Claude PDF Tools connectorWhat Claude does with your PDFs, right on your own computer.
The Claude PDF Tools connector exposes 43 tools. 16 read your PDFs, 13 can change them or produce files, 14 have no established direction. Below: what Claude does with your documents locally, what it can rewrite, and which folders to open to it first.
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What changes if you handle PDFs all day
PDF Tools turns Claude Desktop into a PDF workshop that runs on your own machine, without shipping files off to an online PDF service. Claude reads, searches, fills in, signs, merges or splits your documents while it answers you. One limit to know upfront: there's no text recognition on scanned pages.
Fill in forms in bulk. When the same details keep coming back, save_profile stores them as a profile, fill_with_profile applies them, and bulk_fill_from_csv fills several PDFs from a spreadsheet export.
Get a document ready to sign. detect_signature_zones finds where to sign, initial or date, then apply_signature and apply_text place a signature, date or text on those spots, locally.
Reorganize a file. merge_pdfs combines several PDFs into one, split_pdf breaks a report up by page range, and apply_page_plan reorders, rotates and deletes pages in one pass while keeping the original.
What Claude doesn't do here: no remote version for Cowork or Claude on the web, since it targets Claude Desktop and other local hosts; no optical recognition of scans; and fourteen tools that no source pins down as read or write. Nothing runs in the background either. To process PDFs as they arrive you need an automation tool, a different job; the Integrations hub covers that side.
The vocabulary in one minute
Five words that come up below.
- Connector
- What you install once to open a tool or service to Claude; here, an extension that works on your own disk.
- Tool
- A named action the connector makes possible. Claude picks which ones to call by itself, and the directory sheet lists them.
- Desktop extension
- A connector installed in the Claude Desktop app, acting on the machine's own files rather than online.
- Approval
- The confirmation Claude asks for before an action that changes something, shown in the chat at the right time.
- MCP
- The open standard that links connectors to Claude; it's how the assistant drives PDF Tools.
Install PDF Tools in Claude in three steps
- 01
Open Claude Desktop
PDF Tools targets Claude Desktop and doesn't offer a remote connector yet. Open the settings, then Customize and Connectors, and find PDF Tools. On Team or Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner has to enable it first.
- 02
Add it
Click Connect on its row. No account is involved: the extension works on your local files. If the install goes sideways, use Disconnect and start over.
- 03
Pick the folders it can reach
The extension's settings include an allowed directories field. If a service ever shows you an authorization screen, read it before accepting: that screen, not Claude, sets how far access goes.
The 43 tools, grouped by what they do
PDF Tools gives Claude 43 tools: 16 that read your account, 13 that change something in it, and 14 no official source describes.
Three groups: what Claude reads, what can change a file, and what no source sorts clearly. Names stay in English.
- 16 read
- 13 write
- 14 not documented
What Claude reads (16)
16 toolsSixteen tools that display, read, search or analyze your PDFs without changing them.
display_pdf
Opens a PDF in the interactive viewer: page navigation, zoom, search, fullscreen, text selection and a sidebar showing form fields with their fill status.
load_profile
Opens a stored profile, one of those reusable sets of personal or business details, so Claude knows what's in it before filling anything.
list_profiles
Shows the profiles already saved, those sets of personal or business details kept for reuse. The publisher pitches listing, loading and applying them as the way to get repeated forms done in seconds rather than minutes.
validate_pdf
Checks that a form has every required field filled in before it goes out the door. The publisher pairs it with bulk filling from a spreadsheet.
read_pdf_content
Reads a PDF's existing text layer for a summary, a specific question or research. If the result has no text, the tool can return an image of page 1 instead.
read_pdf_pages
Reads a bounded set of pages instead of the whole document. Handy for keeping the answer focused on a long file without flooding the chat.
convert_pdf_to_markdown
Turns pages into Markdown text, rebuilding tables backed by the document and checked web links. Doubtful links stay as plain text and get flagged as typed gaps.
verify_table_proposal
Holds a proposed table up against the original PDF and only returns it if text and layout match. An unclear table stays unconverted for a human to look at.
render_pdf_page
Turns a whole page into a PNG image so the model can look at it, which is what scanned or image-heavy documents call for. The publisher insists the result is a raster picture, not recognized text.
render_pdf_region
Captures one bounded region of a page as a PNG image, a signature block for instance, rather than the whole page. As with full-page renders, the publisher stresses that what comes back is a picture, not recognized text.
search_pdf_text
Looks for a term in the PDF's text and finds every occurrence. Useful for checking a clause across a whole document without reading all of it.
inspect_pdf_accessibility
Runs a bounded structural check on an unencrypted local PDF, flagging missing or unavailable signals. The publisher warns it reaches no compliance conclusion.
compare_pdfs
Compares documents with each other: the directory sheet lists comparison among what the connector does with a PDF already on your computer, next to merging and splitting. No source details how the differences are reported.
get_pdf_info
Gathers observations about a file tied to its SHA-256 fingerprint, keeps form annotations apart from ordinary ones and returns links as inert values.
get_page_analysis
Inspects each page for orientation, whether there's text, images and likely blank pages. The publisher files it with its extraction and analysis tools, and it shows quickly which pages need a closer look.
detect_signature_zones
Detects likely signature, initials, printed-name and date zones, with coordinates Claude can reason from in a next step, such as placing a signature. The publisher presents it as part of its Sign mode.
What can change a file (13)
13 toolsThirteen tools that fill in, sign, reorganize or download PDFs. No source describes their confirmation, so the general rule applies.
fill_pdf
Approval: see the ruleFills in a PDF form with fields: W-9s, tax forms, rental applications, waivers, any fillable PDF.
bulk_fill_from_csv
Approval: see the ruleFills in many PDFs from the rows of a CSV file, the kind of table you export from a spreadsheet.
save_profile
Approval: see the ruleStores personal or business details as a reusable profile.
fill_with_profile
Approval: see the ruleApplies a stored profile to a form so the same details land in the right fields without retyping.
merge_pdfs
Approval: see the ruleCombines several PDFs into a single document. The result is a new file.
split_pdf
Approval: see the ruleSplits a PDF by exact page ranges or at regular intervals.
rotate_pdf_pages
Approval: see the ruleRotates pages in a PDF, by a quarter turn for instance, to straighten a crooked scan.
reorder_pdf_pages
Approval: see the ruleChanges the order of a PDF's pages without adding or removing any.
apply_page_plan
Approval: see the ruleApplies a full page plan in one pass: reorder, rotate and delete, while keeping the original, per the publisher.
fetch_pdf_from_url
Approval: see the ruleDownloads a PDF from a web address to your machine, into a folder you've allowed, so it can be opened in the viewer next.
add_signature_field
Approval: see the ruleAdds signature and date boxes to a PDF where the document didn't have any.
apply_signature
Approval: see the rulePlaces a signature on a detected or custom zone, using local signatures. The publisher describes edits that stay on your machine.
apply_text
Approval: see the rulePlaces a date or other text on a detected or custom zone of the PDF.
Direction unclear (14)
14 toolsThe sheet lists these names; some get a mention from the publisher, others none at all. No source says whether they read or write, and we won't guess.
list_pdfs
This name shows up on the sheet and in the publisher's list without a line of explanation. No official source describes it, so this page assigns it no role.
read_pdf_fields
The publisher names it among its form tools, next to filling and profiles, without saying exactly what it does. No source establishes whether it reads or changes anything.
extract_to_csv
Per the publisher, it handles extracting structured data to a CSV file. No source says whether it writes that file to your disk or just returns its contents.
read_pdf_layout
The sheet publishes this name and nothing else. Neither the publisher's guide nor Anthropic offers any description of it, and we won't interpret it from the name alone.
get_pdf_resource_uri
No published documentation describes this tool. All we know is that the publisher files it under its viewer and reading tools, with no further detail.
get_pdf_identity
The publisher lists this name without describing it anywhere, and Anthropic has nothing on it either. It is one of eight tools on the sheet with no descriptive sentence at all. No source says what it returns or whether it changes anything.
create_signature
The publisher talks about drawing or reusing saved local signatures, one sentence that covers three tools without telling them apart. No source says whether this one creates, reads or changes anything.
get_allowed_directories
Filed by the publisher under its active-document helpers, this name has no descriptive sentence anywhere, from the publisher or from Anthropic. This page therefore assigns it no function.
list_signatures
The second tool covered by that same sentence about saved signatures. Nothing in the sources sets it apart from the other two, or says whether it only reads.
load_signature
The third name tied to that same mention of reusable signatures, with no description of its own. No source establishes its direction, read or write, and this page doesn't fill that gap.
get_active_document
Active-document tracking during signing appears in the publisher's text, but this particular tool goes undescribed. No source says what it returns or how it acts on your files.
set_active_document
Same situation as its neighbor: the idea of an active document appears in the publisher's text, but no source documents this tool, and its direction is still unknown today.
prepare_signing_packet
The publisher describes preparing a provider-neutral handoff receipt bound to the exact local input and output, zones, roles and page geometry, without contacting a signing provider. No source says whether it writes that receipt to a file.
reveal_in_finder
The last name in the publisher's list of helpers, with not a single sentence to explain it. No source describes it, and this page sticks to flagging that silence.
What Claude asks before acting
By default, Claude stops and asks for your go-ahead before every action it takes for you on an account or service. The request shows up in the chat, at the moment it matters.
No source describes a confirmation specific to the thirteen tools that change a file, or to the fourteen with no established direction. The publisher does describe file-side safeguards: by default the extension reaches only Documents, Downloads and Desktop plus the folders you add, and it keeps a backup when signing changes the same file. On Team and Enterprise, Owners decide whether a member may let some actions through without a fresh prompt, and can restrict the connector for the whole organization.
Which plans it's available on
None of the 819 sheets in the official directory shows plan availability. Per connector, that information isn't published anywhere.
The general rule is published: desktop extensions install in Claude Desktop, and remote connectors are open on Claude, Cowork, Claude Desktop and mobile. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner enables them for the organization before members use them. The current state shows on the PDF Tools sheet in the official directory.
Where this connector stops
A connector isn't an automation. Claude calls these tools while it answers you, so no PDF fills itself in while you're away.
The tool list is an observed floor, not a ceiling: an admin can open actions that appear on no public sheet. This connector is documented by its publisher alone, whose guide also lists e-signing tools missing from the sheet; the rest of the family sits on the Claude connectors hub. Anthropic says on every sheet that it doesn't vouch for how the exposed tools behave, so add only publishers you trust.
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