Issuing a drawing set is a sequence of file operations that has to happen in a fixed order: rotate and reorder the sheets, cut what is not part of the issue, stamp the revision, number the pages, then compress and lock the file for the portal.
Geometric changes come first, labels second, encoding last. Rotating after numbering can leave the numbers sideways, and compressing before the last edit means doing it twice. Every step runs in the browser, which matters for a tender that is still under embargo.
1. Rotate and reorder the sheets
Organize PDF is the fastest way to fix a set. Every page appears as a thumbnail, and you drag them into the issue order or use the arrow buttons on a touch screen. Each card has its own rotate left and rotate right buttons, so one sideways scan can be straightened without touching the other sheets. Deleting a page renumbers the badges immediately, and every action goes onto an undo stack.
Rotate PDF is the narrower tool when the whole set needs the same treatment: pick 90 degrees clockwise, 90 counter-clockwise or 180, apply it to all pages or a range such as 1,3,5-7, and export. The angle is added to whatever rotation a page already carries, so a page that was rotated before is turned further rather than reset.
Both tools write the rotation into the page orientation entry, so width, height, text, links and images stay exactly as they were. Neither can open an encrypted PDF: unlock it first, then work on the copy.
Organize PDF
Reorder, rotate and delete sheets on a thumbnail grid, with undo and optional page numbers.
2. Cut the set down to what is issued
An issue rarely includes everything in the working file. Delete pages directly in Organize PDF when a few sheets have to go, or use Split PDF when a larger document has to become two: type ranges such as 1-8, 9-14 and each comma separated segment becomes its own file. Split also has an every-page mode and fixed size chunks.
Both operations write a new file and leave the original untouched, which is the safe way to work, but it also means the cut is final in the exported copy. Check the page count before you send, because a missing sheet in a tender set is a compliance problem rather than a formatting one.
Split PDF
Cut a set into ranges, single pages or equal chunks, with a preview before export.
3. Stamp the revision and number the sheets
PDF Watermark applies text to all pages or a custom range, either centred or tiled diagonally, with size, colour, opacity and rotation. That covers the two marks an issue usually needs: a revision tag such as REV C, and a status line such as NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION. Tiled text at low opacity is harder to crop out of a shared sheet than a single corner stamp.
Page numbers can be added during export inside Organize PDF, which is one less pass, or with Add Page Numbers when the set is already assembled. Number after rotating, so the digits are drawn the right way up rather than sideways.
Two limits. The watermark is drawn into the page and cannot be removed afterwards, so keep the clean file separately. And an encrypted PDF cannot be watermarked: do this before Protect PDF, not after.
PDF Watermark
Stamp a revision or status mark across all sheets or a page range, centred or tiled.
4. Compress and lock for the portal
Compress PDF rewrites the internal structure with qpdf: objects are packed into object streams, uncompressed streams are compressed and the cross-reference tables are rebuilt. It does not re-encode images. A vector PDF exported from CAD often has slack to remove, while a scanned set is already a stack of compressed images and barely moves. The tool is designed for files under 50 MB and offers Standard and Maximum.
Protect PDF then writes AES-256 encryption with printing, copying and editing permissions, which is what a tender portal or a client issue usually asks for. There is no password recovery, so record the password somewhere safe before the file leaves your machine.
Two limits. There is no target size field, so you apply a mode and read the result rather than typing a limit. And any rewrite invalidates a cryptographic signature, so a digitally signed issue has to stay untouched as its own copy.
Protect PDF
Add AES-256 encryption and print, copy and edit permissions before issuing.
5. Read the title block
PDF to Text handles both kinds of sheet. A PDF exported from CAD carries a real text layer, and that text is lifted out instantly and exactly. A scanned sheet is rendered and recognised with OCR instead. The summary next to the result says how many pages came from each route, so you know which part needs proofreading.
English is built in, and eleven more languages can be selected, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French and Spanish. Two limits: a low-resolution scan of a title block will produce mistakes, and handwriting is not reliable. This is not a CAD parser. It reads characters, not dimensions, layers or drawing geometry.
PDF to Text
Read the text layer directly and run OCR on scanned sheets, all in the browser.
What this chain cannot do
- No CAD or DWG editing. This works on PDF only. The drawing itself still has to change in the authoring tool.
- No geometry or layer awareness. It can rotate, reorder, delete, stamp and number pages, but it cannot read dimensions, layers or line weights.
- No editing of drawing content. You cannot move a label or correct a line inside the PDF.
- No target file size. Compression reports what it achieved; it cannot promise a portal's exact limit.
- Encrypted files need unlocking first. Rotate, organize, watermark and OCR all require an unprotected copy.
- Watermarks are permanent. The mark is drawn into the page and cannot be removed from the exported file.
- No digital signature or timestamp. Encryption is not an audit trail, and the tools cannot prove who issued a set.