pdfthing - A Product of Frustration

pdfthing is a simple, fast, and reliable PDF utility built to tackle the frustrations of existing tools.

Act 1: The Problem

It all started with a simple need: managing PDF files. Contracts, invoices, personal documents—you name it. For me, keeping high-quality, >600 DPI scans of everything important seemed like a great idea. They were safely stored off my laptop, so space wasn’t a concern. But then came the trouble: sharing or uploading these files.

A lot of websites cap upload sizes at 1MB. Meanwhile, my PDFs often ranged from 2MB to a whopping 30MB.

For a long time, I relied on this compression tool. But using it was a hassle:

Go to the website.
Click “upload files.”
Search for the PDF (it shows all files, not just PDFs).
Wait for the compression to finish (could take over a minute for large files).
Click “download.”
Extract the compressed file.

I had to repeat this process for every single document, every single time. It was slow, tedious, and frustrating. I tried other tools too—some were paid, some had file size limits, and others were painfully slow. None of them worked the way I wanted. That’s when I decided to build my own solution.

pdfcompress demo

Act 2: The Idea

The idea for pdfthing hit me after watching Theo’s video on QuickPic. He talked about solving problems with simple, practical solutions, and I thought, “Why not fix my PDF problem?”

The concept was straightforward:
Create a tool that focuses on doing one thing really well—compressing PDFs. Here’s what I set out to achieve:

Speed: It had to be fast, like really FASTTT.
Client-Side Only: All processing should happen locally, in the browser. No uploads, no servers—keeping it private and secure.
Simplicity: No fancy menus or complicated steps. Just a clean, simple interface that works.

With that vision in mind, pdfthing was born.

Act 3: The Execution

I built pdfthing using Next.js and TailwindCSS. Next.js offered the speed and flexibility I needed, while Tailwind made styling quick and clean. It was the perfect stack for this project, and it let me focus on functionality.

Here’s why pdfthing stands out:

Faster Compression: Tests showed it compresses files 10% faster compared to existing tools.
No Quality Loss: The compressed files look just as good as the originals.
Local-Only: All processing happens in your browser. Your files never leave your device, ensuring privacy and security.

The Catch

Currently, the compression tool works entirely client-side. That’s because hosting on Vercel doesn’t allow running command-line tools like ghostscript. While the tool can run with Docker, I’m not deploying it just yet—that’s still under development. For now, you get a fast, local-only tool that’s simple and effective.

pdfthing demo

the video is at normal speed

What’s Next?

I’m already thinking about what’s next for pdfthing:

Adding features like PDF splitting, merging, and rotating.
Supporting larger files with server-side Docker deployment (coming soon!).
Making the interface even more intuitive and user-friendly.

Why Use pdfthing?

Because it’s built for you—someone who wants PDF tools that are simple, fast, and reliable. No ads, no bloat, no unnecessary clicks. Just a tool that works.

Check it out at [** pdfthing.hepton.uk**](https:// pdfthing.hepton.uk) and let me know what you think!