Chapter 1

Getting Started

Open the app, pick a tool, select your file, and hit run. That's it — everything works in 4 clicks or fewer.

📂
1. Open the App
Launch Desk Tools PDF Toolkit from your desktop shortcut or Start menu.
🎯
2. Pick a Tool
Click any tool from the home screen grid — Convert, Merge, Compress, etc.
✅
3. Select & Run
Choose your file(s), set options if needed, and click the action button.
💡
Every tool follows the same pattern: Select file → Configure options → Click Run → View results. Once you learn one tool, you know them all.
Chapter 2

Understanding Elapsed Time Colors

After each operation, the app shows how long it took. The colour tells you instantly whether it was fast or slow.

⏱️ Elapsed Time Color Key

The time display after each operation is color-coded so you can instantly see performance at a glance.

0 – 3s
⚡ Lightning Fast
3 – 15s
✓ Normal Speed
15 – 60s
⏳ Slow (Large File)
60s+
🐢 Very Slow
💡
Green means everything is working perfectly. Yellow is normal for larger files. Orange or Red may appear for very large PDFs (100+ pages) or complex operations like OCR and Summarize — this is expected.
Chapter 3

How to Select Files

Every tool starts with picking your file. Here's exactly how it works.

📁 Selecting a Single File

1
Click the "Select File" button — a Windows file picker will open.
2
Navigate to your file — use the sidebar (Desktop, Documents, Downloads) to find it.
3
Click the file once to highlight it, then click "Open".
4
The filename will appear in the app — you're ready to proceed.

📁 Selecting Multiple Files (Merge / Batch)

1
Click "Select Files" — the file picker opens.
2
Hold Ctrl and click each file you want to select. Or hold Shift to select a range.
3
Click "Open" — all selected files will appear in the app.

💾 Choosing Where to Save

1
After running a tool, a "Save As" dialog may appear (or the app auto-saves next to your input file).
2
Pick a folder, type a filename, and click "Save".
3
Click "Show in Folder" to jump straight to your saved file in Windows Explorer.
Pro Tool

⚡ Batch Processing

Process multiple files at once — convert, redact, or transform an entire folder in one click.

⚡
Batch Convert / Batch Redact
task_batch.py — Process many files at once
⏱ Varies by file count
Pro

Need to convert 50 Word docs to PDF? Or redact names from 20 legal documents? Batch mode processes your entire selection — you set it up once and walk away.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Batch" on the home screen.
2
Choose the operation — Batch Convert or Batch Redact.
3
Select multiple files (Ctrl+Click) or pick a whole folder.
4
Pick your output folder — where all results will be saved.
5
Click Run — watch the progress bar as each file is processed.
.pdf .docx .xlsx .pptx .jpg → .pdf
Free Tool

📦 Compress PDF

Shrink bloated PDFs down to size — perfect for email attachments and uploads.

📦
Compress PDF
task_compress.py — Reduce file size
⚡ 0.5 – 5s typical
Free

Reduces the file size of your PDF by compressing images, removing duplicate resources, and cleaning up the internal structure. The visual quality stays excellent — you won't notice a difference on screen.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Compress" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file using the file picker.
3
Choose where to save the compressed version.
4
Click Run — you'll see the original vs. new size, and how much space you saved.
💡
PDF files with lots of photos compress the most. Text-heavy PDFs are already small and may not shrink much further.
.pdf → .pdf (smaller)
Free Tool

🔄 Convert to PDF

Turn almost any document or image into a clean, professional PDF.

🔄
Convert to PDF
task_convert.py — Documents & images → PDF
⚡ 1 – 8s typical
Free

Takes your Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint slides, HTML pages, and images and converts them into properly formatted PDF files. The layout, fonts, and images are preserved as closely as possible to the original.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Convert to PDF" on the home screen.
2
Select your file — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, image, or HTML.
3
Choose where to save the output PDF.
4
Click Run — the conversion happens automatically using the best engine for your file type.
.docx .doc .xlsx .pptx .html .jpg .png .tiff → .pdf
💡
For best results with Word documents, make sure all fonts used in the document are installed on your computer.
Free Tool

📄 Extract Text

Pull all the text out of a PDF — ready to copy, search, or use in another document.

📄
Extract Text
task_extract.py — Pull text content from PDF
⚡ 0.3 – 3s typical
Free

Extracts all readable text from your PDF and saves it as a plain text (.txt) file. Useful for searching through documents, copying content into emails, or feeding text into other tools.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Extract Text" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Choose save location for the .txt output.
4
Click Run — the extracted text file opens automatically or click "Show in Folder".
⚠️
If your PDF is a scanned image (e.g. a photo of a printed page), Extract Text won't find any text. Use OCR instead — it reads text from images.
.pdf → .txt
Free Tool

🖼️ Extract Images

Save every photo, chart, and graphic from a PDF as separate image files.

🖼️
Extract Images
task_images.py — Pull all images from PDF
⚡ 1 – 5s typical
Free

Finds every embedded image inside your PDF and saves each one as a separate file (PNG or JPEG). Perfect for grabbing photos from brochures, charts from reports, or logos from letterheads.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Extract Images" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Pick an output folder — all images will be saved there.
4
Click Run — the app tells you how many images it found and where they were saved.
.pdf → .png → .jpg
Free Tool

📎 Merge PDFs

Combine multiple PDF files into one single document.

📎
Merge PDFs
task_merge.py — Combine files into one PDF
⚡ 0.5 – 3s typical
Free

Takes two or more PDF files and joins them together into one continuous document. The pages appear in the order you select them. Great for combining report chapters, joining scanned pages, or creating a single document from multiple sources.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Merge" on the home screen.
2
Select multiple PDF files — hold Ctrl and click each file, then click Open.
3
Check the order — files are merged in the order shown. Rearrange if needed.
4
Choose save location and click Run.
.pdf (2+) → .pdf (combined)
Pro Tool

👁️ OCR — Scan to Searchable Text

Turn scanned documents and photos of text into real, searchable, selectable text.

👁️
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
task_ocr.py — Image text → searchable PDF
⏳ 5 – 60s depending on pages
Pro

When you scan a paper document, the result is just a picture — you can't search it, select text, or copy anything. OCR reads the text in those images and creates an invisible text layer on top, making the PDF fully searchable while keeping the original look.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "OCR" on the home screen.
2
Select your scanned PDF or image file.
3
Choose save location for the searchable PDF.
4
Click Run — OCR processes each page. This takes longer than other tools because it's reading every word.
5
Open the result — try Ctrl+F to search for text that was previously just an image.
⚠️
OCR works best on clear, high-resolution scans. Blurry photos or very small text may produce errors. For best results, scan at 300 DPI or higher.
.pdf (scanned) .jpg .png .tiff → .pdf (searchable)
Free Tool

🔒 Protect / Encrypt PDF

Lock your PDF with a password so only authorized people can open it.

🔒
Protect PDF
task_protect.py — Add password encryption
⚡ 0.5 – 2s typical
Free

Adds password protection to your PDF. You can set a password to open the file and optionally restrict printing, copying text, or editing. Uses strong AES-256 encryption — the same kind banks use.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Protect" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Enter a password. Choose something strong — at least 8 characters with a mix of letters and numbers.
4
Set permissions (optional) — allow or block printing, copying, editing.
5
Click Run — your protected PDF is ready.
🔑
Don't lose your password! There is no way to recover a password-protected PDF if you forget it. Write it down somewhere safe.
.pdf → .pdf (encrypted)
Pro Tool

█ Redact Sensitive Info

Permanently black out names, numbers, addresses, and other private data.

█
Redact PDF
task_redact.py + redaction_engine.py — Permanent removal
⏱ 3 – 20s typical
Pro

Permanently removes sensitive information from your PDF. Unlike simply drawing a black box, redaction actually deletes the underlying text and data — it cannot be recovered. Use this for legal documents, personal records, financial statements, or any file with private information.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Redact" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Choose what to redact — names, phone numbers, emails, addresses, or enter custom words/phrases.
4
Choose save location and click Run.
5
Review the result — check that all sensitive info has been blacked out. The results screen shows how many redactions were made.
⚠️
Redaction is permanent. Always keep a backup of the original file before redacting. There is no "undo" once the file is saved.
.pdf → .pdf (redacted)
Free Tool

🔧 Repair PDF

Fix broken or corrupted PDFs that won't open properly.

🔧
Repair PDF
task_repair.py — 8-stage advanced repair pipeline
⏱ 1 – 30s depending on damage
Free

When a PDF is corrupted — won't open, shows errors, has blank pages, or crashes your viewer — this tool attempts to fix it. It uses 8 progressively more aggressive repair strategies, from simple structure fixes all the way to rebuilding the entire document from rendered images.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Repair" on the home screen.
2
Select the broken PDF file.
3
Choose where to save the repaired version.
4
Click Run — the tool automatically tries multiple repair strategies. You'll see which ones succeeded.
5
Open the result — if the repair worked, your PDF should now open properly. Check the warnings for details on what was fixed.
🔧
The repair engine fixes: broken cross-references, missing EOF markers, corrupt fonts, bad annotations, damaged metadata, broken images, and even completely mangled files (as a last resort, it renders each page as an image and rebuilds the PDF).
.pdf (broken) → .pdf (fixed)
Free Tool

🔁 Rotate Pages

Fix sideways or upside-down pages in your PDF.

🔁
Rotate Pages
task_rotate.py — Fix page orientation
⚡ 0.3 – 1s typical
Free

Rotates pages by 90°, 180°, or 270°. You can rotate all pages at once or specify individual pages. Perfect for scanned documents that came out sideways.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Rotate" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Choose the rotation — 90° clockwise, 90° counter-clockwise, or 180° (flip upside down).
4
Select which pages — all pages, or enter specific ones (e.g. "1, 3, 5-8").
5
Click Run and save.
.pdf → .pdf (rotated)
Free Tool

✂️ Split PDF

Break a large PDF into smaller parts or extract specific pages.

✂️
Split PDF
task_split.py — Extract or separate pages
⚡ 0.3 – 2s typical
Free

Extracts specific pages or splits a large PDF into smaller files. You can pull out just the pages you need or split the document into equal chunks.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Split" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Enter page range — for example: "1-5" for the first 5 pages, "3,7,12" for specific pages, or "1-3,8-10" for multiple ranges.
4
Click Run and save.
💡
Page range examples: "1-5" = first 5 pages · "3" = page 3 only · "1,3,5" = pages 1, 3, and 5 · "5-" = page 5 to the end.
.pdf → .pdf (subset)
Pro Tool

🧠 Summarize PDF

Get a quick summary of any document without reading every page.

🧠
Summarize PDF
task_summarize.py — AI-powered document summary
⏳ 5 – 45s depending on length
Pro

Reads through your entire PDF and generates a concise summary of the key points, including section headings, main topics, and important details. Saves you hours of reading.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Summarize" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Choose save location for the summary output (JSON or text).
4
Click Run — the summary appears on screen and is also saved to the file.
.pdf → .json (summary)
Free Tool

💧 Watermark PDF

Add text or image watermarks to protect your documents.

💧
Add Watermark
task_watermark.py — Text or image overlay
⚡ 0.5 – 3s typical
Free

Stamps a watermark on every page of your PDF. You can use text (like "CONFIDENTIAL", "DRAFT", or your company name) or an image (like a logo). The watermark appears as a semi-transparent overlay so the content is still readable.

📋 Step-by-Step

1
Click "Watermark" on the home screen.
2
Select your PDF file.
3
Choose watermark type — Text or Image.
4
Enter your watermark text (e.g. "CONFIDENTIAL") or select a logo image file.
5
Adjust settings — opacity (transparency), position, rotation, size.
6
Click Run and save.
.pdf → .pdf (watermarked)
Help

🆘 Troubleshooting

Common problems and how to fix them.

"spawn python ENOENT" error
The app can't find Python. This usually means the embedded Python environment wasn't installed correctly. Try reinstalling the app, or make sure the engine/.venv folder exists in the install directory.
The app opens but shows a blank white/dark screen
This can happen if the app files are corrupted during installation. Try uninstalling, deleting the install folder completely, and reinstalling fresh. If using antivirus, add an exception for the app folder.
Convert to PDF fails for Word documents
Word document conversion requires LibreOffice (bundled with the app). Make sure the bin/libreoffice folder exists. If the conversion produces garbled text, ensure the fonts used in the document are installed on your system.
OCR produces garbage text
OCR accuracy depends on scan quality. For best results: scan at 300 DPI or higher, ensure the document is straight (not skewed), and make sure there's good contrast between text and background. Very small fonts (below 8pt) may not be recognized accurately.
"License required" message
Some features (Redact, OCR, Summarize, Batch) require a Pro license. Click the shield icon in the top-right corner to enter your license key. If you don't have one, visit the Desk Tools store to purchase.
Processing takes extremely long
Large PDFs (100+ pages) or image-heavy documents naturally take longer. OCR is the slowest operation — expect roughly 2-5 seconds per page. If a task seems stuck for more than 10 minutes, it may have timed out — try splitting the PDF into smaller sections and processing each one.
Output file is larger than the original
This can happen with Convert and Repair operations. Converting from a compressed format may produce a larger PDF. For Repair, the tool prioritizes data recovery over file size — you can run Compress afterward to shrink it.
"Could not repair" error
If the repair tool exhausts all 8 stages and still can't fix your file, the PDF may be too severely corrupted. Try: (1) Check if you have a backup. (2) Try opening the file in a web browser (Chrome can sometimes render broken PDFs). (3) Ask the sender for a fresh copy.
Reference

📖 Glossary

Simple explanations of technical terms used in this guide.

PDF — Portable Document Format. A file format that preserves the exact layout of a document across all devices.

OCR — Optical Character Recognition. Technology that reads text from images, turning pictures of words into actual computer text.

Redaction — Permanently removing sensitive information from a document. Unlike crossing something out, redacted data is deleted and cannot be recovered.

Encryption — Scrambling data with a password so only someone with the password can read it. AES-256 is the strongest standard available.

Compression — Reducing file size by encoding data more efficiently. The content stays the same, but the file takes up less space.

Watermark — A visible overlay (text or image) placed on each page to identify ownership or status of a document.

DPI — Dots Per Inch. Measures image resolution. Higher DPI = sharper image. 300 DPI is standard for printing.

Merge — Combining two or more files into one single file.

Split — Breaking one file into multiple smaller files, or extracting specific pages.

Xref Table — An internal index inside a PDF that tells software where each piece of content is located. When this gets corrupted, the PDF appears broken.