For a thesis or dissertation you have to submit
The thesis is due tomorrow morning, as a single PDF/A.
The body text, the appendices, the signed declaration of authenticity and the scanned internship certificate: four pieces written at different times, to be brought together into one file before submission. The registrar or the library often asks for a PDF/A for archiving, continuous pagination and a table of contents that matches the actual pages — three requirements a word processor does not handle on its own. Everything here happens in the browser, with no account and no upload to a server.
Three requirements of the deposit
What the regulations ask for, and how to meet them.
“One file, in the order of the outline”
The body, the appendices, the signed declaration of authenticity and the scanned internship certificate were born separately — from a word processor, a scanner, sometimes another piece of software for the appendices. Bring them together in the order of the outline, then number the whole thing once it is assembled: pagination done before merging matches nothing afterwards. The table of contents is built last, on the final file, to point to pages that actually exist.
“PDF/A required for the deposit”
Many university libraries and institutional archives only accept PDF/A, a format built to stay readable twenty years from now. VellumPDF offers two versions of it: a conforming mode, whose conformance is proven by the veraPDF validator but which turns the pages into images — the text is no longer selectable — and a faithful mode, which keeps the text but without a guarantee of conformance. The right choice depends on what your deposit actually checks.
“The file exceeds the deposit limit”
Figures and scanned documents — a signed declaration, a stamped certificate — weigh far more than plain text, while most deposits cap the file size. Compress before the final submission, at a quality level that keeps the diagrams readable. A printed, bound copy is often required as well: it is prepared separately, once the digital file is finalised.
Why it is free, and why it stays that way
Online PDF suites send your files to their servers: that computation costs them money, so they ration it — a few files a day, a watermark, an account to create, a subscription at the end of it. VellumPDF does the computing on your device. There is no server to pay for, so there is nothing to ration: no quota, no account, no watermark. And because a thesis can hold unpublished research data, it is best kept on your own computer until it is officially submitted.
The six useful moves
What you will actually do.
Bring every piece into one PDF
Assemble the body, the appendices, the declaration of authenticity and the scanned internship certificate in the order of the outline, as a single document.
Merge PDF →Number the whole thing once assembled
Give the final file continuous pagination, so a reference in the outline points to the right page.
Number the pages →Build the table of contents
Detect the headings of the assembled document and propose a table, to check before saving since the hierarchy is generated automatically.
Create a table of contents →Produce a PDF/A for archiving
Convert to the format libraries and archives require, in a conforming (veraPDF-validated) or a faithful mode, depending on what the deposit demands.
Convert to PDF/A →Squeeze an oversized file through
Bring down the weight of figures and scans until it clears the limit stated by the deposit.
Compress PDF →Prepare the printed copy
Lay out a booklet to print and bind, when a paper copy is required alongside the digital deposit.
Create a booklet →What VellumPDF does not do
VellumPDF does not write your bibliography, does not check that your layout follows your institution’s formatting rules, and does not guarantee PDF/A conformance in faithful mode — only the conforming mode is proven by veraPDF. It keeps nothing: close the tab without downloading the result and nothing remains, including research data that should not circulate before publication.
A deposit rejected for the wrong format is rarely fixed the night before the defence.
Submission deadlines are no more negotiable than application ones. If VellumPDF saved you from a rejection over a non-conforming format, the most useful thing you can do is tell the people writing the same thesis at the same time. The site is free for everyone and will stay that way: no account to create, no app to install, no paid tier that unlocks a tool.
VellumPDF in detail: see our privacy page, or the case of students.