Writing about pdf
How PDF files actually behave, and why: what makes a scanned page enormous next to a text one, why pages come out sideways, what the file records about the program that wrote it. The tools section is for fixing a document; this is for knowing what you are fixing.
PDF
What Is Actually Inside a PDF File
A PDF is a bag of numbered objects with an index at the end. Once you know what is in the bag, most of the format’s odd behaviour stops being odd.
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PDF
How to Convert Images to PDF Without Losing Quality
Most converters decode your JPEG and compress it all over again. A PDF can carry the compressed picture untouched, so that second pass never happens.
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PDF
How to Split a PDF Into Separate Files
Splitting is three different operations, and picking the wrong one is why the file you get back is not the file you wanted.
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PDF
How to Rotate a PDF So It Stays Rotated
Rotation in a PDF is one number on each page. Change the number, save the file, and the page stays turned for everyone who opens it.
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PDF
How to Reorder the Pages in a PDF Without Acrobat
The page order in a PDF is a list the document keeps, not a property of the pages, which is why reordering is free and lossless.
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PDF
How to Merge PDF Files Without Uploading Them
Merging is a copy-and-renumber job: nothing is decoded, nothing is re-encoded, and the only real question is where your file goes.
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PDF
How to Delete Pages From a PDF, and Really Delete Them
Taking a page out of the page list is not the same as taking it out of the file, and your viewer shows you the same thing either way.
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PDF
How to Convert Word to PDF, and What Changes
Every Word-to-PDF conversion is a trade, and the fonts decide what you are trading away.
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