PDF24 — The Complete Guide: A Free PDF Toolbox on the Desktop and in the Browser, Even for Companies
PDF24, from the German company Geek Software, comes in two forms: PDF24 Creator — a Windows program with a virtual PDF printer and dozens of tools that run on your computer without internet — and PDF24 Tools, the same tools on a website. There are no task limits, no watermark, no account to create, and it is free for company use too.
PDF24 Creator / PDF24 Tools
Geek Software GmbH
Free PDF toolbox: an offline Windows program plus a browser version — merge, split, compress, OCR, convert and a PDF printer.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Merge and split — assemble a submission package from drawings, calculations and appendices, or break a large set into sheets.
- Compression — shrink a scanned drawing set until it fits in an email.
- OCR — add a searchable text layer to scanned documents.
- Compare — show the differences between two versions of the same document.
- PDF printer and conversions — create a PDF from any program that prints, and convert to and from Office.
Desktop or website — and what about privacy
In the web version files are uploaded to the vendor’s servers in EU data centres and deleted automatically within one hour of processing; the site is funded by ads. A business processing third parties’ personal data on the site must sign a data processing agreement. Creator works locally, so it is the right choice for tender drawings, contracts and client documents. The drawback: Creator exists for Windows only, and the interface looks a little dated.
Related tools
For open-source splitting and merging on any operating system — PDFsam Basic. For batch OCR from the command line — OCRmyPDF. For browser tools that process the file on your own computer — BentoPDF.
PDFsam Basic
Sober Lemur
Split, merge, rotate and extract PDF pages — for drawing sets, specifications and submissions.
Get it from the vendor
OCRmyPDF
OCRmyPDF project
Adds a searchable text layer to scanned PDFs — old reports, standards and drawings become searchable.
Get it from the vendor
BentoPDF
BentoPDF
Over 100 PDF tools that all run inside the browser — files are never uploaded to a server. Open source, no sign-up, no limits.
Get it from the vendor
Stirling-PDF
Stirling PDF Inc.
Open-source PDF toolkit with dozens of tools — OCR, compare, redact, convert — as a desktop app or a self-hosted server.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
The most generous free PDF toolbox for an office running Windows: install Creator and you get almost every everyday operation with no limits and no uploads.