Privacy First

Your file stays on your machine — or we tell you clearly when it doesn't.

Most PDF tools upload every file to cloud servers by default. PDFRealm is different: a large share of our tools run entirely in your browser using PDF.js and PDF-Lib. Your document never leaves your device. For tools that do require server processing, we show exactly what happens and delete every file within 24 hours.

Browse all tools Retention policy

Why this matters for legal, medical, HR, and financial work

Many professional PDF workflows involve files you cannot send to a cloud service without a data processing agreement. Client contracts, medical records, HR documents, and financial statements are all examples. When a tool runs client-side, there is nothing to agree to — the file never moves.

Lawyers and paralegals

Extract text, check permissions, and flatten forms on client documents without uploading them to a third-party service. Client-side tools process privileged material entirely in your browser. For server-side tools like Redact, your file is deleted from our servers within 24 hours.

HR and payroll teams

Flatten, compare, or extract text from offer letters and employment forms using client-side tools. Sensitive compensation and personnel data stays on your machine.

Accountants and finance

Extract text from financial statements, check PDF metadata, or generate PDF reports from structured data without uploading source files to an external server.

Tool-by-tool transparency

✓ Client-side — file stays in your browser

These tools use PDF.js or PDF-Lib to process your document locally. Nothing is uploaded. No server receives your file.

Extract Text

Reads searchable text from PDF using PDF.js

Compare PDFs

Text-based page-by-page diff using PDF.js

PDF → JSON

Extracts form fields using PDF-Lib in browser

PDF Permissions Report

Reads encryption and permission flags using PDF.js

Flatten Forms (client)

Flattens AcroForm fields using PDF-Lib, no upload

PDF → Layout JSON

Extracts text positions per page using PDF.js

PDF → Outline

Reads bookmark/outline structure using PDF.js

Code → PDF

Converts source code to PDF entirely in the browser

PDF Studio (editor)

Renders, annotates, and edits PDFs using PDF.js locally

↑ Server-side — file uploaded, deleted within 24h

These tools require server processing (OCR, LibreOffice conversion, image rendering). Your file is uploaded over TLS, processed, and scheduled for deletion within 24 hours. No permanent storage except in the Vault, which you opt into explicitly.

Merge, Split, Compress

PDF manipulation via Ghostscript/pdf-lib server-side

OCR

Server-side OCR processing of image and scanned PDFs

PDF ↔ Word, Excel, PPTX

LibreOffice conversion on server

Rotate, Watermark, Stamp, Redact

PDF mutation via pdf-lib server-side

PDF → JPG / PNG / TIFF

Image rendering via server-side Ghostscript

HTML/URL → PDF

wkhtmltopdf rendering on server

Protect / Encrypt

PDF encryption applied server-side via qpdf

How we compare

Feature	PDFRealm	iLovePDF	Smallpdf
Client-side tools (no upload)	✓ Yes — multiple tools	Not published	Not published
Per-tool SERVER/CLIENT badge	✓ Yes — every tool labeled	Not published	Not published
File deletion policy stated	✓ 24h policy, documented	After 2 hours (policy page)	1 hour (policy page)
End-to-end encrypted communication	✓ Secure Chat/Video/VoIP suite	✗ No	✗ No
Transparent about when AI/cloud is used	✓ Disclosed per feature	Partial	Partial

Retention and deletion

For server-side tools, every uploaded file is scheduled for deletion within 24 hours of processing. We do not retain your documents after processing completes. Files stored in the Vault are stored only when you explicitly choose to save them there, and you can delete them at any time.

Secure Send files have a separate retention window configured by the sender — up to 7 days. See the full retention policy for details by file class.

Full policy: File retention policy · Privacy policy