PaperKnife

A privacy-first PDF utility: merge, compress, sign, and protect. Works 100% offline — no servers, no trackers.

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Screenshots

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Features

• Merge & split PDFs
• Compress with quality presets
• Password protect and unlock PDFs
• Convert PDF pages to images (JPG/PNG, 72–300 DPI)
• Draw, upload, and reuse signatures
• Watermarks, page numbers, metadata cleaning
• Deep OCR text extraction (full version only)
• And more!

All processing happens on your device. Your files never leave your phone.

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Download

Get the latest APK: PaperKnife v1.1.0

• Full (GitHub releases): everything, including offline OCR.
• Lite (IzzyOnDroid): same app without the OCR engine — smaller download.

Or use the live site — installable as a PWA for offline access.

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Run the web version locally

Requirements: Node.js 22+ and git. Everything below runs on your own machine.

git clone https://github.com/potatameister/PaperKnife.git
cd PaperKnife
npm ci                  # install dependencies (also used by CI)
npm run vendor:ocr      # optional, only needed for Deep OCR (one-time)
npm run dev             # start the local server (http://localhost:3000)

Notes:

• npm run vendor:ocr is optional — skip it and everything works except Deep OCR. The engine files (~30 MB) are never committed to git, so a fresh clone cannot do OCR until you run it. Re-running later is safe — it skips what is already there.
• npm run build produces a static dist/ folder you can serve with any static host (npm run preview to check it locally). No server component exists — it is plain files.
• To build the Android APK yourself, you additionally need JDK 21 + Android SDK, then npx cap sync android after npm run build. The OCR files (if vendored) are bundled into the full APK automatically.

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Support

PaperKnife is a solo project — open-source, ad-free, and tracker-free. All support options live on the support page. If it saved you time or kept your data safe: chip in, star the repo, or share it with anyone who handles sensitive documents.

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License

GNU AGPL v3 — free forever, auditable by anyone.

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Made with care by potatameister