Terms of use
Last updated 15 October 2026
These terms apply when you use pdf-r-us.com. By using the website, you agree to them. Please read section 5: it explains what the tools can and can’t do.
1. Who we are
pdf-r-us.com (“PDF’R’US”) is run by Oscar Baia, a private individual based in Portugal. Questions about these terms: privacy@pdf-r-us.com
2. The service
PDF’R’US offers free tools for working with PDF files. The tools run in your own web browser. There is no account, sign-up or payment.
We may change, add or remove tools, or stop offering the website, at any time.
3. Your files stay yours
Your files are opened and changed on your own device and are never sent to us. The privacy notice explains this in detail. You keep all rights to your files.
You are responsible for making sure you are allowed to use and change the documents you work on, for example documents that belong to someone else.
4. Using the website fairly
Please don’t:
- use the tools for anything unlawful, including forging signatures, documents or certificates, or committing fraud
- remove passwords or restrictions from files you aren’t entitled to open or change
- try to disrupt or overload the website, or to gain unauthorised access to it or its hosting
5. What the tools can and can’t do
- Sign PDF places a picture of your signature on the page, like signing a printout. It is not a digital signature.
- Certified signature adds a digital signature made with your own certificate, which shows if the file is changed afterwards. Whether the signature is accepted, and at which legal level, depends on your certificate and on the rules for the document. A signature with the same legal effect as a handwritten one (a “qualified electronic signature”) needs a certificate kept on a secure device such as a citizen card, which this tool can’t use. Self-signed certificates show as untrusted. The signing time comes from your computer’s clock, and no trusted timestamp is added. Keep your certificate and its password safe: you are responsible for signatures made with them.
- Edit PDF covers changed text rather than deleting it, so the original wording can still be found in the file. Rewritten lines and paragraphs use a standard font (Helvetica, Times or Courier) in one style, so they may look slightly different from the rest of the page. To remove information for good, use Redact PDF.
- Redact PDF removes only the areas you mark. Check every page before you share the result. Redacted pages become images, so their text can no longer be selected.
- Protect PDF can’t recover a forgotten password, and neither can we. Limits on printing, copying or changes depend on the PDF reader respecting them.
- Unlock PDF may only be used on files you are entitled to open and change.
- Searchable PDF (OCR) may misread some text. Check anything important.
- PDF to Word and PDF to Excel rebuild the document from its text, pictures and tables. Layout, fonts and spacing may differ from the original, and numbers become real numbers only when their format is clear.
- Compare PDFs compares the words of the two files. Changes to pictures, colours or layout aren’t shown, so check the documents themselves for anything important.
Always check the result before relying on it, and keep a copy of your original files.
6. Your device
Because the tools run on your device, its security is in your hands. Viruses or harmful browser add-ons can read files you open on any website. Keep your device and browser up to date.
7. No guarantees
The website is provided free of charge, “as is” and “as available”. We work to keep the tools accurate and the website available, but we can’t promise that it will always be available or free of errors, or that the results will suit your purpose.
8. Liability
As far as the law allows, we are not liable for any loss or damage caused by using, or not being able to use, the website, including loss of data, documents or business.
Nothing in these terms limits liability that can’t be limited by law, such as liability for intent or gross negligence, or affects your rights as a consumer.
9. Open-source software
PDF’R’US is built with open-source software and fonts, listed with their licences on the Licences page. Those licences apply to those components.
10. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed. If you keep using the website after a change, the updated terms apply.
11. Law and disputes
These terms are governed by Portuguese law, and disputes go to the courts of Portugal. If you are a consumer living in the European Union, you keep the protection of the mandatory laws of your country and can also bring a claim there.