How we build and check our tools

This page explains how ScoutMyTool's tools work, what happens to your files, and how we test each tool before it goes live.

Two kinds of tool

• In your browser. Most tools — merging, splitting, rotating, page numbers, watermarks, signing, form filling and more — use open-source PDF libraries (pdf-lib and Mozilla's PDF.js) running on your own device. The image tools use your browser's own image processing, and the invoice, receipt and quotation makers build the PDF on your device too. Your file is never uploaded.
• On our server. A few jobs need programs that only run on a server: converting Word and Excel files (LibreOffice), turning a PDF into an editable Word file, text recognition for scans (Tesseract OCR), stronger compression (Ghostscript) and password protection (qpdf). For these, your file is processed in a temporary folder created for your request and deleted when the request ends — whether it worked or not. Files up to 50 MB are accepted.

Each tool page says which kind it is. Details are in our privacy policy.

Testing

Before a tool is published, we check it with:

• ordinary documents from word processors and spreadsheets;
• awkward files — scans, very large files, mixed page sizes, password-protected and damaged PDFs;
• the result itself: page count, page order, text, links, bookmarks and form fields where they matter;
• a phone-sized screen, so every tool is usable on mobile.

What we tell you

Every tool page says what the tool changes in your file and what it keeps, and points out known limits — for example, a scanned page cannot be edited as text until it has been through text recognition, and a complex layout may not convert perfectly into Word.

Corrections

If a tool gives a wrong or damaged result, email contact@scoutmytool.com and tell us which tool you used and what happened (please do not attach confidential documents). Confirmed problems are fixed and recorded in our corrections log.

Independence

ScoutMyTool is free to use and may show advertising to cover its costs. We do not sell your files or data, and we do not recommend products in return for payment.