PDF to JPG
A framer standing on a deck is not going to open a 40 page plan set on a phone. He needs page 12, as a picture, in a text message, now. Pick the pages, pick the detail, and they come back as images. When the portal on the other end only takes pictures, hand over the whole folder instead and every page in it comes back as one.
How it works
- Choose the PDF and every page is drawn as a thumbnail. Or drop the whole folder of them, up to twenty at once. Nothing is uploaded either way.
- On one file, click the pages you want, and select all is there if the answer is every one of them. On a folder the question is every page of every file, or the first page of each file only.
- Pick JPG or PNG and how much detail, then download. One page comes back as one image, and anything more comes back in a single zip.
What you get
- JPG for scans and photographs, PNG for line drawings and plans
- Three levels of detail, from screen size up to 300 dpi for printing
- Any selection of pages, not just the whole document
- One zip for a set, so your browser asks about one download instead of twenty
- Sideways pages come out the way you read them, not the way they were stored
- A whole folder in one go, up to twenty files, every image named after the file it came out of
- Or the first page of each file only, when what you want is one picture per document
- No watermark, no page limit, no account, nothing uploaded
The picture in the text message
Every trade on a job has a phone and almost none of them have a PDF reader they like. A detail sent as an image opens instantly, in the message thread where the rest of the conversation already is, and it stays there to be scrolled back to. A detail sent as a 30 MB plan set attachment gets opened on the truck at lunchtime, if at all.
The same goes for a permit card, an inspection sticker, an insurance certificate or a signed page of a contract. When somebody asks for proof of one thing, sending them one picture of that one thing is faster for you and clearer for them than sending the document it came out of.
JPG or PNG, and how much detail
JPG is right for anything that started as a photograph or a scan. It throws away detail you cannot see in exchange for a file small enough to send, which is exactly the trade you want on a phone.
PNG is right for a drawing. Plans, details and schedules are thin black lines on white, and JPG smears thin black lines. A 300 dpi PNG of a detail sheet is the one to send to a fabricator who is going to zoom in on it.
Detail costs size. Screen is fine for texting. 150 dpi is the safe middle. 300 dpi is what to use if the image is going to be printed or marked up, and it produces a file several times larger, which is worth knowing before you send twelve of them.
Why a zip, and how to open one
Downloading twenty images one at a time means your browser asks twenty times whether that is allowed, and on a phone it usually stops after the first few. One zip is one download and one question. If you would rather have them separately anyway, the second button does that, with a pause between each.
A zip opens with a double click on Windows and a double click on a Mac. On an iPhone, save it to Files and tap it. On Android, open it in Files by Google and tap Extract.
When the other end only takes pictures
Insurance claim portals do this constantly. So do some warranty systems, a few older permit intakes, and most of the apps a crew actually has on their phone. They want JPGs. You have a folder of PDFs. Converting them one at a time, twenty times, is the sort of afternoon that makes people fax things instead.
So hand over the folder. Up to twenty files at once, every page of every one of them drawn as an image, back as a single zip called pdfs-images.zip. Each picture is named after the file it came out of and the page it was, so receipt-scan-page-3.jpg tells you what it is without opening it, and a hundred loose images are still sorted by document when the folder lists them alphabetically.
The other reading of a folder is one picture per document, and that is the second option. A job folder where you want a thumbnail of each file, a message thread where you are showing somebody what you are about to send, a closeout index that needs a cover shot of every certificate. First page of each file only, twenty files in, twenty images out.
There is a ceiling, and it is worth knowing before you start. Two hundred images, or three hundred megabytes, whichever comes first. That is not a paywall, it is the point where a browser tab drawing eight million pixels a page runs out of room, and the run stops there and tells you so with everything up to that point already in the zip. If you hit it, send the rest through as a second batch, or drop to JPG at a lower detail setting, which is usually the right answer anyway for anything that is going to be looked at on a phone.
The other direction
If what you have is photographs and what you want is a document, that is job photos to PDF. It takes the pictures off your phone, captions them and builds a report you can attach to a pay application or a warranty claim.
Questions people ask
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. Your browser renders the pages on your own device. There is no server here that could receive the file.
Why is there a white background on my image?
A JPG cannot store transparency, so the page is drawn onto white, which is what paper is anyway. Choose PNG if you need the transparency kept.
Can I do one page out of a 200 page plan set?
Yes. Click just that page. Nothing else is rendered, so it is fast even on a large file.
What resolution should I use for printing?
300 dpi. Below that a printed image looks soft, and above it you are making the file bigger without making the print better.
Will a sideways page come out sideways?
No. The rotation stored in the page is applied first, so the image comes out the way it looks on screen.
How many files can I convert at once?
Twenty files, and up to two hundred images or three hundred megabytes out of them, whichever comes first. If you hand it more than twenty files it takes the first twenty and tells you so, and if the images run past the ceiling the run stops there with everything before it already in the zip. All of the work happens on your own device, so a big batch takes a while and on a phone it will use the battery.
What are the images called?
The name of the file they came out of, then the page number, so a three page receipt scan gives you receipt-scan-page-1.jpg through receipt-scan-page-3.jpg. They all sit in one folder called images inside the zip, which means a whole batch stays sorted by document when you list them.
Is there a limit on pages or file size for one file?
No limit is imposed on a single file. The practical limit is your own device, since a phone rendering fifty pages at 300 dpi will run out of memory before a laptop does. The ceiling above applies to a folder, where the tool is holding all of the results at once.