PDF to JPG — turning pages into images
Converting PDF pages to images is useful when you need to share a specific page as a screenshot, use a page as a presentation slide background, or display document content on a website without embedding the full PDF.
Browser-based PDF to JPG conversion uses PDF.js — Mozilla's open-source PDF rendering engine — to render each page to a canvas element. The canvas content is then exported as a JPG or PNG image. Because rendering happens locally, your document never leaves your device.
The quality of the output depends on the DPI setting. 150 DPI is fine for screen display. 300 DPI produces sharper images suitable for printing. Higher DPI means larger files.
PDF to Word — the realistic expectations
Converting a PDF to a Word document (.docx) is genuinely useful but comes with a caveat: the quality of the conversion depends heavily on the PDF itself. PDFs that were created from a Word document or another text-based source convert well. Scanned PDFs — which are essentially images of pages — require OCR to extract any text, which introduces potential errors.
The Irreva PDF to Word tool extracts the text layer from the PDF, reconstructs the formatting as best as it can, and produces a .docx file. Complex layouts with multiple columns, tables, and embedded graphics will require some cleanup in Word after conversion. Simple text documents usually come out cleanly.
Merging PDFs — combining multiple files
If you have a contract split across multiple PDFs, or a report and its appendices as separate files, merging them into one document makes sharing easier and keeps things organized.
The Merge PDF tool lets you drag multiple files into a specific order before combining them. The output is a single PDF containing all pages in the order you specified. You can also merge PDFs and then use Split PDF if you only need certain pages from the combined document.
Compressing PDFs — when files are too large to attach
Email attachments typically have a size limit of 10–25MB depending on the provider. Large PDFs with high-resolution images will often exceed this. PDF compression works by reducing the resolution of embedded images and removing redundant data from the file structure.
The degree of compression you can achieve depends on what's in the PDF. A PDF that's mostly text will barely shrink because text compresses efficiently already. A scanned document or a PDF with full-resolution photography can often be reduced by 50–80%.
Password protecting and unlocking PDFs
Adding a password to a PDF before sending it to someone is a basic privacy measure. The PDF Protect tool lets you set an open password (required to view the document) and optionally restrict printing and copying. The encryption happens locally using pdf-lib.
If you receive a password-protected PDF and know the password, PDF Unlock removes the protection so you can edit, print, or convert the document. You need the actual password — these tools don't crack encryption.