File Checklist for Online Applications

• Read the form's accepted formats (often PDF and/or JPG).
• Check the maximum file size (commonly 2–10 MB per file).
• Convert documents to the required format.
• Compress files that exceed the size limit.
• Use clear file names like Firstname_Lastname_Document.pdf.
• Remove private metadata from photos and scans.
• Keep readable scans (300 DPI is plenty).

Reading the form's rules properly

Upload forms hide their constraints in small print next to the file button, and they come in five flavours: an accepted-format list, a per-file size limit, a total size limit for the whole application, a page or file count, and sometimes a naming rule. Read all five before touching a single file, because the fix for one can break another — compressing a PDF into page images satisfies the size limit but can breach a rule that the text must be searchable.

Size units are a trap of their own. One form's "1 MB" means 1,000,000 bytes, another's means 1,048,576. Our compress-to-target tools aim for the stricter decimal definition so the output passes either way; if you compress elsewhere, leave a 5% margin.

Naming and ordering a batch

Reviewers open dozens of applications; a file called IMG_4471.jpgtells them nothing, and a mis-ordered set of pages tells them you did not check. Image Studio's rename option expands tokens for the whole batch — a pattern of Lastname_Transcript_{n2} produces Lastname_Transcript_01.jpg, _02 and so on in the order shown, and the up/down arrows let you fix that order before processing. If two outputs would collide, the ZIP download adds a numeric suffix instead of overwriting one.

Legibility and privacy

A scan is readable when 10-point text is still crisp at 100% zoom; 300 DPI on an A4 page achieves that with room to spare, and Image DPI Checkertells you what a file is actually set to. Going higher only inflates the size. On the privacy side, a phone photo of your passport carries the GPS position of wherever you took it; every tool in the table above re-draws the image through the browser canvas, which drops that metadata, but if you upload an untouched photo, strip it first with Remove Image Metadata.