PDF tools for students

Run compression at the screen-reading preset first — image downsampling to 150 DPI usually does most of the work without visibly degrading figures.

If appendices are being submitted separately, pull them out rather than compressing them harder.

For a stubborn single page with a huge vector diagram, export it as an image and reinsert it — often a large saving.

OCR adds a real text layer underneath the scan, so search, highlight and copy start working without changing how the page looks.

Once there's text, summarise the chapter to get the structure before you read it properly.

For sources in another language, translate while keeping paragraph structure so you can cite by position.

Generates a narrated lesson from the document rather than a flat read-aloud, so it explains as it goes.

Produce a one-page written summary to skim afterwards and check what stuck.

Combine everything and reorder by thumbnail before exporting.

Fix page order, drop duplicated cover sheets and rotate anything that came in sideways.

Add continuous numbering across the merged document so your contents page matches.