The Squishly blog

Make sense of your documents

Practical, jargon-free guides to file formats, PDFs, scanning, compression and getting document work done — from the team behind the tools.

File Formats 6 min

Demystifying Text File Formats: TXT, RTF, CSV, and When to Use Each

Navigate the world of digital documents by understanding the fundamental differences and best uses for common text-based file formats like TXT, RTF, and CSV.

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Productivity 4 min

Collaborating on Documents: Best Practices for Seamless Teamwork and Version Control

Discover effective strategies for managing team documents, preventing version control nightmares, and fostering productive collaboration in any digital workspac

July 21, 2026
Abstract shapes representing documents merging, splitting, and reordering, symbolizing efficient PDF organization.
How-To 4 min

Mastering Document Organization: Merge, Split, and Reorder PDFs

Learn essential techniques for combining multiple documents, splitting large files, and reordering pages to streamline your workflow and keep your information t

July 16, 2026
Two distinct document stacks symbolizing the difference between PDF and Word formats.
Comparisons 2 min

PDF vs. Word (DOCX): What's the Difference and When to Use Each

They look similar on screen, but a PDF and a Word document do fundamentally different jobs. Here's how to pick the right one every time.

July 14, 2026
Illustration showing the history of PDF, from an early digital document transforming into a globally recognized format.
History 2 min

The History of the PDF: How One Format Took Over the World

From a scrappy 1990s project called "Camelot" to the format that runs contracts, boarding passes and tax returns — the surprising story of the PDF.

July 10, 2026
Abstract document shapes on display, illustrating different file formats and explaining their extensions.
File Formats 2 min

A Field Guide to Document File Formats (and When to Use Each)

PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, TXT, RTF, ODT — what every common document extension actually means, in plain English.

July 7, 2026
Digital transformation of a document, illustrating optical character recognition (OCR) extracting searchable text.
Explainers 2 min

What Is OCR? How Scanned Paper Becomes Searchable Text

A photo of a page is just pixels — you can't select or search it. OCR is the technology that reads those pixels back into real, usable text.

July 3, 2026
Messy, overflowing digital files transforming into a compact, organized icon, illustrating file compression.
Explainers 2 min

Why Documents Get So Big — and How File Compression Actually Works

A five-page report shouldn't be 40 MB. Here's what's really bloating your files, and the plain-English idea behind shrinking them.

June 28, 2026