Docs Dingo Docs Dingo

PDF tools that never upload your file

Docs Dingo merges, splits, compresses and edits PDFs inside your browser. The file stays on your device. Here is how that works, how you can check it yourself, and what it cannot do.

Try it now. Nothing to install, nothing uploaded:

Merge PDF Split PDF Compress PDF Edit & sign PDF

Why it matters where a PDF goes

Most online PDF sites, including iLovePDF and the PDF24 web tools, send your document to their servers, process it there and send the result back. Most say they delete files afterwards, and many probably do. But the file has still left your device, crossed the internet and sat on someone else's computer for a while.

For a contract, a payslip, a medical letter or a passport scan, that is a real risk you do not have to take. A PDF that never leaves your device cannot leak from a server, be kept by mistake, or be read by anyone else.

How in-browser PDF tools work

When you open Merge PDF, Split PDF or Compress PDF, your browser downloads the page and an open-source PDF library called pdf-lib, served from docsdingo.com. When you choose a file, the browser reads it into memory, the library does the work in that tab, and the finished PDF is handed to you as a download. No request carries the file. The image modes of Compress also use Mozilla's pdf.js to draw each page, again inside the tab.

The PDF editor works the same way: text, images, signatures, highlights, whiteout and form filling are applied in your browser and saved straight to your device.

Check it yourself in 30 seconds

  1. Open docsdingo.com/merge.html in Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
  2. Press F12 (or right-click and choose Inspect) and open the Network tab.
  3. Add two PDFs and select Merge PDFs.
  4. Look at the list: no request appears that is the size of your files, and none is a POST carrying them. The merged file is created locally and shows up as a blob: download.

You can go further: once the page has loaded, turn on airplane mode and merge or split again. It still works, because nothing needs the network. (The Strong and Smallest compression levels load the page renderer the first time you use them, so use one of them once before going offline.)

What still needs a server

One Docs Dingo tool does upload: PDF to Word. Turning a PDF back into an editable Word document well is hard, and we use a conversion service, CloudConvert, to do it. That file is sent to our server and to CloudConvert. We delete the upload as soon as the conversion finishes, the Word file within an hour, and ask CloudConvert to delete its copy straight away. The privacy policy has the details. If a document must never leave your device, do not use that tool for it.

Limits of doing it in the browser

Frequently asked questions

Can I merge PDFs without uploading them?

Yes. Docs Dingo Merge PDF combines files inside your browser using the pdf-lib library. The files are read from your device and the merged PDF is saved back to it; nothing is sent to a server.

How can I tell if a PDF tool uploads my file?

Open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab and run the tool. An uploading tool sends a request roughly the size of your file. An in-browser tool shows no such request, and keeps working with the internet switched off once the page has loaded.

Is it safe to compress a confidential PDF online?

It is safest with a tool that never uploads it. Docs Dingo Compress PDF runs in your browser, so a confidential file stays on your device.

Does Docs Dingo keep copies of my files?

Merge, split, compress and edit never receive your file, so there is nothing to keep. PDF to Word uploads are deleted after conversion and the Word file within an hour.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android or iOS.