PDF Tools for Legal Professionals

Contracts, filings, and discovery documents all move through PDF. Here's which PDFPilot tools handle the document work that comes up most in legal practice, and why. One common legal need — redaction that provably removes content, not just visually covers it — isn't listed below because PDFPilot doesn't offer it yet; see the note under Compare PDFs.

• Merge PDF

  Assembling an exhibit packet or a multi-part filing from separate PDFs into one document, in a specific order, is a routine part of preparing filings.

• PDF Metadata Editor

  Document metadata (author, creation tool, timestamps) can end up in a filed PDF without anyone intending it. Reviewing and clearing it before filing is a real, common precaution.

• Watermark PDF

  Marking a document "Draft" or "Privileged and Confidential" before it's circulated for review is a standard practice this tool does directly, page by page.

• Compare PDFs

  Confirming exactly what changed between two versions of a contract or filing — not just that something changed — is what Compare PDFs does by diffing extracted text directly. (Redaction is a related, frequently-requested need this tool does not cover — it isn't built, since guaranteeing removed content is actually gone from the file, not just visually hidden, is a correctness bar not yet met.)