PDF Tools

Construction projects run on PDFs — drawings, specifications, contracts, reports, submittals. Pasco Cloud includes a dedicated PDF toolkit at pdf.pasco.cloud with four tools for working with PDF documents. Everything runs in your browser — your files never leave your device.

No Login Required, Fully Client-Side

PDF Tools is a separate web application at pdf.pasco.cloud — it does not require a Pasco Cloud account or login. Anyone on your team can use it.

All processing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your PDF files are never uploaded to a server. This means:

• Privacy — sensitive documents (contracts, specifications, drawings) stay on your device
• Speed — no upload/download wait times, even for large files
• Availability — works without an internet connection once the page has loaded

ℹ️ Did you know?

PDF Tools is completely separate from the main Pasco Cloud application. It requires no account, no login, and no subscription. Files are processed locally in your browser — nothing is uploaded to any server.

PDF Merger

Combine multiple PDF files into a single document.

How It Works

1. Drag and drop multiple PDF files onto the upload area (or click to browse)
2. Reorder files using drag handles — arrange them in the sequence you want
3. Optionally select specific page ranges from each file (e.g., pages 1–3 from one document, pages 5–10 from another)
4. Click Merge to combine everything into a single PDF
5. Download the merged document

When to Use It

• Combining a cover page, table of contents, and report body into a single submission
• Merging multiple inspection reports into a consolidated document
• Assembling a tender package from separate specification sections

PDF Splitter

Split a PDF into individual pages or extract selected pages.

How It Works

1. Upload a PDF file
2. View thumbnail previews of every page in the document
3. Select which pages to extract — click individual thumbnails or select a range
4. Reorder selected pages if needed
5. Download as a single PDF containing only the selected pages, or as individual page files in a ZIP archive

When to Use It

• Extracting specific pages from a large specification document
• Pulling out a single drawing sheet from a multi-page drawing set
• Splitting a combined report into individual sections for different recipients

Text Comparison

Compare two PDF documents for text differences — useful for reviewing specification revisions or contract amendments.

How It Works

1. Upload two PDFs using the dual drop zones (or drag and drop one into each slot)
2. Choose a diff mode:
   • Word-level — highlights individual words that have changed
   • Line-level — highlights entire lines that differ
3. Choose a display layout:
   • Unified — shows changes inline with additions and deletions marked
   • Side-by-side — shows both documents next to each other with differences highlighted
4. Choose a comparison scope:
   • Full document — compares the entire text content at once
   • Page-by-page — compares corresponding pages individually
5. Review the highlighted differences

When to Use It

• Checking what changed between two revisions of a specification
• Reviewing amendments to a contract before signing
• Verifying that a "final" document matches the agreed draft

⚠️ Watch out!

Text Comparison works by extracting text content from PDFs. If your PDFs contain scanned images rather than selectable text, the tool will warn you that text extraction may be limited. For scanned documents, consider the Drawing Revision Overlay tool instead.

Drawing Revision Overlay

Overlay two drawing revisions to visually spot changes — purpose-built for comparing architectural and engineering drawings.

How It Works

1. Upload two PDF drawings — typically the previous revision and the current revision
2. Choose a comparison mode:
   • Cyan/Red overlay — renders one drawing in cyan and the other in red, then blends them together. Areas that are identical appear dark, while changes stand out in colour.
   • Magenta pixel diff — performs a pixel-by-pixel comparison and highlights any differences in magenta. Unchanged areas appear faded.
3. Use X/Y offset sliders to manually align the drawings if they are not perfectly registered (common with scanned drawings)
4. Navigate pages using prev/next buttons or the page dropdown (for multi-page drawing sets)
5. Export the current view as a PNG image, or download all pages as an overlay PDF

When to Use It

• Checking what changed between drawing Revision A and Revision B
• Reviewing structural mark-ups against the original design
• Spotting subtle changes in floor plans, elevations, or detail drawings that might be missed by eye

💡 Tip

The Drawing Revision Overlay tool is invaluable for checking revision changes on architectural and engineering drawings. Subtle changes — a moved dimension, an added note, a shifted wall line — are almost impossible to catch by flipping between two PDFs, but they stand out immediately in the overlay view.

What's Next?

• Image Studio — annotate and process construction photos
• Construction Calculator — area, volume, and material calculations
• Unit Converter — metric and imperial conversions