How long free PDF websites keep your uploaded files

Most free PDF websites do the work on their own servers. The file is uploaded, changed there, and kept for a while before it is deleted. How long it is kept is written on each company's own pages. This table gathers those statements, checked on 26 September 2026. They are the companies' own statements; this page does not test them.

What each site says

Site	Where the work happens	How long the file is kept	Account needed
iLovePDF	Its servers	Deleted within 2 hours of processing	Not stated
Smallpdf	Its servers	1 hour for free tools (Smallpdf blog)	No
PDF24 Tools	Its servers	Deleted within 1 hour	No
Sejda	Its servers	Deleted after 2 hours (tool pages)	No
Adobe Acrobat online	Adobe's servers	Deleted unless you sign in to save it; no time given	Only to save or share
FreeConvert	Its servers	Deleted after 8 hours	No
PDFgear	Your browser for edit, merge, extract and split; its servers for Compress	Compress: deleted after you download, and 20 minutes after you leave the site	No
Drawboard	Your browser for Merge and Compress	Never uploaded	No
WholeFiles	Named on each tool page: your browser or its server	Your browser: never uploaded. Its server: deleted within 10 minutes	No

Notes from the companies' own pages

• Smallpdf gives two different answers. Its blog says 1 hour for free tools. Its privacy policy says 1 hour for account users, and for people without an account, "within a reasonable period of time after the last time they were opened".
• Sejda has a new privacy policy, in force since 11 September 2026. It says files are "permanently deleted after upload or processing respectively", with no time given, while the tool pages still say 2 hours.
• PDFgear now runs its edit, merge, extract and split tools in the browser. Its Compress tool uses its servers, which its privacy policy places in the United States.
• PDF24 says its servers are in Germany on one page and in EU data centres on another. Its free PDF24 Creator desktop program works without an internet connection.
• Sejda also offers Sejda Desktop, which works without an internet connection.
• Adobe runs Acrobat online in data centres in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Browser tools and server tools

A tool that runs in the browser reads the file from your own disk, does the work with your own processor, and hands the result back. The file never travels over the internet, so there is nothing to delete afterwards. What a browser can do to a PDF explains which jobs work this way and which need a server.

Every tool page on this site says where the tool runs. A tool marked "Runs on your device" never uploads the file. A tool marked "Runs on our server" sends it over an encrypted connection and deletes it within 10 minutes. On this site, only these jobs are ever sent to a server: turning a PDF into an editable Word file, turning Word, Excel or PowerPoint files into PDF, reading the text in a scan or a photo, adding or removing a PDF password, repairing a damaged PDF, shrinking the pictures in a PDF while keeping its text, and removing a photo's background.

Choosing a tool for a private file

For contracts, identity documents, bank statements and medical letters:

• Prefer a tool that runs in the browser, such as Merge PDF, Split PDF or Compress PDF on this site.
• When a server is needed, read the site's own deletion statement first, and pick the shortest time.
• For a job no browser tool can do, a desktop program such as PDF24 Creator keeps the file on your computer.