PDF Workbench: stack operations, run once
Load a PDF (or several to merge), line up the steps you need — compress, number, watermark, OCR, encrypt — and get one finished file. Each step feeds the next, all on your device.
Drop PDF files here
How to run a chain
- Load the input.Choose one PDF, or several — they are merged first in the order shown, so arrange them with the arrows.
- Build the chain.Click a recipe such as “Merge → compress → protect”, or add steps one by one and set each step’s options in its own card.
- Run and collect.Press “Run all steps”. Cards tick off as they finish; download the final PDF or send it on to Sign, Annotate or Redact.
When chaining pays off
Most paperwork jobs are not one operation. A contract pack is several PDFs that need to be merged, shrunk below an email limit and locked. A scanned report needs OCR before compression, because compressing first throws away detail the recognizer needs. A handout for printing is N-up, then grayscale, then numbered sheets. The Workbench lets you set that order once instead of downloading and re-opening the file at every stage.
Order matters
Steps run top to bottom. Run OCR before compression, and N-up before page numbers if you want sheet numbers rather than original page numbers. Grayscale turns pages into images, so put it before OCR if you need searchable output. Protect is always moved to the end.
Like every tool here, the Workbench never uploads your file. Here is how local processing works and how you can check it yourself.
Workbench questions
Which operations can I chain?
Compress, optimize for web, grayscale, flatten, repair, rotate every page, insert blank pages, N-up, page numbers, watermark, OCR and password protection. Several input PDFs are merged first, in the order you set. Tools that need you to click on a page — annotate, sign, crop, redact, reorder — stay on their own pages; the finished chain can be handed to them in one click.
Why does Protect always move to the end?
Once a file is encrypted, the following steps would need the password to open it again. Putting encryption last means every other step works on the readable file and only the final download is locked.
Is a chain slower than using the tools one by one?
No — each step runs the same engine as its tool page. You save the time of downloading, re-selecting and re-uploading the file between steps. OCR is the slow one: a long scan can take a minute or more on a phone.
Can I see what each step did?
Yes. Every step shows the file size after it ran and a short note (for example how many images were re-encoded or words recognized). The result screen lists the whole chain in a table.
Does the Workbench keep my files or recipes?
No. Files live in this tab’s memory and disappear when you close it. Nothing is stored on a server, because there is no server step at all.