Using PaperOtter
Looking for a tool by what you're trying to do, not its name? See Common Tasks instead.
Every tool in PaperOtter follows the same flow, so once you've used one you already know how to use them all:
- Pick: open a file or drop it anywhere on the window
- Configure: set the options for that tool (quality, dimensions, pages, etc.)
- Compare: preview the result side by side with the original before committing
- Save: write the output to disk
Save replaces the file you opened. Rotate a PDF and press Save, and that PDF is now rotated: one document, in one place, in its new state. This is what Save means in every other desktop application, and it is what the PDF editor has always done.
Save as… is beside it, and writes a copy somewhere else instead. Use it when you want to keep the original as it was.
Some tools cannot replace anything and will always ask you where to put the result:
-
The file type changes: Convert Document, Convert Image, PDF to JPG and
JPG to PDF. A
.docxcannot replace a.pdf. - The number of files changes: Merge takes several and produces one; Split takes one and produces many.
Converting an image only replaces the original when the format is unchanged.
Compressing a JPG as a JPG replaces it; saving that JPG as a PNG writes a new
file, because a .png cannot take the place of a .jpg.
The dashboard is where every tool lives, organized into three categories:
PDF Tools Compress · Merge · Split · Rotate · PDF to JPG · JPG to PDF · Page Numbers · Watermark · Crop · Organize · Sign · Redact · Repair · Edit PDF
Image Tools Compress · Rotate · Convert
Document Tools Convert (PDF, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, Markdown, HTML, JSON, plain text)
Each linked page walks through how that specific tool works, what its settings actually do, and why it might not behave the way you expect.
Use the search bar to jump straight to a tool, or star any tool to pin it to My Favorites at the top: favorites can be reordered by dragging.
PaperOtter follows your system theme by default, and can be toggled manually from the icon in the top-right corner of the dashboard.
See also: Required Dependencies · Troubleshooting · FAQ