See what a PDF really is: its version, save history, security handler, page boxes, fonts, forms and scripts.
PDF Inspector
See what a PDF really is: its version, save history, security handler, page boxes, fonts, forms and scripts.
The file is read byte by byte in this tab to build the report, and the report only leaves the page when you copy or download it. Nothing about the document is uploaded.
Two files that look identical on screen can behave completely differently: one is a single clean save, the other has eight updates stacked on the original, a stale fast-web-view header and a font nobody else has. This reads the raw bytes and the object graph together — the %PDF header against the catalog version, the end-of-file markers that betray each incremental save, whether the cross-reference is a classic table or a compressed stream, the encryption dictionary and its permission bits — then lays out page boxes, fonts, images, forms, annotations, bookmarks, attachments, layers and scripts in one report. It happens on your device, and whatever could not be read is listed rather than guessed.
Features
Version from the header and from the catalog, with a note when an update raised it
Save history: end-of-file markers, incremental saves, and whether fast web view is still intact
Security handler, cipher and key size, with every permission bit decoded and named
Page sizes grouped by paper name and millimetres, plus rotations, UserUnit scaling and any trim, bleed or art box
Fonts with their embedding state, unique images, form fields by type and annotations by subtype
Bookmarks, attachments by name, optional-content layers and the places JavaScript hides
PDF/A and PDF/UA claims read from the XMP packet, alongside tagging and the structure tree
The whole report copied or downloaded as JSON for a ticket or a pre-flight check
How to use the PDF Inspector
Drop the PDF onto the page
Read the badge strip for the headline facts — version, pages, standards, encryption, updates
Work down the Document, Security, Pages and Content cards for the detail
Copy or download the JSON when the findings have to go somewhere else
The badge strip summarises; the four cards below explain each claim.
Common errors & troubleshooting
The document information is empty although a reader shows a title. — Those strings are encrypted. Structure, page sizes, fonts and permissions sit outside the encrypted parts and still read, but text values do not — remove the password with Decrypt PDF and inspect it again.
It shows PDF/A-2b but our validator rejects the file. — That badge is the claim the XMP packet makes, not a verdict. Nothing here re-checks the colour spaces, fonts and transparency rules a conformance test covers, so treat it as a claim to verify.
The document catalog could not be found. — In an encrypted file it usually sits inside a compressed object stream, which will not open without the password. Every byte-level fact above it — version, save history, cross-reference kind — is still accurate.
Fewer objects are reported than another tool counts. — Malformed objects are counted separately and their contents left out of the report rather than invented. Repair PDF can rebuild a file whose objects will not parse.
Frequently asked questions
What does “3 incremental updates” tell me about a document?
That it has been saved three times on top of the original rather than rewritten. Earlier states are still present in the bytes, so content that was later covered over may be recoverable, and the file is larger than it needs to be.
Is linearisation the same as being optimised for the web?
Yes. A linearised file front-loads the first page so a reader can show it before the rest arrives. This also checks whether it is still intact: an incremental save leaves the header behind, and readers then load the whole file anyway.
Why are permissions shown as allowed when the file still will not let me copy?
Permission bits are a request to the reader, not a lock on the content. They are decoded here exactly as the security handler stores them; whether any given viewer honours them is up to that viewer.
Can the report tell me whether a page is vector or a scan?
Reliably in practice: a page with no fonts and one large image is a scan. The Content card gives the font count and the unique images, which is enough to separate a born-digital page from a photographed one.
What is a hybrid cross-reference section?
A file that carries both a classic table and a compressed stream, so old and new readers can each find the objects. It is normal in documents saved for the widest compatibility.
Related tools
PDF Metadata Editor — View, edit or strip a PDF’s title, author, subject, keywords and producer.
PDF Font Finder — List every font a PDF uses, which pages use it and whether it is embedded.
Extract Links from PDF — Collect every clickable link and written URL in a PDF, with page numbers, as CSV.
PDF Privacy Scanner — Find the metadata and personal data hiding inside a PDF.
Remove PDF Restrictions — See which actions a PDF blocks and lift the permission flags on a file you own.
Repair PDF — Diagnose a broken PDF and rebuild what can be recovered.
PDF Attachments — List, extract, add or remove the files embedded inside a PDF.
PDF Bookmark Editor — Add, rename, nest and reorder the bookmarks in a PDF, or generate them from headings.
More PDF tools
Image to PDF — Combine images into a single PDF (auto / portrait / landscape).
PDF to Images — Render PDF pages to PNG or JPG images you can download.
Merge PDFs — Combine multiple PDFs into one, with reordering.
Split PDF — Extract pages or ranges (e.g. 1-3,5,7-9) into a new PDF.
Rotate PDF — Rotate all pages or a selection by 90/180/270°.
Organize PDF — Reorder, rotate and delete pages from thumbnails, then export.
Add Page Numbers — Stamp page numbers onto a PDF (position, format, start).
Watermark PDF — Add a diagonal text watermark to every page.
Crop PDF — Trim margins from every page via the crop box.
PDF to Text — Extract selectable text from a PDF as plain text or Markdown.
Compare PDFs — Diff the extracted text of two PDFs line-by-line.
Encrypt PDF — Password-protect a PDF with AES-256 or RC4 encryption.
Decrypt PDF — Remove password protection from an encrypted PDF.
Compress PDF — Shrink a PDF by re-rendering each page to a JPEG at a chosen quality and resolution.
PDF Metadata Editor — View, edit or strip a PDF’s title, author, subject, keywords and producer.
Resize PDF — Rescale every PDF page to A4, Letter or another standard size, content centred.
Flatten PDF — Lock filled form fields into the page so a PDF looks the same everywhere.
PDF N-up — Print 2, 4, 9 or 16 pages per sheet, with a booklet option for folding.
Interleave PDF Pages — Merge odd and even scan passes back into one document, reversing if needed.
PDF to Single Long Page — Stack every page onto one continuous sheet you scroll instead of paging.
PDF Form Data Extractor — Pull the answers out of a filled PDF form as JSON or CSV, field by field.
Blank Page Remover — Find and delete blank pages from a scan, with a tolerance you control.
Text to PDF — Turn typed or pasted text into a paginated, downloadable PDF.
Markdown to PDF — Render Markdown — headings, lists, tables and code — as a PDF.