Create a PDF Workflow – Chain PDF Tools and Reuse the Sequence

A PDF workflow for the jobs you repeat

Plenty of PDF work is several small jobs in a fixed order: join the files, bring the size under a limit, add page numbers, lock the result. Done by hand, that is a visit to four tools and four downloads, and it comes round again next week. A PDF workflow lets you chain PDF tools into one saved sequence. You upload once, press one button, and download the finished file.

This page is for people who repeat the same job: a clerk who prepares a weekly client pack, a student assembling exam application documents, an office that must watermark and number every report. It automates the steps. It does not watch folders or run on a timer, and it works on one set of files at a time.

How to create a workflow

1. 1
   Press Add a step. A list opens in three groups: Start from something other than a PDF, Work on the PDF, and Finish and hand it back. Click a step to add it to the chain.
2. 2
   Add the next steps in the order they should run. Use the up and down arrows on a step to reorder it, or the cross to remove it. A step that cannot follow the one above it is greyed out.
3. 3
   Open the gear on a step to set it up, for example the size limit for compression or the watermark text.
4. 4
   Type a Workflow name and press Save. The button reads Update once the workflow has been saved.
5. 5
   In the Run it panel, drop in the files the first step expects. If a step needs a password or a signature image, a field for it appears there.
6. 6
   Press the run button, which reads Run followed by the number of steps. Watch each step move from waiting to working to done.
7. 7
   Download the result. If the chain produces several files, Download all as ZIP bundles them.

How a chain runs

Every step is the same engine that powers the matching single-tool page, so a Compress step behaves exactly like the compress tool and a Watermark step like the watermark tool. The chain feeds each step the PDF that the previous step produced. Nothing is saved to disk in between, and no intermediate files appear in your downloads.

If a step fails, the run stops and the message names it, for example Step 2 followed by the step's label and the reason. That makes a five-step chain far easier to debug than a download that simply does not appear.

When the last step still returns a PDF, the download is named after your first upload with -workflow.pdf added. Finish steps keep the names their own tools use, such as protected.pdf.

The three kinds of step and the order rules

The rules come from the file formats, not from preference. A start step turns something that is not a single PDF into one, so it can only open the chain. A finish step hands back something that is not an editable PDF, such as an encrypted file, a Word document or a set of images, so nothing could carry on after it.

A worked example: the Monday client pack

Each Monday you receive three PDFs for one client: a 4-page invoice, a 6-page statement and a 2-page cover note. The portal accepts a single file under 2 MB, and the client insists on a password. Build the chain Merge PDFs, then Compress to a size, then Password protect, which is also one of the ready-made starting points.

Open the gear on the compress step and set the target to 2 and the unit to MB. Type a name such as Monday client pack and press Save. In the Run it panel add the three files, enter the password in the masked box for the protect step and press Run 3 steps. Merging gives 4 + 6 + 2 = 12 pages in the order shown. The compress step shrinks that document towards the limit, and the protect step encrypts it. You download protected.pdf. Next Monday, load the workflow, add three new files and type the password again.

One caution on the middle step: when a lossless squeeze is not enough, Compress to a size can rasterise pages to reach the target, which makes the text unselectable. If the client needs searchable text, aim for a size the first pass can reach.

Planning a chain before you build it

Start from the end and work backwards. Decide what the recipient needs: one PDF, a Word file, a set of images. That tells you which finish step, if any, the chain closes with. Then ask what the input looks like on a normal week. A pile of PDFs points to Merge PDFs at the front, photographs point to an image step, and a single report needs no start step at all.

Between the two ends, list only the steps that change the file in a way you would otherwise do by hand. Two or three well-chosen steps beat a long chain, because every extra step is one more place for a bad input to fail. If a step only matters for some files, leave it out and run that tool separately.

Everyday chains people build

• Scanner output: Repair, Rotate, then Compress, so a stack of awkward scans becomes a tidy upload.
• Exam application packs: Images to PDF followed by Compress to a size, for portals with a hard limit.
• Reports: Watermark, Page numbers, then Compress before circulation.
• Records for sharing: Remove restrictions, Compress, then Password protect.
• Handouts: Keep only some pages, then Page numbers.

Saving, reusing and moving workflows

Saved workflows live in your browser's local storage, because nothing is uploaded and there is no account to attach them to. Your list shows each workflow's steps and how many times you have run it. Load puts one back into the builder, the copy icon duplicates it, the download icon exports it and the bin deletes it.

Clearing site data removes the list, and a private window may not keep it at all. To keep a copy or move a workflow to another computer, export it. That writes a small file ending in .workflow.json, and Import a workflow file reads it back. Steps the importing version cannot run are dropped.

Passwords and signatures are never saved

A saved password in plain text would defeat the point of encrypting a file, so the password fields of a protect step are blanked on their way into storage and into an exported file. You type the password in the Run it panel each time, and the run is stopped if it is still blank. A signature image is likewise chosen at run time and never stored.

The Unlock with a password step works a little differently: its password is not requested in the Run it panel, so enter it in that step's own settings before every run.

Ready-made starting points

• Merge, shrink and lock: several PDFs into one file, under a size limit, behind a password.
• Phone photos to an upload-ready PDF: images into one PDF that clears a 500 KB limit.
• Finish a report: a CONFIDENTIAL watermark, page numbers, then compression.
• Word straight to a locked PDF: convert a .docx, compress it, then password protect it.
• Rescue and convert: repair a troublesome PDF, then produce an editable Word file.

Loading a template drops its steps into the builder, where every setting can still be changed.

Tips for building reliable chains

• Put Repair first for files from scanners or old systems, and Unlock or Remove restrictions first for locked sources.
• Run steps that add content, such as a watermark or page numbers, before the step that squeezes the size.
• Put Password protect last. The builder will not let anything follow it.
• Test a new chain on a small copy before trusting it with the real files.
• Read the notes that appear after a run. Each step reports what it did.
• Export workflows you rely on, so clearing the browser cannot take them with it.

Mistakes and misunderstandings

• Expecting batch processing. A chain that starts from a PDF takes one file per run. Only Merge PDFs and the image steps accept many.
• Adding Merge in the middle. By then there is only one file, so merging has to open the chain.
• Chasing a step after a finish step. Once a step produces Word, images or an encrypted file, the chain is over.
• Forgetting that a Merge chain needs at least two PDFs, or that the first step decides which file types are accepted.
• Treating the Fill form fields step as a bulk filler. Its values box takes one name=value pair.

Limits and honest limitations

Each step inherits the limits of its tool, including the 100 MB and 500-page guards, so a long chain does not get around them. A chain is not a scripting language: there is no branching, no looping and no scheduling, and you cannot run it unattended. Some tools are not available as steps, and a few that are, such as Redact areas, take typed settings instead of a visual picker.

Everything runs in one browser tab, so large files and long chains use real memory and time. If the browser runs out, the run stops with a message rather than producing a partial result.

Your files never leave the device

Nearly every step runs in the page, on your computer. The files you drop in, the intermediate results and the finished download stay local, and the only thing saved is your list of steps and their settings. The one exception is the finish step called Rebuild for archiving. It belongs to the PDF/A tool, which hands the file to a separate conversion service, so keep that step out of chains that handle sensitive documents.

Tools you can chain

The usual building blocks are the single tools you already know: merge several PDFs, compress to a target size, repair a damaged file, add page numbers and rotate the pages. Starting from photographs, images to PDF opens a chain, and if the goal is simply a locked file you can protect a PDF on its own.