ChatPDF — Chat with your PDFs

ChatPDF is a web-based tool that uses AI to let you interact with PDF documents conversationally. Instead of manually reading a long document to find a single fact or key idea, you upload the PDF and ask natural-language questions to get concise answers, summaries, or extracted sections.

Key capabilities

• Upload and query PDFs: Ask questions about the document content and get direct answers based on the PDF text.
• Summarization: Generate document summaries or chapter-level overviews.
• Search & extraction: Find specific passages, figures, or data without scrolling through the entire file.
• Follow-up Q&A: Continue the conversation with follow-up questions that reference previous replies.
• Exportable conversations: Save or copy chat responses for notes, study guides, or reports.

How it works

Upload a PDF file in the web interface, then start a chat. The system processes the PDF text (OCR is applied when needed) and builds a representation that the AI can reference. You ask questions in natural language and the AI returns answers citing content from the uploaded file where applicable.

Common use cases

• Students: Summarize articles, extract study notes, clarify figures or methods.
• Professionals: Quickly find clauses in contracts, extract key data from reports, or review manuals.
• Researchers: Scan literature, cross-check references, and get brief summaries of long papers.
• General readers: Understand book chapters, instruction manuals, or technical documentation faster.

Security & privacy

ChatPDF processes uploaded PDFs on its servers to enable the AI-powered features. Before uploading sensitive or confidential documents, review ChatPDF's privacy policy and terms of service to understand retention, access, and deletion policies. The product often provides information about data handling on the site, but specific guarantees depend on their current privacy practices.

Limitations

• Performance and accuracy depend on the quality of the PDF (scanned pages may require OCR and can reduce accuracy).
• Very large or highly structured documents (tables, complex formatting) may produce less precise extractions.
• Answers are based on the PDF content as processed by the system; hallucination risks exist if the model infers beyond the provided text.

Getting started

1. Visit the website and click to upload a PDF.
2. Wait for the file to be processed (OCR applied if needed).
3. Type questions in the chat box and iterate until you have the information you need.
4. Copy or export important answers for your notes or workflow.

Note: ChatPDF typically offers a free tier with usage limits and may offer paid/pro accounts for higher limits, faster responses, and additional features. Check the site for current pricing and plan details.