PDF Document Inspector — Know Your File Before You Edit It

What Is the PDF Document Inspector?

Ever uploaded a PDF and wondered what's actually inside? How many pages does it have? What language is it in? Is the text selectable or is it a scanned image?

The PDF Document Inspector answers all these questions automatically — the moment you upload any PDF to PDFlys. It's an analysis panel that gives you instant insights about your document and suggests the right tools for what you're trying to accomplish.

The Inspector uses PDF.js and browser APIs to parse your document's structure. It doesn't call external services or use machine learning — it reads the PDF's internal metadata, samples text content, and applies heuristic rules to generate its analysis and recommendations.

Before and After the Inspector

Before: You upload a PDF, guess at its contents, pick a tool, and hope for the best. A scanned document wastes time in a text editor. A 200-page file bogs down a merge operation. You don't realize the text isn't extractable until halfway through editing.

After: The Inspector tells you upfront what you're working with. Before you make a single edit, you know the page count, content type, language, text status, and which tools will work best.

How the PDF Document Inspector Works

The Inspector appears automatically after you upload a PDF to any PDFlys tool. No extra clicks needed.

Step 1: Upload Your PDF

Choose any PDFlys tool and upload your document. The Inspector analyzes it in real time — entirely in your browser, with no data sent to any server.

Step 2: Review the Analysis

The Inspector panel shows you:

• Page count — Total pages in your document
• Content classification — Each page categorized as text, image, mixed, or blank
• Detected language — Identified by sampling text content and matching statistical patterns
• Text status — Whether text is selectable (native) or image-based (scanned)
• Accessibility estimate — Quick assessment based on tagging, language, and structure
• Encryption status — Whether the document is password-protected
• PDF version — The spec version used to create the file

Step 3: Follow Smart Recommendations

Based on the analysis, the Inspector suggests relevant tools with specific reasoning:

• 50+ pages with no bookmarks? → "Consider using Organize PDF to add structure"
• Text not extractable (scanned document)? → "This appears to be a scanned PDF. PDF to Image can convert pages for further processing"
• File over 10 MB? → "Large file detected. Compress PDF can reduce size while preserving quality"
• Page rotation detected? → "Some pages appear rotated. Rotate PDF can fix orientation"

You can also use the Change File button to swap documents without navigating away from the current tool.

Real-World Use Cases

Scanned Document Detection

Upload a scanned receipt or contract. The Inspector tells you immediately that the text isn't extractable — so you know to use image-based tools instead of trying to edit text that doesn't exist as selectable content.

Large Document Triage

Upload a 50-page report and instantly see the page count, per-page content breakdown (which pages are text, which are images, which are blank), and whether splitting or extracting specific pages would help.

Pre-Share Document Audit

Before sending a document externally, upload it to verify: Is the text extractable? Is the language tag set correctly? Are there unexpected blank pages? Is the file larger than it needs to be?

Multi-Language Documents

Working with international contracts or research papers? The Inspector detects the primary language from text sampling and flags it in the analysis — useful for knowing whether your team can process the document.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Inspector analyze my document?

It uses PDF.js (a JavaScript PDF renderer) and browser APIs to parse the document structure. It reads metadata, samples text from pages, classifies content types, and applies heuristic rules. No external services are called — everything runs in your browser.

Does it work with password-protected PDFs?

The Inspector needs access to the PDF content. If your document is encrypted, you'll need to unlock it first, then re-upload for analysis.

How accurate is the language detection?

The Inspector samples text from your document and uses statistical character-frequency patterns to identify the language. It's reliable for documents with at least a few sentences of text. Very short documents or those with mixed-language content may show less precise results.

Can I use the Inspector without editing?

Yes. Upload a file to any tool just to see the Inspector analysis. You don't have to make any changes — it's a read-only analysis that runs automatically.

Is the Inspector included with every tool?

It appears automatically on every PDFlys tool that accepts file uploads. No setup, no extra clicks, no cost.

What to Do After Inspection

The Inspector's recommendations link directly to the relevant tools. Here's a typical workflow:

1. Upload a PDF to any tool to trigger analysis
2. Review the Inspector's findings — page count, content type, recommendations
3. Follow the suggested tool link if the current tool isn't the best fit
4. Switch files using the Change File button to analyze another document

The Inspector is built into every tool, so whichever one you start with, you'll always get the full analysis before committing to an edit.