Sheaf Support
Stuck or curious? Email hello@papermint.studio and a human reads every message, usually within a day.
Getting started and the desk5
- What you need. Sheaf runs on macOS 14 or later. It is coming soon to the Mac App Store.
- Put files on the desk. Drop PDFs and images anywhere on the window, click Add Files on Home, or press ⌘O. They appear under On the Desk in the sidebar and stay there while you move between tools, so you add them once.
- Pick a tool. Home lists all 21 tools in four groups, and so does the sidebar and the Tools menu. Type in Find a tool to jump to one. Press ⌘0 to go back to Home.
- Take files off the desk. Hover over a file and click its ×, or right-click it and choose Take Off the Desk. Clear (or ⇧⌘⌫) takes them all off. The files themselves stay where they are.
- Recent files. When the desk is empty, the sidebar shows your last few files. Click one to put it back on the desk; right-click it and choose Remove from Recent to forget it.
Shrink and combine4
- Compress. Choose Smallest, Balanced or Light, and Sheaf shows the new size before you save. Drag the slider across the page, or switch to side by side, to compare the original and the compressed copy up close. Text stays selectable and searchable.
- Merge. Join PDFs into one file, in the order you set.
- Split. Split a PDF by page ranges, every few pages, or into one file per page.
- Organize Pages. Reorder, rotate, delete and extract pages, across one file or several. Click a page to select it, ⌘-click or ⇧-click to pick more, ⌘A for all, and drag pages to move them. Save as One PDF writes the result as a new file.
Convert7
- PDF to Word. Makes an editable Word document with headings, lists, tables and pictures. Charts drawn in the PDF come across as pictures.
- PDF to Excel. Tables become real cells, and numbers stay numbers you can add up. Put each table on its own sheet, or all of them on one sheet.
- PDF to Text. Plain text or Markdown, in reading order.
- PDF to Images. Each page as a JPG or PNG, at the size you pick.
- Images to PDF. JPG, PNG and HEIC photos into a PDF, kept at full quality.
- Make Searchable. Recognises the text in scanned pages, so you can search and copy it. It uses Apple's Vision framework, on your Mac.
- Web Page to PDF. Type a web address and Sheaf saves the page as real PDF pages, with its links kept.
Protect and sign5
- Protect. Lock a PDF with a password, using AES-256. Type the password twice, and choose whether people who open it can print, copy, or edit. Keep the password somewhere safe: nobody, Sheaf included, can open the file without it.
- Unlock. Remove a password you know. Sheaf can't open a file without its password.
- Sign. Make your signature by drawing it, typing it, or using an image of it, then click it to place it and drag it onto the line. Initials, text, today's date and check marks can go on the page too. Placed items become part of the page when you save.
- Your saved signature. Sheaf keeps your signature and initials for next time. Use Delete on a saved one to remove it, or Redo to make a new one.
- Redact. Black out text so it is truly gone from the file, not just covered. Sheaf suggests emails, phone numbers, account numbers, names, dates and addresses: tick the ones to remove. You can also search for a word or phrase, or drag over anything on the page. Nothing is removed until you save.
Edit and check6
- Edit PDF. Change the text already on the page, find and replace words across the file, or add text, pictures, shapes, drawings, highlights, stamps and notes.
- Watermark. Put text or a logo on every page. Set the size, opacity, colour, position and whether it sits over or behind the page.
- Page Numbers. Number pages in the style and place you pick.
- Crop. Trim the margins on one page or all of them.
- Compare. Put two versions of a PDF side by side and see what changed, with a list of every change.
- Repair. Rescue a damaged PDF that won't open. Sheaf rebuilds the file from what it can still read and saves a repaired copy.
Saving and your originals3
- Every result is a new file. Sheaf saves to a name and place you choose, or into a folder you pick when a tool makes several files. It never writes over the file you started with.
- Show in Finder. After saving, the message at the bottom of the window has a Show in Finder button.
- Saving needs the trial or a purchase. Every tool can be tried for free. Saving works during the 3-day trial and after you buy Sheaf.
Free trial and purchase5
- Free for 3 days. Choose Start 3-day free trial when Sheaf offers it. Every tool works, saving included. Nothing is charged, and the trial never turns into a payment on its own.
- The trial belongs to your Apple Account. It runs for 3 days from the day you started it. Reinstalling Sheaf does not restart it.
- One-time purchase. Sheaf is $14.99 once (shown in your local currency), with no subscription and every future update included. Buy it from Unlock at the bottom of the sidebar, or Sheaf › Unlock Sheaf…. Payment is handled by the App Store.
- Restore Purchase. On a new Mac or after reinstalling, choose Sheaf › Restore Purchase, or Restore Purchase at the bottom of the Unlock window. Your purchase follows your Apple Account.
- Refunds. Purchases are handled by Apple, so refunds are too. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.
From Finder2
- Finder services. Select files in Finder, right-click and open Services, then choose Open in Sheaf, Compress with Sheaf, Merge with Sheaf, Make Searchable with Sheaf or Convert Images to PDF with Sheaf. Sheaf opens with the files on the desk.
- Don't see them? macOS can take a moment to list a new app's services. Open Sheaf once, and check that they are turned on in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Services.
If something doesn't work5
- A file is locked. A PDF with a password shows a lock on the desk. Click it, or right-click and choose Enter Password…, and type its password. Sheaf keeps the password only until you quit. To save a copy without the password, use Unlock.
- A file won't open. If a PDF is damaged, the desk says so. Open it in Repair, which rescues what it can into a new copy, then use that copy in other tools.
- I can't search or copy the text. The pages are probably scans: pictures of text. Run Make Searchable first, then search, copy or convert the new copy.
- A Word or Excel file doesn't look like the PDF. PDF to Word and PDF to Excel work best on text documents and clear tables. Complex layouts, like magazine pages with several columns and boxes, flow into one column, and charts come across as pictures.
- A file isn't added. Sheaf works with PDFs and images. Other kinds of files are left off the desk, and Sheaf says so.