PDF Offline Studio Help

Open a PDF

1. On the home screen, tap Open a PDF.
2. Pick the file — from iCloud Drive, Downloads, or anywhere the Files app can reach.
3. It opens to read. Scroll through it, pinch to zoom, and use the buttons along the bottom to fill, mark up or organise it.

You can also send a PDF to the app from another one: in Mail or Files, tap Share and choose PDF Offline Studio. On a Mac, drag a PDF onto the app's window.

Save or share your work

1. Tap Save at the top right.
2. Choose Save to Files to keep a copy, Share to send it (Mail, Messages, AirDrop…), or Save with a password to lock the copy.

The app doesn't keep documents. Files you open are copied into a temporary workspace that is wiped every time the app starts — so save anything you want to keep.

Print

1. With the document open, tap the Print button at the top. On a phone it's inside ⋯ (More tools).
2. Choose your printer in the print panel.

If you've drawn, written or signed on the page, tap Apply first — the app asks you to, so marks aren't left off the printout.

“You have a file that was never saved”

If the app closed while a document still had changes, it offers that document the next time it starts. Choose Save to Files or Share to keep it, or Discard to delete it. Because the app keeps nothing, anything not saved there is gone.

Merge PDFs into one

1. On the home screen, tap Merge and pick two or more PDFs.
2. Drag the files into the order you want.
3. Tap Merge n files, then Save.

If one of the files has a password, you'll be asked for it once. Cancel, and nothing is merged.

Split a PDF into several files

1. Tap Split and pick the PDF. It opens cut at every page.
2. Use Every page, Every 2, Every 5 … or tap Clear and then the gaps between pages to cut exactly where you want.
3. Tap Split into n files.
4. Save one part with Save this one, all of them with Save all as .zip, or send them with Share all.

Keep only some pages

1. Tap Extract and pick the PDF.
2. Tap the pages you want to keep.
3. Tap Keep n pages, then Save.

Delete pages

1. Tap Delete and pick the PDF.
2. Tap the pages to remove, then Delete n pages.
3. Save. Until you leave the document, Undo brings the pages back.

Rotate pages

1. Tap Rotate and pick the PDF.
2. Tap the pages that are the wrong way round, then Rotate n pages and choose 90°, 180° or 270°.
3. Save.

Put pages in a new order

1. Tap Reorder and pick the PDF.
2. Press and hold a page, then drag it to its new place.
3. Tap Apply new order, then Save.

See every page at once

With a document open, tap All pages. From the grid you can tap a page to jump to it, or switch between Extract, Delete, Rotate and Reorder without starting again.

Fill in a form

1. Open the PDF. If it has form fields, the first button along the bottom is called Fill — make sure it's selected.
2. Tap a field and type, or tap a tick box or a choice.
3. Tap Next field to move on, or Done when you're finished.
4. Save. The values are saved into the form's own fields, so other apps can read and change them.

No Fill button? Then the PDF has no real form fields — it's a picture of a form. Use Text to type onto it instead.

Sign a document

1. Open the PDF and tap Sign along the bottom.
2. Sign with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse, then tap Use signature.
3. Tap the page where it should go. To move or resize it afterwards, use Select.
4. Tap Apply, then Save.

Turn on Remember this signature to reuse it. It's kept in your device's encrypted keychain — never as a file, and never uploaded.

Draw on a page

1. Tap Draw along the bottom.
2. Draw with one finger. Use two fingers to scroll or zoom while the pen is out.
3. Tap Apply to add your marks to the document, then Save.

Highlight text

1. Tap Highlight and drag across what you want to highlight.
2. Tap Apply, then Save.

Type text onto a page

1. Tap Text, then tap the page where the text should go.
2. Type, and press Return or Add to keep it.
3. Tap Apply, then Save.

Move, resize or delete a mark

1. Tap Select and drag a box around the mark.
2. Drag it to move it, pinch to resize it, or tap Delete.

After Apply, one Undo takes back everything that Apply added.

Add a watermark

1. Tap Watermark and pick the PDF.
2. Type the text, and choose Once, centred or Tiled (repeated across the page, harder to crop out) and how strong it should be.
3. Tap Apply to every page, then Save.

Stamp a document

1. Tap Stamp and pick the PDF.
2. Choose a stamp — Draft, Confidential, Approved and more — or Make your own with your own words and colours — and where it goes.
3. Tap Apply to every page, then Save.

A stamp you make is kept on your device for next time.

Number the pages

1. Tap Page numbers and pick the PDF.
2. Choose where they go and the number to start at. Turn on Skip the first page for documents with a cover.
3. Tap Apply to every page, then Save.

Make forms and comments permanent (Flatten)

Filled-in form fields, comments and highlights — including ones added in other apps like Preview or Acrobat — are separate objects in the file, so whoever you send it to could change or delete them. Flatten PDF makes them part of the page itself, the way ink is part of paper.

1. Tap Flatten PDF (or choose it from ⋯ with the document open).
2. Tap Flatten PDF, then Save.

The text stays selectable and searchable, and the file stays about the same size. Marks you add in this app with Apply are already part of the page — you don't need to flatten them.

Remove sensitive information (Redact)

1. Tap Redact and pick the PDF (or choose it from ⋯ with the document open).
2. Drag a box over everything that should go. Choose Bar (black) or Erase (white).
3. Tap Redact n areas and confirm with Remove.
4. Save.

Redact removes what's under the boxes — it isn't just covered up. Only the pages with boxes change, and the rest of their text stays searchable. Hidden copies of text a PDF can carry (document details, attachments) are removed too, and so are bookmarks. Don't use Draw for this: a drawn black box sits on top, and anyone can still select and copy the text underneath.

Add a password

1. Tap Lock and pick the PDF — or open any document.
2. Tap Save, then Save with a password.
3. Type the password and tap Protect.

Keep the password somewhere safe: there is no way to recover it from the file, and the app never stores it.

Remove a password you know

1. Tap Unlock and pick the PDF.
2. Type its password. The copy you're working on no longer has one.
3. Save to keep that unlocked copy.

Why does it ask for the password every time?

On purpose. A password you type is used to open the file and forgotten straight afterwards — it is never written to disk and there is nowhere for it to be sent.

Make a PDF smaller (Compress)

1. Tap Compress and pick the PDF.
2. Choose Smallest, Balanced or Best quality.
3. Tap Compress, then Save.

Compress rebuilds each page as a picture, which is where the saving comes from — so text in a compressed copy can't be selected or searched. Scans and photos shrink the most; if a file is already small, the app says so and changes nothing.

Turn photos or scans into a PDF

1. Tap Images to PDF, choose Photos or Files, and pick your images. On iPhone and iPad you can also choose Scan documents to photograph paper pages with the camera: each page is found, straightened and cropped for you.
2. Drag them into order. Add more images adds more.
3. Choose Fit to image (each page the shape of its picture) or Paper size (every page A4 or Letter, best for printing).
4. Tap Make a PDF of n pages, then Save.

JPEG photos go in exactly as they are, with no loss of quality, and portrait photos come out the right way up. What a photo carries besides the picture (where and when it was taken, and which phone took it) is left out of the PDF. Scanning happens on your device, and the camera is used for nothing else.

Turn a PDF into images

1. Tap PDF to images and pick the PDF.
2. Choose JPEG (smaller, for scans and photos) or PNG (lossless, for text and diagrams), and a size.
3. Tap Convert to images, then Share them or Save zip.

Make a scan searchable (OCR)

1. Tap Make searchable and pick the PDF (or choose it from ⋯ with the document open).
2. The app reads each scanned page on your device and adds the words it finds, invisibly, on top of the page.
3. Save. Find, select and copy now work on the scan.

Pages that already have text are left alone, and the pictures aren't changed. Reading uses Apple's on-device text recognition, so nothing is uploaded. iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Translate a document

1. With the document open, choose Translate from ⋯ (or tap the Translate tool and pick a PDF).
2. Check From — the document's language is recognised for you, and you can change it — and pick the language to translate Into.
3. Tap Translate PDF. Every page is rewritten in the new language, in the same places, sizes and colours. Photos, logos, lines and tables stay exactly as they were; where a translation runs longer, its text is set a little smaller so it still fits.
4. The translation arrives as a new version of the document: Save keeps it, Undo brings the original back. You can select, search and copy the translated text.
5. Some pages have no room for a longer language — a table, a busy form. For those, and any time you'd rather just read: ⋯ → Easy to read gives the same translation as a clean document, in reading order, with its headings, paragraphs and lists. It opens beside the translated one, and the message at the end of every translation has a button for it too.

Translation is Apple's and runs on your device; the text never leaves it. The first time you use a language, your iPhone or Mac may offer to download it — that comes from Apple, not from this app. Needs iOS 18 or macOS 15. Documents can be translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Indonesian and Vietnamese. Scanned pages are read first, on your device, so their text is translated too — it takes a second or two per page. Text in a logo or photo stays as it is.

Word, Excel or PowerPoint?

The app can't turn a PDF into an editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint file. Doing that well takes a converter far too large for a phone, so every app that offers it sends your document to a server — and this app is built without any permission to reach the internet. If you need one, use a converter you already trust, and read what it says about your files first.

Find a word

1. With a document open, tap Find (or press ⌘ F).
2. Type the word. Use the arrows to go to the next or previous match.

Find only works on real text. A scanned page is a picture until you use Make searchable.

Jump to a page

Tap the page number (for example 3 / 12), slide to the page you want and tap Go. Or tap All pages and tap the page.

Keep your favourite tools at the top

On the home screen, press and hold a tool to add it to Favourites. Press and hold it again to remove it.

Change the language

Tap the globe icon at the top of the home screen and pick a language: English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano or Português — or Same as your device.

Keyboard shortcuts (Mac, and iPad with a keyboard)

• ⌘ F Find · Esc close Find or cancel
• ⌘ S Save · ⌘ P Print · ⌘ Z Undo
• ⌘ + / ⌘ − Zoom in and out

I can't type into a form

Make sure Fill is selected along the bottom — while Draw, Text or another tool is chosen, taps go to that tool instead. If there's no Fill button at all, the PDF has no real form fields; use Text to type onto it.

My signature or drawing is hidden behind a form field

Some viewers draw form fields on top of everything else on the page. So when a mark overlaps a field, Apply asks what to do: Lock the form merges the filled-in fields into the page, so your marks show on top everywhere — but the form can't be filled in again. Keep it fillable leaves it a form. Already applied? Use Flatten PDF.

The person I sent it to can move my signature

Until a document is flattened, marks are separate objects that other apps can select. Use Flatten PDF before sending.

I drew a black box, but the text is still there

Drawing covers text; it doesn't remove it. Use Redact, which removes what's under the box.

A file won't open

If the app says the file doesn't look like a readable PDF, it's usually a download that didn't finish, or a file named .pdf that is really something else. Try downloading it again. Locked files ask for their password — see why every time.

Compress didn't make it smaller

Mostly-text PDFs are already compact, and the app won't hand back a file that came out bigger. Scans and photos shrink the most. Try Smallest.

I can't select or search text any more

Compress, and Flatten set to Rebuild as pictures, turn pages into pictures — that is how they work. Keep the original if you'll need the text. Redact and Flatten (Keep the text) keep it searchable. A scanned document has never had text: use Make searchable.

Where did my file go?

The app keeps nothing between sessions: its workspace is wiped every time it starts. Your original file is never changed — the edited copy is wherever you saved it with Save to Files.

Does the app use the internet?

No. It's built without permission to reach the network at all, so it can't send a document anywhere, even by mistake. Links like Rate or More apps open your browser; the language packs Translate may need are downloaded by iOS or macOS, not by the app. The app itself still makes no connections.

Email me

Vuolt is one person, so replies come straight from me. It helps to include your device, its iOS or macOS version, and what happened.