# Novus PDF Studio > Free, browser-local PDF tools and a full PDF form editor at https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com. Every operation (merging, splitting, organizing, rotating, numbering, encrypting, unlocking, filling, signing, highlighting, and exporting) runs inside the user's own browser tab. Documents and passwords are never uploaded to a server, because there is no server that receives them. No accounts, watermarks, or usage limits; the site is funded by advertising. Installable as a Progressive Web App, after which the editor and tools open offline with local files. - [Novus PDF Studio](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com): Home: the twelve browser-local PDF tools, the fill-and-sign editor, and how local processing keeps documents on your device. - [Full page text (llms-full.txt)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/llms-full.txt): every tool page and blog post in full, as one markdown file. - [sitemap.xml](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/sitemap.xml): the machine-readable URL set, generated from the same registry as this file. ## Editor - [PDF Editor](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/editor): Fill, sign, highlight, white-out, and export any PDF. An AI scan detects form fields (including values already filled in); manual tools cover everything the scan cannot. Password-protected files open with your password, locally. - [Sign a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/sign-pdf): Draw an electronic signature and place it on any PDF in the browser, with the distinction between an electronic signature (what this does) and a certificate-backed digital signature (what it cannot do) stated up front, plus the eight questions people actually search for. - [Create a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/create): Build a PDF from a blank page: paper size, orientation and per-edge margins, headings and paragraphs, measured tables, vector boxes and lines, page numbering, and 8 starting templates. Exports selectable text in the browser. - [About](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/about): Why the whole product runs in the browser, how a free advertising-funded model works without a paid tier, what it deliberately does not do, and who builds it in London, Ontario. - [Features](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/features): Every capability in one place (the standalone tools, the editor's fill, sign, mark, highlight and erase workflows) with explicit limits, including recoverable Cover mode and the document-structure trade-offs of page-rasterizing Remove mode. - [Tool map](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tool-map): A complete index of every page on the site, generated from the same route registry as the sitemap so it cannot drift: tools, editor, guides, tutorials, FAQs, articles, support and legal. ## Tools Twelve single-purpose workspaces. Each does one job, keeps the file on the device, and produces a real downloadable result. - [PDF tools hub](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools): All twelve single-purpose PDF tools, a which-tool-for-which-job guide, size and format limits, and what happens to a file while it is processed. - [Merge PDF files](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/merge-pdf): Combine and reorder PDF pages into one document, free and entirely in your browser. Preview every page before merging and download instantly. No uploads, accounts, or watermarks. - [Split and extract PDF pages](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/split-pdf): Extract exact pages or ranges from a PDF free in your browser: click pages in the preview or type ranges like 1-3,5. Download one combined PDF or separate files in a ZIP. No uploads. - [Organize PDF pages](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/organize-pdf): Reorder, rotate, duplicate, and delete PDF pages visually: free, in your browser, with drag-and-drop thumbnails. The exported PDF matches exactly what you see. No uploads or accounts. - [Rotate PDF pages](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/rotate-pdf): Rotate PDF pages 90° left or right or a full 180°: every page, odd/even pages, typed ranges, or pages you click. Free, browser-local, lossless. No uploads or watermarks. - [Add PDF page numbers](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/page-numbers): Stamp page numbers onto a PDF free in your browser: choose the corner, format (1, Page 1, 1 of N), starting number, size, margin, and color, with a live preview on every page. No uploads. - [Password protect a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/protect-pdf): Password-protect a PDF with real AES-256 encryption, free and fully in your browser: set open and owner passwords and viewer permissions for printing, copying, and editing. Passwords never leave your device. - [Unlock a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/unlock-pdf): Remove password protection from a PDF you're authorized to modify: free, in your browser, with the password used only in memory. The unlocked copy is verified to open without credentials. - [Compress and optimize a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/compress-pdf): Compress a PDF locally with lossless structural cleanup or an optional raster mode with explicit DPI and quality controls. No upload, account, or watermark. - [Flatten PDF form fields](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/flatten-pdf): Flatten PDF form fields locally by baking their current appearances into the page. Create a stable sharing copy without uploading the document. - [Convert PDF pages to images](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/pdf-to-images): Convert each PDF page to PNG or JPEG locally, choose output DPI and quality, and download a single image or ZIP without uploading the file. - [Convert images to a PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/images-to-pdf): Combine PNG and JPEG images into one ordered PDF locally. Choose automatic, A4, or Letter pages plus contain or cover fitting. - [Recognize text in a scanned PDF](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tools/ocr-pdf): Run local OCR on scanned PDF pages in English, French, or Spanish and add a searchable invisible text layer without uploading the document. ## Guides and help - [How it works](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/how-it-works): The upload → scan → refine → export workflow, and what runs where. - [Learn centre](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/learn): Every guide, mini tutorial, shortcut, FAQ answer and workflow step in one list, filtered by the task you are doing, how familiar you are, and the kind of help you want. - [Guides](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/guides): Step-by-step walkthroughs covering creating a PDF from a blank page, building a form people can fill in, the power tools, government forms, signing and exporting, clean highlighting and erasing, fixing AI scan misses, and installing for offline use, each with the reason it exists and the mistake to avoid. - [Mini tutorials](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/tutorials): Short task walkthroughs (15–60 seconds each) covering all twelve tools, every editor action, and every job in the creation zone (page setup, blocks, images, rules, numbering and export), most carrying a note on the gotcha behind the steps. - [FAQ](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/faq): Answers on privacy, encryption, the AI scan, exports, file sizes, browser support, building a PDF from scratch (including what the creation zone cannot do yet), and the free advertising-funded model. - [Search](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/search): Search every page at once (the PDF tools, guides, tutorials, FAQ and articles) against an index built at deploy time and queried entirely in the browser. - [Changelog](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/changelog): Every shipped release, newest first, grouped into new / improved / fixed. ## Blog - [Blog](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog): Long-form guides to the editor, the browser-local tools, PDF security, and document workflows. ### PDF Basics Plain-English explainers of how PDFs actually work. - [PDF vs Word: When to Use Each (and How to Hand Off Between Them)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/pdf-vs-word-when-to-use-each): PDF or Word? One is for finishing and sending, the other for drafting and collaborating. Here's a clear rule for choosing, plus how to draft, export, and fill or sign without ever losing control of your file. _(Jul 19, 2026 · 10 min read)_ - [What Is a PDF? A Plain-English Guide to the Format That Runs the Business World](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/what-is-a-pdf): What a PDF actually is, why it looks identical everywhere, what lives inside the file, and which free browser-local tool to reach for when you need to change one. _(Jul 16, 2026 · 6 min read)_ ### Tool Guides Step-by-step how-tos for the browser-local PDF tools. - [How to Compress a PDF in Your Browser Without Uploading It](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/compress-pdf-without-uploading): Choose between a structure-preserving cleanup and a smaller raster copy, understand exactly what each mode keeps, and verify the result without sending the PDF to a server. _(Aug 20, 2026 · 6 min read)_ - [PDF to Images and Images to PDF: Which Workflow Should You Use?](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/pdf-to-images-and-images-to-pdf): Use PDF-to-images when you need pixels from each page and images-to-PDF when you need one ordered document. Compare formats, resolution, page fitting, and what survives each conversion. _(Aug 20, 2026 · 6 min read)_ - [Electronic vs Digital Signature: Which One a PDF Actually Needs](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/electronic-vs-digital-signature-pdf): “Sign this PDF” means two different things: your handwriting on the page, or a certificate bound to the file. How to tell which one a document is asking for, what Novus produces and what it cannot, and how to sign a document in the browser. _(Aug 8, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [Building a PDF From a Blank Page: What the Creation Zone Does and Does Not Do](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/build-a-pdf-from-a-blank-page): Every other tool here starts from a PDF you already have; the creation zone starts from nothing. The block model, the page setup, tables and shapes, the templates, and the limits worth knowing first, including why runs of spaces collapse in a text block. _(Aug 8, 2026 · 8 min read)_ - [How to Fill and Sign a Scanned PDF in Your Browser (No OCR Upload)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/edit-scanned-pdf-in-browser): Camera and scanner PDFs look finished but won't type. Learn why image-only pages aren't fillable forms, how to fix orientation, place fields and signatures by hand in Novus, and finish locally without uploading for OCR. _(Jul 28, 2026 · 5 min read)_ - [How Novus’s AI PDF Field Scan Works (and When to Fix It by Hand)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/how-ai-pdf-field-scan-works): See how Novus’s local field scan combines AcroForm widgets, drawn geometry, and text labels, when to trust the boxes, how to rescan and clean leftovers, and when manual placement is the better path. _(Jul 28, 2026 · 4 min read)_ - [Why Can't I Type in This PDF? How to Make a Static Form Fillable](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/make-non-fillable-pdf-fillable): Can't type into a PDF form? Learn why some fields are only lines on a page, then use Novus's local field scan and manual tools to make the form fillable, sign it, and export cleanly. _(Jul 26, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Reorder, Delete, Duplicate, and Organize PDF Pages](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/organize-reorder-pdf-pages): Clean up a PDF visually: drag pages into order, delete extras, duplicate templates, and rotate individual pages in one browser-local workspace before exporting the exact sequence you see. _(Jul 26, 2026 · 5 min read)_ - [The Complete Guide to the Novus Browser PDF Editor](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/the-complete-browser-pdf-editor-guide): A complete guide to the Novus browser PDF editor: AI field scan, filling, checkmarks, drawn signatures, highlighting, white-out, twelve tools, and vector export, all local. _(Jul 24, 2026 · 11 min read)_ - [How to Fill Out Any PDF Form Online, Free, in Your Browser](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/fill-pdf-forms-online): Fill out any PDF form free in your browser. The AI field scan finds text, number, and checkbox fields: type, tab through, and export clean PDFs, with nothing uploaded. _(Jul 24, 2026 · 8 min read)_ - [How to Sign a PDF Electronically for Free in Your Browser](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/sign-pdf-electronically): Sign any PDF for free in your browser with a real drawn signature: mouse, finger, or stylus. Place it on the line, add the date, and export. Nothing is uploaded. _(Jul 23, 2026 · 8 min read)_ - [How to Highlight and White-Out Text in a PDF (Free, In-Browser)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/highlight-and-white-out-pdf): Use the browser-local editor's text-aware highlighter and page-colored white-out to mark up or cover PDF text in seconds, plus the honest limit of erase. _(Jul 22, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Rotate a PDF and Fix Sideways or Upside-Down Scans](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/rotate-pdf-fix-sideways-scans): Scanned pages landing on their side or upside down? Learn why it happens and how to rotate a PDF losslessly in your browser: all, odd, even, ranged, or clicked pages. _(Jul 21, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Add Page Numbers to a PDF (Free, In Your Browser)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/add-page-numbers-to-pdf): Stamp clean, consistent page numbers onto any PDF free in your browser: pick the position, format, starting number, size, margin, and color. No uploads, no accounts. _(Jul 21, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Merge PDF Files in Your Browser (No Uploads, No Sign-Up)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/merge-pdf-in-browser): A step-by-step guide to combining PDFs entirely in your browser: reorder pages, handle password-protected files, and download a single document without uploading anything. _(Jul 16, 2026 · 4 min read)_ - [How to Split, Extract, and Organize PDF Pages Like a Pro](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/split-extract-organize-pdf-pages): Split a PDF by range, extract just the pages you need, and reorder, rotate, or delete pages, all locally in your browser. Learn which tool fits each job. _(Jul 16, 2026 · 3 min read)_ ### Security & Privacy Protecting, encrypting, and privately handling documents. - [What a Browser PDF App Actually Stores on Your Device](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/what-a-pdf-app-stores-on-your-device): An installable PDF editor caches files to work offline, but which files? A named inventory of everything Novus PDF Studio writes to your browser, what it deliberately never writes, and how to inspect and clear it yourself. _(Jul 31, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [Is It Safe to Edit a PDF Online? What Browser-Local Processing Changes](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-edit-pdf-online): Learn what online PDF editors can see, how browser-local processing keeps files, passwords, and signatures on your device, and what to check before handling a sensitive document. _(Jul 27, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Password-Protect a PDF with AES-256 Encryption](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/password-protect-pdf-aes-256): Encrypt a PDF locally with AES-256, set separate open and owner passwords, choose viewer permissions, verify the result, and share the password without exposing the document. _(Jul 25, 2026 · 6 min read)_ - [How to Redact Sensitive Info in a PDF (and the Truth About Cover Boxes)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/redact-sensitive-info-in-pdf): A black box over text isn't redaction. Here's the honest truth about erase/white-out in PDFs, the only reliable ways to remove sensitive data, and how to lock files with AES-256. _(Jul 22, 2026 · 8 min read)_ - [How to Unlock a Password-Protected PDF You're Allowed to Open](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/unlock-password-protected-pdf): Remove the password from a PDF you're authorized to open. Learn how open and owner passwords differ, and unlock files locally in your browser. Nothing is ever uploaded. _(Jul 20, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [PDF Security 101: How to Password-Protect, Unlock, and Share PDFs Safely](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/pdf-security-101): The two kinds of PDF passwords, how AES-256 encryption works, how to protect or unlock a document you own, and why browser-local processing matters for sensitive files. _(Jul 16, 2026 · 4 min read)_ ### Productivity & Workflows Faster document routines and repeatable workflows. - [Install Novus PDF Studio as an App and Work Offline](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/install-pdf-editor-as-an-app): Novus PDF Studio installs from the browser as a standalone app. Learn how to add it on Chrome, Edge, Android, and iOS, exactly which parts keep working with the network off, and the limits worth knowing before you lose signal. _(Jul 31, 2026 · 7 min read)_ - [How to Build a Professional PDF Submission Packet](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/build-professional-pdf-submission-packet): Turn forms, attachments, scans, and signatures into one polished PDF packet: rotate, merge, organize, fill, number, verify, and protect it locally in the right order. _(Jul 27, 2026 · 6 min read)_ - [Fill and Sign a Government Form (Without a Printer or an Upload)](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/fill-and-sign-a-government-form): A start-to-finish walkthrough of filling and signing a dense benefits, tax, or immigration form entirely in your browser: auto-scan, Tab through fields, draw a real signature, and keep every private detail on your own machine. _(Jul 24, 2026 · 10 min read)_ - [10 PDF Productivity Tips to Tame Your Document Workflow](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/blog/pdf-productivity-tips): Ten small habits (numbering, merging, splitting, rotating, protecting, and batching) that turn a messy pile of PDFs into a fast, repeatable, browser-local workflow. _(Jul 16, 2026 · 3 min read)_ ## Company and policies - [Contact](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/contact): pdf@novusstreamsolutions.com: response times by request type, what to include in a bug report for each tool, and what support can and cannot do given zero server-side access to your files. - [MCP server](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/mcp-server): The Model Context Protocol endpoint for AI clients: the address, how to add it to a client, every tool it exposes, and why it cannot touch a document. - [Accessibility](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/accessibility): Keyboard operation, screen-reader support, contrast and reduced-motion commitments against WCAG 2.2 AA, plus an honest list of the barriers that remain, including untagged exports and scanned-image PDFs. - [Security](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/security): Local-only processing, AES-256 encryption applied in the browser, the difference between enforced encryption and advisory permission flags, why erasing is not redaction, and how to report a vulnerability. - [Editorial policy](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/editorial-policy): How the Novus Stream Solutions Editorial Team verifies product claims, uses primary sources, discloses AI assistance, records substantive revisions, organizes topic clusters, and handles corrections. - [Press kit](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/press): Boilerplate at three lengths, verified product facts, brand mark and colours, and the claims we ask writers not to make, including calling the erase tool redaction. - [Social accounts](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/social): Every account Novus Stream Solutions runs, 23 of them, with the handle for each. The same list this site's Organization markup asserts as sameAs, so the human-readable page and the machine-readable claim cannot disagree. - [AI access policy](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/ai-policy): The crawl policy in prose: the 19 AI agents named in robots.txt split into bulk crawlers and the AI browsers fetching for a reader who is waiting, why blocking the second kind would cost a visitor here something real, what a crawl of this site does and does not collect, and what attribution we ask for. Generated from the same list robots.txt is generated from. - [Languages](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/languages): Which of the 5 languages on the shared Novus list this site actually renders, which are reserved but not published (and therefore stated rather than linked), why a language belongs in the address instead of a cookie, and the separate question of what language your document can be in, including the 3 the OCR tool reads. - [Status](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/status): What can actually fail when every tool runs in your browser: site delivery is the only service on our side, and a self-check list maps common symptoms to where the fault really is. - [Privacy policy](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/privacy): Documents never leave the device. Optional Save on this device sessions use local IndexedDB only after a user action and never store passwords; Google Analytics is consent-gated and Google AdSense is not currently loaded. - [Terms of use](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/terms): Acceptable use, the authorized-document rule for the unlock tool, and the verify-before-submission expectation. - [Cookie preferences](https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/cookies): Every first-party cookie, local-storage key, service-worker cache and opt-in IndexedDB document store the site uses, plus analytics and advertising controls. ## For AI assistants and AI browsers There is an MCP server at https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/mcp (Model Context Protocol over Streamable HTTP: one stateless JSON-RPC POST, no authentication, no session; a GET returns 405 by design). It is deliberately not in the sitemap, it serves no page. **What it can do:** list every tool and workspace with what each accepts and produces, find the right one from a plain-language description of the job, return a tool's authored steps, stated limitations and URL, and search these guides, tutorials, FAQ answers and articles. **What it cannot do:** open, merge, split, sign, protect, unlock or export a PDF. Every tool here runs inside the visitor's own browser tab and there is no upload endpoint, so the server holds no document and no tool on it would accept one. It answers "which tool, what does it take, where is it"; a browser open at the URL it returns does the actual work. User-initiated fetchers (ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User, DuckAssistBot, MistralAI-User and Meta-ExternalFetcher) are named in the robots policy alongside the bulk crawlers. They are an AI fetching a page for a person who is waiting, and driving the real page is the only way an AI can finish a job this endpoint hands off. The whole policy, including what a crawl of this site collects, is at https://pdf.novusstreamsolutions.com/ai-policy. ## Optional Sibling apps from the same publisher. They are on other hosts and have their own llms.txt files, so skip this section if you only need PDF context. - [Novus Stream Solutions](https://novusstreamsolutions.com): The publisher behind Novus PDF Studio and every app listed here. - [Novus Convert](https://convert.novusstreamsolutions.com): Convert and compress documents, images, audio, and video in the browser, the closest companion to PDF Studio when a file arrives in the wrong format. - [NSS Background Remover](https://bgremover.novusstreamsolutions.com): Cut out backgrounds, upscale, and retouch images locally, useful for cleaning up a signature scan or a photo before it goes into a PDF. - [Novus Learn](https://learn.novusstreamsolutions.com): Turn an article, paper, URL, video, or textbook into cited study material and quizzes. - [Novus Examples](https://examples.novusstreamsolutions.com): Thousands of generated sample files with exact spec sheets, including PDFs to test a tool against before you use a real document. - [Novus Visualizers](https://visualizers.novusstreamsolutions.com): Turn a track into a beat-synced music video in the browser. - [Novus AI Stats](https://aistats.novusstreamsolutions.com): Track and analyze what you build with AI, local-first. - [Novus Restaurant](https://restaurant.novusstreamsolutions.com): Public food-market intelligence built from official data sources, with the provenance shown next to every observation. - [Novus Striker](https://striker.novusstreamsolutions.com): Arcade soccer that runs entirely in a browser tab.