Government portals, job application systems, and school admissions sites each have their own file format rules and upload size limits, which means almost everyone runs into the same two questions while assembling paperwork: "how do I combine these into one PDF?" and "why won't this upload, it says the file is too big?" The steps below take you from a pile of paper or a phone full of photos all the way to a finished upload file, with no software to install. Every step runs inside this browser tab, so your documents are never sent to a server while you work on them.
The full order
- Scan or photograph each document — A real scanner is great if you have one, but a phone camera works fine for almost everything. Lay the paper flat, shoot from directly above in good light, and avoid shadows and glare. If text looks blurry on screen, it's faster to just retake the photo now than to try to fix it later.
- Combine photos into a single PDF — Load your photos in order into the JPG to PDF Converter; you can drag to reorder them and export straight to PDF, with iPhone HEIC photos supported automatically. For a closer walkthrough, see the JPG to PDF guide.
- Merge multiple PDFs and organize pages — If you have several separate PDFs — an application form, an employment certificate, a bank statement copy — that need to become one file, use Merge & Split PDF, where you can drag files into the order you want before combining them. If you instead need to rotate, delete, or reorder pages within a single PDF, the Organize PDF Pages tool handles that in one screen. More detail is in the merge PDF guide.
- Compress to fit the upload limit — Many portals cap how large a single upload can be, and the exact limit varies by system, so always check the instructions on the specific form you're submitting rather than assuming a number. Start with Normal mode in Compress PDF, which keeps text sharp and intact while shrinking embedded images. If the file is still too big, Strong mode rebuilds every page as a flattened image for maximum size reduction — but remember that the text inside becomes unselectable and unsearchable once you do that. Full details are in the compress PDF guide.
- Convert between HWP and PDF if needed — If someone sent you a Korean HWP file and you don't have Hangul Word Processor installed, open it with the HWP Viewer & HWP to PDF Converter and save it as a PDF (see the guide). If you need to go the other direction and edit a PDF form's content in Hangul, the PDF to HWP (HWPX) Converter rebuilds it into an editable HWPX file (see the guide).
- Prepare an ID photo if one is required — Passports, ID cards, and some job applications call for a photo cropped to an exact size. The Passport & ID Photo Maker crops your photo to standard passport, ID card, or custom dimensions (see the guide). Background color rules and retouching limits differ by issuing authority, so check the official photo specification before you submit.
- Do a final check before uploading — Open the finished file and confirm every page made it in, in the right order, with nothing cropped or cut off at the edges, before you hit submit.
Why upload size limits differ from portal to portal
Government portals, job boards, and school application systems each run on completely different software, which is why the allowed file size and format (PDF only, HWP allowed, zip files banned, etc.) varies so much between them. Stating a specific number here would almost certainly be wrong for at least some of the portals you might be using, so always check the attachment instructions on the actual form or upload screen before you submit. A few things tend to hold true across most of them, though:
- Most systems prefer one combined PDF over several separate files uploaded one at a time.
- More scanned images means a bigger file, so it's worth compressing (step 4 above) before you try to upload, rather than after a rejection.
- Some portals explicitly disallow zip archives as attachments, so check the instructions rather than assuming a zip will be accepted.
- File names with spaces, special characters, or non-Latin characters occasionally break older upload systems; renaming to something simple with letters, numbers, and hyphens is a safe default if you run into an unexplained upload error.
A note on compression trade-offs
It's worth understanding what you're trading away at each compression level before you pick one. Light and Normal modes only touch embedded images and strip unused data, so the underlying text layer stays fully intact — you can still select, copy, and search it, and the file still looks sharp when zoomed in. Strong mode is a different approach entirely: it renders each page as a single flattened image, which achieves the smallest possible file size but permanently loses the text layer in the process. For a document that just needs to be readable by a human reviewer, Strong mode is usually fine. For something that might get OCR'd, searched, or partially copied by the receiving system, stick with Normal if the size limit allows it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just take a photo instead of scanning?
In most cases, yes. Lay the paper flat in good light, avoid shadows, and shoot straight-on from directly above, and a phone photo can be just as readable as a scan. Some forms or portals specifically require a true scan rather than a photo, though, so check the submission instructions first.
My PDF is too big to upload. What do I do?
Try the Normal mode in the PDF compressor first. It reduces embedded images to around 150dpi while leaving the text itself untouched, which usually cuts file size a lot. If it's still too large, Strong mode rebuilds every page as an image, which shrinks it the most but means the text inside can no longer be selected, copied, or searched.
A form asks for an HWP file but I don't have Hangul Word Processor. What now?
You can open HWP and HWPX files with Dagochim's HWP viewer with no software install, and save the result as a PDF. If you need to go the other way and edit a PDF's content in Hangul, the PDF to HWP tool rebuilds it into an editable HWPX file, though complex tables or multi-column layouts may not come out pixel-identical to the original.