work. We rely on them rather than on a distant server, and that choice is the reason your files can stay on your device.

Tested on files with known answers

Every tool is tested on files whose right answers we know in advance. A merge is checked against a packet whose correct order and page count are already known. A split is checked against pages picked ahead of time. A form fill is checked against answers written down before the test begins. If a tool gives a wrong answer on a test file, it does not ship until it gives the right one. That habit — known file, known answer, check the result — is how each job on the bench earns its place.

The promise

If a job can't be done honestly in a browser, it isn't on the bench. That is the whole rule, and it explains the What It Can't Do page: jobs that need more than a browser can honestly give — like opening a file that needs a password — are not offered, dressed up, or hinted at. What is offered here is what a browser can do well, done on your device, with its limits stated in plain words.