OpenShelf
Download v1.9.0
OpenShelf for Mac

PDF tools for Mac

OpenShelf (free, MIT-licensed, offline, by Manan Santoki) handles PDFs on Mac: combine, split, compress, and OCR mid-drag, plus format conversion. The ⇧ Convert wheel turns PDFs into DOCX, JPG, Markdown, EPUB, and more; the ⇧⌥ Tools wheel runs PDF-specific actions — Combine, Pages, Split, Compress, Metadata, and OCR — without uploading anything.

Download v1.9.0 PDF on the home demo
Convert wheel

Change PDF format mid-drag

  1. Drag a PDF from Finder.
  2. Tap ⇧ Shift and drop on DOCX, JPG, TXT, Markdown, EPUB, PPTX, XLSX, or ZIP.
  3. Some Office targets (for example PPTX or XLSX) work best when optional LibreOffice is installed from Settings → Extra Formats.
Tools wheel

Edit and inspect PDFs

Tap ⇧⌥ Shift-Option while dragging (default Tools key) and drop on:

  • Combine — merge several PDFs or images into one PDF.
  • Pages — reorder, rotate, or delete pages.
  • Split — separate a PDF into individual files.
  • Compress — smaller copy with Light, Balanced, or Strong preset.
  • Metadata — view or edit document properties.
  • OCR — searchable PDF or plain text from scans (preserves existing text).
OpenShelf Tools wheel during a drag
Tools wheel during a drag (Combine, Split, OCR, and other tools from the README)
Built-in macOS

Preview and Shortcuts

  • Preview: reorder, delete, or export PDF pages, and save pages as images (rearrange pages, export PDFs and images — Apple Preview User Guide).
  • Finder Quick Actions: select files, right-click → Quick Actions → Create PDF, or run Shortcuts and Automator workflows you build (Apple Support).
FAQ

PDF questions

Does OpenShelf upload PDFs for OCR?

No. OCR runs on your Mac. Output is saved beside each original as documented in the README.

Can OpenShelf create PDFs from Word?

Yes, via the Convert wheel on DOCX and other document formats. LibreOffice improves some Office conversions when installed.