We've compiled answers to the most common questions about our PDF processing service. Whether you're converting documents, extracting text, or processing scanned files with OCR, you'll find clear, honest answers here.
Convert HTML, Markdown, and text to professional PDFs with full CSS support and custom styling options.
Extract text from digital PDFs with 99.5%+ accuracy, or use OCR for scanned documents with both free and premium options.
Merge, split, convert to images, extract to Markdown, and remove passwords from PDF files.
Can't find what you're looking for? Our support team is here to help.
Contact us at support@pdf-technologies.com or start your free trial to test all features risk-free.
Our API handles comprehensive PDF workflows through simple REST calls. Convert HTML, Markdown, and text to PDF with full CSS support, extract text from both digital and scanned PDFs with high accuracy, transform PDFs to images or Markdown, and perform operations like merging, splitting, and password removal. Most developers get their first PDF working within 5 minutes.
Traditional PDF libraries require wrestling with broken layouts, font issues, and memory management. We handle all that complexity behind the scenes through a clean API. Unlike other hosted solutions, we include both free and premium OCR options, support modern CSS features reliably, and charge only for what you use. You can test everything during our free trial to see the difference for yourself.
Response times depend on the operation. Text-to-PDF conversions complete in under 500ms, HTML-to-PDF typically takes 1-3 seconds, digital PDF text extraction completes in under 2 seconds for a 10-page document, and OCR processing takes 1-3 seconds per page depending on complexity. Since we're hosted, your internet connection can affect final delivery speed, but the API processing itself is optimized for speed.
No. Our API is built for developers who want to focus on their core application logic rather than PDF complexities. We provide comprehensive documentation and code examples in multiple languages to get you started quickly, regardless of your PDF experience.
Layout issues plague most PDF solutions, but we handle modern HTML and CSS more reliably than alternatives. We support flexbox, CSS grid, media queries, and responsive layouts through our WeasyPrint implementation of CSS Paged Media standards. Extremely complex or cutting-edge CSS may need tweaking. The best approach is testing your specific use case during our free trial before committing to production.
Yes. We support flexbox, grid, responsive layouts, media queries, custom fonts, and web fonts. Some cutting-edge CSS features may have limitations, which is why we recommend testing your specific designs during the free trial to ensure they render as expected.
Yes, we automatically fetch external images, CSS files, and web fonts. This means your PDFs will render with all the styling and assets exactly as you've specified them in your HTML.
Yes. Send your Markdown via API call and we'll generate professionally formatted PDFs with proper headers, code blocks, lists, and formatting. You can apply custom CSS styling to control the appearance and match your brand guidelines.
For digital PDFs (electronically created), we extract text directly with 99.5%+ accuracy. For scanned documents, accuracy ranges from 85-98% with standard OCR, and 95-99% with our premium AI-assisted OCR option. The accuracy depends on document quality and complexity. Testing with your actual documents during the free trial gives you the best sense of results for your specific use case.
We offer multiple extraction modes: simple text, layout-preserved text, HTML output, structured JSON with coordinates, and Markdown output. When using premium AI OCR on scanned documents, we can output Markdown that preserves headings, tables, lists, and document structure. Exact font styling and colors aren't preserved in text extraction, but document structure is maintained.
Yes. We support OCR for scanned documents and image files with multiple modes: Standard OCR (free, fast, good for clean scans), Premium OCR (AI-powered, excellent accuracy and structure preservation), and Auto mode (intelligently selects the best engine). Our OCR can preserve document structure like headings, tables, and lists in Markdown format, making scanned documents editable and organized.
Yes, we can combine 2-100 PDF files into a single document with perfect format preservation. You can optionally select specific page ranges from each file to include in the merge, giving you complete control over the final document composition.
We can split PDFs into individual pages, extract specific page ranges (e.g., "1-5,10,15-20"), or divide into fixed-size chunks. Results are provided as a ZIP archive for easy download and distribution.
Yes, if you have the user password, we can remove password protection from PDFs while preserving all content and formatting. For security and legal reasons, we don't support password cracking or unauthorized access to encrypted PDFs.
We convert PDF pages to PNG or JPEG with customizable resolution (72-600 DPI). Convert all pages or specific page ranges, and receive images as individual files or in a ZIP archive for batch processing.
PDF template storage and dynamic data injection are planned features for a future release. Currently, you can generate PDFs from HTML, Markdown, or text with each API call by generating the content programmatically before converting to PDF. This approach works well for dynamic content like invoices, reports, and personalized documents.
We offer Standard OCR (fast, free, solid accuracy on clean documents), Premium OCR (advanced AI models for higher accuracy and structure recognition on complex or degraded scans), and Auto mode (intelligently selects the best engine based on document type). This approach lets you balance speed, accuracy, and cost based on your specific needs.
Standard OCR is completely free with unlimited usage. Premium OCR has per-page costs that vary by complexity. Free tier users get Standard OCR only. Paid plans include monthly allotments: Starter includes 100 premium pages/month, Professional includes 1,000 pages/month. Beyond your monthly allotment, additional premium pages are available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Our Standard OCR supports over 100 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean. Premium OCR automatically detects and processes text in multiple languages without manual language selection, making it ideal for multilingual documents.
Premium OCR can output in structured formats like Markdown that preserve document hierarchy including headings, lists, tables, and text formatting. This is perfect for converting scanned documents into editable, well-organized content while maintaining the original layout. Standard OCR provides text extraction without structural markup.
Most developers generate their first PDF within 5 minutes using our REST API with standard HTTP requests. We provide comprehensive documentation with code examples in multiple languages, detailed error handling, and a free trial so you can test integration without any commitment.
Our REST API works with any language that can make HTTP requests: Python, JavaScript, Java, PHP, Ruby, Go, C#, and more. Dedicated SDKs for popular languages are planned for future releases. Our documentation includes code examples for the most common frameworks and languages.
We accept JSON for API requests and support HTML, Markdown, and plain text for PDF generation. PDF files are uploaded via multipart/form-data. Our flexible input options mean you can work with whatever format your application already uses.
Yes, our API provides detailed error responses with specific HTTP status codes and descriptive error messages to help you debug issues quickly. Our documentation includes common error scenarios and solutions, plus code examples showing proper error handling patterns.
We target 99.9% uptime and actively monitor our services 24/7. As we grow, we'll implement formal SLA agreements for enterprise customers, including uptime credits if we don't meet commitments.
Our infrastructure is designed to scale from a few requests per day to millions of PDFs per month. We use auto-scaling and load balancing to maintain consistent performance regardless of demand, so you don't need to worry about capacity planning.
Rate limits vary by subscription tier: Free tier allows 5 requests/minute, Starter allows 30 requests/minute, and Professional allows 100 requests/minute. Limits are designed to be generous for normal usage patterns. Contact us if you need higher limits for your application.
We have monitoring systems in place and work quickly to resolve any issues. For enterprise customers, we offer SLA guarantees including uptime credits if we don't meet our availability commitments.
We use industry-standard security practices including data encryption in transit and at rest. We don't store your generated PDFs longer than necessary for processing, typically less than 24 hours. Your business documents remain confidential and are never used for any purpose other than fulfilling your API requests.
Yes, our API is designed for business use including invoices, reports, contracts, and other professional documents. Our security practices meet the needs of business applications, and we're happy to discuss specific compliance requirements for enterprise customers.
API keys are encrypted and should be kept secure. Best practices include storing keys in environment variables, rotating them periodically, and never committing them to version control or exposing them in client-side code. We can revoke compromised keys immediately through your account dashboard.
We charge per API call with different pricing tiers based on volume. Most conversion operations are included in your monthly subscription. Premium OCR is billed separately at approximately $0.002 per page or included in monthly allotments depending on your tier. This means you only pay for what you use without hidden fees.
Yes, we offer a no-obligation 30-day free trial that gives you access to all features. This lets you thoroughly test our API, integrate it into your application, and confirm it meets your needs before upgrading to a paid plan.
When you approach your monthly limit, we'll send you a notification. You can upgrade to a higher tier at any time with pro-rated billing. If you exceed limits without upgrading, your service will be interrupted and you'll need to upgrade to continue.
We encourage using the free tier to test all features before upgrading. If you upgrade and aren't satisfied, we offer a full refund within 14 days of your first payment. For annual plans, you also get a 14-day full refund window, and after that we provide pro-rated refunds for unused months (minus the annual discount you received).
Yes, if you've used more than 5x your plan's monthly API limit during the refund period, we may decline the refund as this indicates extensive production use rather than continued evaluation of the service.
Yes, higher-tier plans offer better per-request pricing. We also offer custom enterprise pricing for very high volumes. Contact our sales team to discuss your specific needs.
Monthly plans are charged on the same date each month. Annual plans are charged once per year. You'll receive email reminders 7 days before renewal. You can upgrade immediately or downgrade at the end of your current billing cycle through your account dashboard. Your service continues until the end of your current billing period.
First, verify your HTML renders correctly in a browser. Common issues include missing external resources, CSS that doesn't translate well to print format, or use of unsupported CSS features. Our free trial lets you test your specific layouts and identify any adjustments needed before production use.
Check our API response messages for specific error details. Our documentation includes common error scenarios and solutions. We provide detailed error responses with specific HTTP status codes to help you identify and fix issues quickly.
First, check if your PDF contains actual text or is scanned. For scanned documents, enable OCR using the ocr_mode parameter with "OCR", "AI", or "auto". If the PDF has text but extraction seems incomplete, try different extraction modes like "layout" or "json" for more detailed output. Testing with your actual documents during the free trial helps identify the best extraction settings for your use case.
Contact our support team at support@pdf-technologies.com with detailed information about the issue or feature request. We actively review feedback and incorporate user suggestions into our product roadmap.
Yes, you can test all features using standard HTTP tools like cURL or Postman, or by following our quick start guide. Our free trial gives you full access to all API endpoints so you can validate your integration approach with minimal time investment.
Just sign up for an account to get your API key, then follow our quick start guide. You can be generating PDFs in under 5 minutes. No installation, no local setup, no dependencies to manage. Our documentation includes code examples in multiple languages to get you started immediately.
Yes, we provide comprehensive API documentation with examples, code samples for multiple languages, and detailed integration guides. Our docs cover everything from basic setup to advanced features, with troubleshooting sections for common issues.
Our API is designed to be a drop-in replacement for most PDF processing workflows. Our REST endpoints map to common PDF operations, and our documentation includes migration guides for popular libraries. Contact support if you need specific migration assistance for your use case.