Documentation — PDFApps
Description: PDFApps documentation: quick start, tools usage, keyboard shortcuts, and FAQ.

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Documentation

# Get started with PDFApps

Everything you need to know to use PDFApps efficiently. Quick start, keyboard shortcuts, and answers to common questions.

## Install

PDFApps is available on every major platform. Pick the one that matches your system:

- Windows 10/11: download the installer from the Download page
- macOS 10.14+: download the macOS zip and drag to Applications
- Ubuntu / Snap: `sudo snap install pdfapps`
- Fedora: `sudo dnf copr enable nelsonduarte2809/pdfapps && sudo dnf install pdfapps`
- Arch / Manjaro: `yay -S pdfapps`
- Any Linux: download the AppImage and run it

For OCR and advanced compression you also need Tesseract and Ghostscript installed on your system. The Windows installer offers to install both automatically.

## First steps

When you open PDFApps for the first time you see the workspace with a sidebar of 15 tools on the left. Click Open PDF in the toolbar (or drag a file onto the window) to start working.

The app remembers your last theme, language, and recently opened files between sessions. Configuration is stored in `~/.pdfapps_config.json`.

## Open a PDF

There are five ways to open a PDF:

1. Click the folder icon in the toolbar (or press `Ctrl`+`O`)
2. Drag a PDF file (or several) onto the window
3. Click Recent files in the toolbar to reopen a previous file
4. Pass the file path as a command-line argument: `pdfapps myfile.pdf`
5. Set PDFApps as the default PDF reader and double-click any PDF in your file manager

Multiple PDFs open in tabs, so you can switch between them like in a browser.

## Navigation

The viewer uses continuous scroll — all pages are rendered as you scroll, so there's no "next page" button to click. Use the toolbar controls for jump-to-page, prev/next, and zoom.

- Page input: type a page number and press Enter to jump there
- Arrows ‹ ›: previous and next page
- Zoom: Ctrl+scroll, or the `− % +` buttons in the toolbar
- Fit: reset zoom to fit the window width

## Search (Ctrl+F)

Press `Ctrl`+`F` to open the search bar. Results are highlighted in real-time as you type. Use the up/down arrows to jump between matches, or press `Escape` to close.

## Bookmarks / TOC

PDFs that have a table of contents (also called bookmarks or outline) show a clickable side panel on the left of the viewer. Click any heading to jump to that page. The bookmark icon in the toolbar toggles the panel — it's hidden for PDFs without an outline.

## Night reading mode

Click the moon icon in the toolbar to invert the colors of the rendered pages — white backgrounds become dark and black text becomes light. Useful for reading at night without strain. Night mode is independent from the app theme, so you can have a light app with night-mode PDFs or vice versa.

## Presentation mode (F5)

Press `F5` or click the TV icon to enter fullscreen presentation mode. The page fills the screen with a black background. Use arrow keys, `Space`, `PgUp`/`PgDn`, `Home`/`End` to navigate. Press `Escape` to exit.

## Split & Merge

Split: click Split in the sidebar, choose your PDF, then add rows defining page ranges and output names. Click Run to generate one PDF per range.

Merge: click Merge, drag PDFs into the list (or use the file picker), reorder them with the up/down buttons, and click Run.

## Compress

The Compress tool uses a 3-pass pipeline (Ghostscript → PyMuPDF → pikepdf) and keeps the smallest result. Three quality levels are available:

- Extreme — 72 DPI, 40% quality, grayscale. Best for archival or email.
- Recommended — 150 DPI, 65% quality. Good balance.
- Low — 300 DPI, 80% quality. Minimal visible loss.

Ghostscript is optional but recommended for the "Extreme" level.

## Encrypt & Decrypt

Set both an owner password (for editing rights) and a user password (for opening). To remove encryption from a file, switch to "Decrypt" mode and enter the existing password.

## OCR (Text Recognition)

Use OCR to extract text from scanned PDFs. Requires Tesseract installed. Supports Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, and German. The output is a new PDF with an invisible text layer over the original images, so the file looks identical but you can search and select text.

## Convert

Convert PDF pages to:

- PNG / JPG — choose the DPI (72, 150, or 300). One image per page.
- DOCX — Word document with headings, images, and formatting preserved.
- TXT — plain text extraction.
- PPTX — PowerPoint presentation with one slide per page (page rendered as image).
- XLSX — Excel workbook with one sheet per page, text blocks as rows.
- HTML — HTML file with semantic headings and styled text.
- EPUB — E-book with one chapter per page for readers and Kindle.

## Import to PDF

Convert other document types to PDF. Supports batch import and drag-and-drop reordering:

- TXT — plain text with automatic word wrapping.
- Images — PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, WebP, GIF. One image per page.
- Markdown — headings, lists, bold, and italic formatting.
- DOCX — Word documents with paragraphs and tables.
- PPTX — PowerPoint slides rendered to PDF pages.
- XLSX — Excel sheets laid out as PDF tables.
- HTML — web pages with headings, paragraphs, and lists.
- EPUB — E-books converted to searchable PDF.

## N-up (page layout)

Combine multiple PDF pages onto a single sheet — useful for printing or saving paper.

- Layouts: 2, 4, 6, 9, or 16 pages per sheet.
- Paper size: A4, A3, or Letter.
- Orientation: portrait, landscape, or auto (picks the best fit).

## Page numbers

Add page numbers to any PDF with full control over format and placement.

- Positions: top-left, top-center, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right.
- Formats: `1`, `Page 1`, `1/10`, `1 of 10`.
- Options: starting number, font size, skip pages, remove existing numbers first.

## Visual Editor

The editor has 9 modes selectable from the right panel:

- Redact / Censor — draw a black rectangle to permanently hide content
- Add Text — click anywhere to insert text with custom size and color
- Add Image — drag a rectangle to insert an image (PNG, JPG)
- Highlight — color overlay on selected text
- Note / Comment — sticky note with a popup balloon
- Fill Forms — auto-detects PDF form fields and lets you fill them
- Edit Text — click existing text to modify it
- Signature — draw, type, or import a signature; drag to place
- Select — text selection and copy mode

Use `Ctrl`+`Z` / `Ctrl`+`Y` to undo/redo. Click Apply and Save to write all pending edits to a new PDF.

## Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut | Action
--- | ---
`Ctrl`+`O` | Open PDF (multi-select)
`Ctrl`+`S` | Save / apply active tool
`Ctrl`+`P` | Print current PDF
`Ctrl`+`W` | Close current tab
`Ctrl`+`F` | Search text in PDF
`Ctrl`+`Z` | Undo (editor)
`Ctrl`+`Y` | Redo (editor)
`Ctrl`+`Scroll` | Zoom in / out
`F5` | Start presentation mode
`F11` | Toggle fullscreen
`Escape` | Exit presentation / close search

## FAQ

### Is PDFApps really free?

Yes. MIT licensed, open source, no premium tier, no upsells, no ads.

### Do my files leave my computer?

No. Everything runs locally. The only network requests are an optional update check on startup (which can be disabled) and the OCR/compression engine downloads during first install.

### Why is the app so big?

PDFApps bundles PySide6 (Qt 6) which is ~80 MB on its own. The total install is ~100 MB, comparable to most modern desktop apps.

### Can I use PDFApps in my company?

Yes. The MIT license allows commercial use without restriction. No purchase or sign-up required.

### Does the editor support digital signatures (cryptographic)?

The Signature tool places a visual signature (drawn, typed, or imported image) on the PDF. It does not perform cryptographic signing. For legally binding digital signatures, use a dedicated tool like Adobe Sign or DocuSign.

### How do I get OCR working?

Install Tesseract from your package manager (Linux/macOS) or via the Windows installer (which downloads it automatically). PDFApps detects Tesseract via the system PATH.

## Troubleshooting

### The OCR tool says Tesseract is not installed

Make sure `tesseract` is on your system PATH. Test with `tesseract --version` in a terminal. If installed but not detected, restart PDFApps after installation.

### Compression "Extreme" level fails

The Extreme level requires Ghostscript. Install via `brew install ghostscript` (macOS), `sudo apt install ghostscript` (Debian/Ubuntu), or download from ghostscript.com (Windows).

### The auto-updater is stuck

Auto-updater is disabled in Flatpak and Snap installations because the package manager handles updates. In direct installations, check that you have admin rights — the installer needs UAC elevation on Windows.

### Found a bug?

Report it on the GitHub issue tracker. Include your OS, PDFApps version, and steps to reproduce.