New in PDF24 Tools: what changed in November

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Last updated on 13 November 2026

PDF24 Tools keep getting better, and many improvements come straight from your feedback. A lot has happened in the past few weeks: new options, smaller files, fewer clicks. As always, everything is free and needs no sign-up on tools.pdf24.org. We present the biggest changes in posts of their own:

And this is new as well:

PDF/A: choose the level you need

Authorities, courts and archives often ask for one particular PDF/A level. In PDF to PDF/A you can now choose PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b or PDF/A-3b under “PDF/A level”. If you don't want to decide, pick “Automatic (recommended)”: you get PDF/A-2b, or PDF/A-3b if your file has attachments, so the attachments are kept. The title, author and keywords of your file are kept as well; if they should not go into the archived version, tick “Remove document information”.

And PDF/A stays PDF/A: if you put a watermark or page numbers on a PDF/A-2b or PDF/A-3b file with Add watermark or Add page numbers, or combine two such files with Merge PDF, the result is now valid PDF/A wherever that is possible. Where it isn't, PDF24 removes the PDF/A identification instead of promising something the file no longer delivers. If you choose PDF/A-1b, text stays searchable and selectable on pages with transparent content too: PDF/A-1 does not allow transparency, so such pages are saved as an image with an invisible text layer. A note explains this right when you choose the level.

Your logo as a watermark

Add watermark now does images as well as text: set “Type” to “Image”, choose your logo and set its size, opacity, rotation and position. A PNG with a transparent background looks best. When you switch to “Image”, PDF24 now sets the rotation to 0°, so your logo sits straight on the page instead of slanted like a text watermark.

Several files straight into one PDF

A Word document, a few photos and a text file, and one PDF at the end? In Convert to PDF, tick “Combine into one PDF” when you add several files. Instead of a ZIP file full of PDFs you get one finished document. Also new in Pages per sheet: “Combine files first” puts the pages of several files onto the sheets together.

Halve pages from right to left

For books read from right to left, such as Arabic, Hebrew or Japanese, Halve PDF pages has the option “Right to left”: the right half comes first and the pages end up in the right order.

Excel to PDF: all columns on one page

Wide tables are no longer cut across several pages. Excel to PDF now picks the page orientation automatically: if a table doesn't fit the width of a portrait page, it is printed in landscape. You can also set the orientation yourself, and “All columns on one page” shrinks each table so that all its columns fit side by side.

Webpage to PDF: without cookie banners, in A4

No more consent pop-ups covering half the article: Webpage to PDF now hides cookie and consent banners before the page becomes a PDF. The page also comes out in A4 instead of US Letter, and it is fetched in the language of the tool page you are using.

Long screenshots spread over A4 pages

A screenshot of a whole web page, a long chat or a till receipt: such very long images used to become one page several metres long. If you choose a page size such as A4 in Images to PDF, PDF24 now spreads the image from top to bottom over as many pages as needed, ready to print and share. Prefer to read comics or webtoons in one go? Under “Additional options” (the cog icon), simply untick “Split long images over several pages”, and each long image stays one continuous page. PDF24 remembers your choice for next time.

Forms: a field in the page margin and fields that calculate

For binders and filing: Create PDF form now offers the “Field in the side margin (every page)”, a fillable field along the edge, written from bottom to top or from top to bottom. In Make PDF fillable you can also rotate form fields by 90°, 180° or 270°.

And when you fill in a form, it now does the maths: in Fill out PDF, totals, averages and other simple calculated fields, as found in many order and application forms, fill themselves in as you type. Amounts appear the way the form defines them, for example with two decimal places and a currency sign. If a form contains calculations PDF24 cannot run, a note tells you to check calculated fields such as totals. And a dynamic XFA form that can only be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader is now recognised, and PDF24 tells you so straight away.

Flatten PDF: burned in the way you see it

Should a filled-in form with a few annotations arrive exactly as you sent it? Flatten PDF now burns everything you see on screen into the page in one go: your form entries as well as rectangles, circles, freehand drawings, highlights and free text comments, even if the file has form fields at the same time. Entries and annotations can no longer simply be moved, changed or deleted. Links stay clickable, and anything hidden stays invisible after flattening.

Split PDF by file size

The upload portal only takes files up to 10 MB, or the mail attachment must not get too big? Split PDF now has the mode “By file size”. Enter under “Maximum size” how large each file may be at most, and PDF24 puts as many pages into each file as will fit. No more guessing how many pages stay under the limit. Only a page that is larger on its own goes into a file of its own.

Page numbers: leading zeros and numbering across several files

For case files, exhibits and collections of receipts: in Add page numbers, “Digits” pads the numbers with leading zeros, with 6 for example to 000001. And if you upload several files, “Number continuously across all files” simply keeps counting: each file continues after the last number of the previous one, in the order of the file list. A whole stack of documents gets one continuous numbering.

Text recognition (OCR): fewer clicks, better results

  • OCR PDF preselects the language of the page and remembers your languages and options for next time.
  • “Force OCR” replaces an existing invisible text layer, for example from an earlier OCR. Every word is in the file only once, and search works reliably.
  • “Deskew pages” now also works on black-and-white scans, as many office copiers produce them.
  • If a scan already has a little text, such as a stamp, a header or text from an earlier text recognition, text recognition skips those pages. If that affects almost all pages, or no text is recognised at all as a result, PDF24 now tells you and recommends “Force OCR”, even if the file also has normal text pages. For scans, the note also says how many pages are affected.
  • Gibberish in Word or Excel? If a PDF consists of scans whose text comes from an earlier text recognition in the wrong language, PDF to Word, PDF to Excel and co. now tell you so right with the result. One click takes you to text recognition with “Force OCR” already ticked, and all you choose is the right language. Scans with a few words of text, such as a signature note, are now recognised as scans too, and PDF24 recommends text recognition first.

Small things that make life easier

  • All Tools shows the tools the way you like: as “Tiles”, “Tiles with descriptions”, “List”, “List in two columns” or “List in three columns”. PDF24 remembers your choice.
  • Print PDF as poster now has its own page: one PDF page is enlarged across several A4 or Letter sheets, as A2 or A1 or in a grid of your choice, with overlap, cut marks and sheet names for putting it together.
  • Change PDF page size shows the current size of each file, for example “210 × 297 mm (A4)”. Form fields, comments and links now move along to the new page size, and pages stored rotated get the orientation you chose as well.
  • Unlock PDF: certified PDFs, for example from Adobe Acrobat, stay locked against changes even without a password. The new “Remove certification” checkbox lifts that, and your original file stays certified.
  • PDF to Markdown: untick “Embed images” to get the text only, and the file stays small.
  • PDF to images and other converters remember resolution and quality.
  • Merge PDF: long file names on cover pages wrap instead of being cut off. Dates and numbers in Word and Excel files you merge appear in the format of your region.
  • Images to PDF: with automatic orientation, photos get pages of the same width, and a custom page size is checked for typos. With “No margin” you now decide yourself: with “Fit page height to image” ticked, every page is as high as the image, without white borders. Unticked, every page has exactly the chosen size, for example A4, and the image is fitted in. Photos in WebP format are now embedded compactly, so the PDF is often only a fraction of the size. And if an image is damaged, for example not fully downloaded, the readable part goes into the PDF, the missing rest is hatched, and a note names the file.
  • Protect PDF: if you restrict permissions and leave the “Owner password” empty, PDF24 now sets a random password, so the restrictions really hold. If you want to change them later, enter your own.
  • Add watermark: “Insert placeholder” next to the text field puts the date, time, file name or document title into the watermark. With several files, each gets its own name and title.
  • PDF Overlay: your digital letterhead now adapts to the page. An A4 letterhead is fitted onto pages of a different size, such as US Letter, instead of being cut off, and on landscape pages it is rotated to match.
  • Remove PDF pages and Extract PDF pages keep the bookmarks of the pages that remain.
  • Sending the result by e-mail: with large attachments you get a hint and can compress the file with one click, so the mail actually arrives.

On top of that there are many improvements under the hood: large and unusual files run more reliably, PDF to Word and PDF to Excel are more accurate, and if something does go wrong, a clear message tells you why.

New in the help center: 29 guides

The help center here on help.pdf24.org has grown too: 29 guides are new or rewritten from scratch, in English and German. The topics come from what reaches us most often in the forum and by e-mail. Each guide first shows which way suits you (online, offline in the PDF24 Toolbox, when printing or from the command line), walks you through step by step with exactly the labels you see on screen, and has its own section with fixes for common problems. You'll find them all in the overview of guides, always one click away under the new "Guides" menu item next to "News" and "Forums".

What happened before in October, including eleven new tools and the new PDF editor: New in PDF24 Tools: what changed in October.

Got an idea, or is something not working? Tell us here in the forum, many of the changes above started exactly like that.