Bindery

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How-to guide

Practical steps for each tool. Everything below happens in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

How to merge PDFs

  1. Open the Merge tab.
  2. Drag your PDF files onto the drop area, or click it to browse. Add as many as you like.
  3. Reorder them with the up/down arrows — the top file becomes the first pages of the result.
  4. Click "Merge PDFs", then download the combined file.

Tip: merging works best when the files are final — merged pages keep their original layout, fonts, and images exactly as they were.

How to split a PDF (extract pages)

  1. Open the Split tab and drop in one PDF.
  2. In "Pages to extract", type page numbers or ranges: 1-3, 5, 8-10.
  3. Click "Extract pages", then download the new file with just those pages.

Pages are numbered starting at 1, matching what your PDF reader shows. Duplicate or overlapping entries are cleaned up automatically.

How to compress a PDF

  1. Open the Compress tab and drop in one PDF.
  2. Click "Compress PDF".
  3. Compare the before/after sizes shown, then download if you're happy.

What to expect, honestly: compression repacks the file's internal structure. PDFs exported from Word or Google Docs often shrink noticeably; scanned documents and already-optimized files may barely change. The tool always shows exact sizes so there are no surprises.

How to extract text from a PDF

  1. Open the PDF → Text tab and drop in one PDF.
  2. The extracted text appears automatically — page by page, in reading order.
  3. Click "Copy text" to copy it all, or download it as a .txt file.

The text is plain and clean, ready to paste into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI chat for summarizing, translating, or Q&A. One honest limit: this only works with text-based PDFs. Scanned documents are images, not text — the tool will tell you when it finds nothing to extract.

Going further: how to extract text from a PDF for ChatGPT & Claude — chunking long documents, prompt templates, and privacy notes.

Chaining tools together

After merging or splitting, a "Compress this result" button appears — it sends the new file straight into the Compress tab so you can shrink it without downloading and re-uploading. Everything stays in your browser the whole time.

Privacy notes

  • Your files never leave your device — processing happens in your browser's memory.
  • Password-protected PDFs can't be opened in the browser. Remove the password first (in your PDF reader), then use the tools.
  • Closing the tab wipes everything. Nothing is stored anywhere.