No — this is the whole point for application paperwork. Your documents are opened, rendered with pdfjs, masked by flattening and merged with pdf-lib entirely on your device, with no server, no API and no CDN call for your files; the page even works offline once cached. Nothing is sent, logged or stored. That is exactly why you should never use a random online “merge documents” or “scholarship form” site — those upload your transcripts, ID and financial records to a stranger’s server. Here, only the merged PDF or ZIP you choose to export leaves the page, and closing the tab discards everything.

A typical scholarship or admission application needs academic transcripts or marksheets, a degree / completion certificate, two or three recommendation letters (LORs), a statement of purpose or personal essay, a resume / CV, ID proof, a photo and the completed application form. Many also require standardized test scores (SAT / ACT for undergraduate, GRE / GMAT for graduate) and English proficiency (IELTS / TOEFL) for international applicants, plus financial documents or proof of funds; need-based and category-based scholarships add income, category or domicile certificates. The exact required documents, formats and order vary by scholarship, university, program and country and change often, so always follow the official requirements for your specific application. Note that official transcripts, recommendation letters and official test scores are frequently sent directly by your school, referee or the test body through the portal, not merged into a single file by you. This tool gives you a checklist per application type to organize against, but it is general guidance, not the official list.

Yes. Some scholarship portals want all your supporting documents in a single PDF in a particular order. Upload your transcripts, certificates, SOP, resume, ID and supporting documents (images or PDFs), arrange them with the up/down arrows, set the applicant name and program / scholarship, and export one merged PDF that starts with an auto-generated cover/index page listing every document. If a portal instead wants each file separately, export the ZIP, which contains each document flattened (masks baked in) on its own. Both are built entirely in your browser. Remember that some items — official transcripts, recommendation letters, official test scores — are usually submitted directly by the institution, referee or test body rather than included in your merged PDF.

It is good practice to share only what the scholarship or university needs. In this tool you draw black boxes over details you don’t need to disclose — a full ID / Aadhaar / passport number, a bank-account number, a certificate or registration number, or even the exact income figure on a need-based income certificate if you only need to show you fall within an eligibility band. The masking is real: each box is painted onto the page image and the PDF is rebuilt from those images, so the hidden content is physically gone with no recoverable text layer. But you place the boxes, so cover every detail you want hidden, zoom in to review each page before exporting, and never mask anything the scholarship or university actually requires to see.