Does this upload my PDF to a server?

No. The AI model runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly and Web Workers. Your PDF never leaves your device. You can verify this by checking the Network tab in DevTools — no file upload will appear.

What AI model does this use?

ExactPDF uses DistilBERT (distilbert-base-uncased-distilled-squad) via the Transformers.js library from Hugging Face. The model is ~80MB and downloads once, then is cached in your browser permanently.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

The AI can only answer questions based on extractable text. Scanned PDFs that are images of text will not work well — use our OCR tool first to extract the text, then use AI Chat.

Can I use this without internet after the first load?

Yes. Once the model has downloaded (~80MB on first use), it is cached in your browser. After that, AI Chat with PDF works fully offline.

What types of questions can I ask?

You can ask about the content of the document: summaries, key points, specific facts, dates, names, definitions. The AI answers based only on the text in your PDF.

AI Chat with PDF

100% Private

100% Local

No Signups

🔍

Find Specific Facts in Any PDF

Ask questions like "Who signed this contract?" or "What was the Q3 revenue?"— ExactPDF searches the document locally and returns the best supporting passage.

No upload

100% private

Runs in browser

Drop your PDF to start asking questions

Contracts, reports, research papers, financials — any text-based PDF

Select PDF

100% Private

Instant

Your files never leave your device

Max file size: 50MB

Best for specific factual questions

✅ Works well: "What is the contract end date?" · "Who are the authors?" · "What is the interest rate?"
⚠️ Use PDF Summarizer for: broad themes, opinions, or full document analysis

Need this in a production workflow?

Move from one-off browser work to larger files, background jobs, API automation, and PDF audio when the document flow grows.

Use the API Max plans

How It Works

Step 1: Upload Your PDF

Drop a contract, manual, or reference PDF. Pages are parsed locally and embedded for retrieval inside your browser tab.

Step 2: Ask in Natural Language

Ask questions like “What is the termination clause?” or “Summarize section 3.” The local DistilBERT-based engine searches the PDF and answers with citations.

Step 3: Iterate Privately

Follow-up freely — chat history, embeddings, and source PDF stay in browser memory only. No data is sent to OpenAI / Anthropic / any third-party API.

Why Use This Tool

Direct answer to “chat with PDF offline / privately” — engine and source PDF both stay on-device
Useful for confidential PDFs (NDAs, patient records, board packs) where ChatGPT-style upload is a non-starter
No per-month token bill, no API key required, and no daily cap — great for power users
Cite-back answers reduce hallucination versus generic web-LLMs answering from training data

Common Use Cases

Quickly Q&A long employee handbooks during interviews, ask questions of dense vendor SOWs without sending them to a third-party LLM, walk through scientific papers section by section, and explore product manuals. Lawyers chat with discovery PDFs locally; healthcare teams interrogate de-identified case PDFs; engineers query 800-page hardware datasheets without losing IP to an API provider.

PDF Tools Comparison: Online vs Local

Compare cloud-based PDF tools vs local processing for security and speed.

Guide

Comparison

Why Local PDF Processing is More Secure

Learn how browser-based PDF tools protect your privacy better than cloud services.

Privacy

Security

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