Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Every tool on PDFCherry is free to use, with no sign-up, no watermark on your output, and no hidden per-file charges.

No. Every tool works without registering, signing in, or giving an email address.

There is no daily quota. The only limit is the file size shown on each tool page, and, for multi-file tools like Merge PDF, the number of files per job.

Most tools accept files up to 50 MB. The exact limit is always shown on the tool's upload page. If your file is larger, try the Compress PDF tool first.

Uploaded files and the results generated from them are deleted automatically and permanently: uploads within about 30 minutes, results within about an hour. This happens whether or not you download the result, and no backups are kept.

No. Deletion is automatic and permanent, and there are no backups. Download your result before the retention window closes, and always keep your own copy of the original file.

Files are transferred over an encrypted HTTPS connection and processed in a folder unique to your job, isolated from other users. The content of your files is never viewed, shared, or reused. For highly sensitive documents, the browser-based PDF Editor keeps everything on your device.

It is used only in memory to perform that one operation and is never written to logs, stored, or included in any backup.

No. Files are used only to perform the operation you requested, then deleted. They are never used for training, analytics, or advertising, and personal data is not sold.

Most tools work with PDF files. The image tools also accept JPG, PNG and WebP, and the conversion tools produce JPG, PNG, plain text, or a ZIP archive depending on the tool. Each tool page lists exactly what it accepts and produces.

Tools such as Merge PDF and Images to PDF take multiple files in a single job. Most single-file tools process one document at a time.

Yes. Every tool works in a modern mobile browser, including uploading and downloading files. There is nothing to install.

Any current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. The PDF Editor needs a reasonably recent browser because it does its work locally using modern web features.

No. The PDF Editor runs entirely in your browser, so the file never leaves your device. The other tools upload your file over HTTPS, process it on the server, and delete it automatically.

Compression mainly targets images. A PDF that is mostly text has little to compress, so a small reduction is normal. Scanned or image-heavy PDFs shrink much more. See How to compress a PDF.

Compression re-encodes embedded images at a lower quality, so image-heavy files can look softer at the strongest setting. Text stays sharp. Page operations like merging, splitting, and rotating do not change quality at all.

Yes. You can process invoices, contracts, reports, and other business documents. You keep full ownership of every file you upload, as set out in our Terms of Service.

Yes. Use the language menu in the header to switch the interface between English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Tamil, and Arabic.

PDFCherry may display ads to help keep the tools free. Ads are kept clear of the upload and download controls so they never get in the way. See our Cookie Policy for how advertising cookies work and how to opt out.

The PDF Editor lets you add text, images, highlights, whiteout, and signatures on top of a page. Reflowing or replacing the original body text of a PDF is not supported, because PDFs do not store text as editable paragraphs.

Not yet. The PDF to Text tool extracts text that already exists in the file; it does not run OCR on scanned images. This is on the list of planned features.

No. PDFCherry runs completely in your web browser. There is no app, extension, or desktop program to download.

Yes. All uploads and downloads use an encrypted HTTPS/TLS connection between your browser and PDFCherry.

Use the form on our Contact page, or the feedback form on the same page. Every message is read.

Contact us through the Contact page with details of the issue and we will respond as quickly as we can.

Each tool page has a step-by-step guide, and our PDF guides section covers the most common tasks in more depth.

Make sure the file is a genuine PDF (not another format renamed to .pdf) and under the size limit shown on the tool page. Multi-file tools such as Merge PDF need at least two files before the button activates. If the file is password protected, remove the password first with Unlock PDF. If it still fails, try a different browser or a smaller file.

Not directly. Download the file to your device first, then upload it to the tool. The result also downloads to your device, and you can move it back to cloud storage yourself.

Result files are kept for only about an hour and then deleted permanently. If you waited too long, simply run the tool again with your original file. The same applies to a link you shared with someone else.

No. Your uploaded file is never modified and it is deleted automatically, so there is nothing to roll back to. Every tool produces a new output file and leaves your upload untouched. Always keep your own copy of the original.

Page operations such as merging, splitting, rotating, reordering and deleting pages keep everything intact. Tools that rebuild the page as an image, such as Grayscale PDF and PDF to TIFF, produce a flat result with no selectable text, links or fields. Flatten PDF deliberately turns form fields into fixed content.

Use Remove PDF Metadata to strip the title, author, producer and date fields plus the XMP packet. That does not touch text printed on the pages themselves — for that, black out the relevant pages with Redact PDF or edit the source document before exporting.

To unlock or change a password you must supply the current one — Unlock PDF and Change PDF Password cannot bypass protection you do not have the password for. Adding a password to an unprotected PDF with Protect PDF needs no existing password.

Tools that render pages to images (PDF to JPG, PDF to PNG, PDF to TIFF, Grayscale PDF) store each page as a full raster, which is often bigger than compact PDF text and vectors. Choosing a lower resolution where the tool offers it, or running Compress PDF on a PDF result, brings the size down.

Yes, as long as the file is within the size limit on the tool page. A few tools have their own page cap for performance — for example PDF to TIFF is limited to 300 pages per file. Split a very large document first with Split PDF.

The job will not finish and no result is saved. Nothing is left on the server beyond the normal automatic cleanup. Reopen the tool and upload your file again.

Not at the moment. PDFCherry is a browser tool with no public API or command-line interface. You can send feature requests through the Contact page.

Only the PDF Editor keeps working offline once the page has loaded, because it runs entirely in your browser. Every other tool sends the file to the server for processing and needs a connection.

No. The PDF Editor can place a drawn or image signature on a page, but that is a visual mark, not a certificate-based digital signature. Converting to the PDF/A archival standard is not supported.

Not directly. PDFCherry works with PDFs and images, plus plain text through Text to PDF. Export your document to PDF from the original application, then use PDFCherry for anything else you need to do to it.

There is no daily quota for normal use. Automated or abusive traffic may be rate limited to keep the service available for everyone.

The download link is unguessable and stops working when the file is deleted, usually within about an hour. Do not post it publicly, and treat it as valid only for the people you send it to.

Grayscale PDF and PDF to TIFF re-draw each page as an image, so subtle rendering differences and loss of selectable text are expected. Flatten PDF bakes each form field into the page using its stored appearance, which can shift a font or size slightly. Compare against your original and keep a copy before running these tools.

PDFCherry is built and maintained by a small team focused on private, reliable PDF tools. There is more on the About page, and you can reach us through Contact.