DEV Community: MakeHumanAI

5 PDF conversions we made free, unlimited, and private (they run in your browser)

MakeHumanAI — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 06:33:38 +0000

5 PDF conversions we made free, unlimited, and private (they run in your browser)

We build MakeHumanAI, a small toolkit of free document tools. The converters were the hardest part to get right, because the obvious way to build them is also the worst way for the user: upload the file to a server, convert it there, and hope the person trusts you with their documents.

Most people converting a PDF are converting something private. A contract. A payslip. A visa application. So we built our converters the other way around: the conversion happens in the browser, and the file never leaves the device.

Here are the five we use the most ourselves:

1. PDF to Word — for when someone sends you a "final" PDF and then asks for one small change. makehumanai.com/pdf-to-word

2. Word to PDF — the reverse trip, for sending a document that should arrive looking exactly the way you left it. makehumanai.com/word-to-pdf

3. PDF to Image — when a form, portal or application insists on JPG pages instead of a PDF. makehumanai.com/pdf-to-image

4. Excel to PDF — spreadsheets print terribly; a PDF freezes the layout before you share it. makehumanai.com/excel-to-pdf

5. PDF to Excel — for pulling a table out of a PDF report back into something you can actually sort and filter. makehumanai.com/pdf-to-excel

No sign-up, no daily limit, no watermark on the result. That was a deliberate choice — the tools sit next to our photo and signature resizers that people use for government and job application forms, and those forms are stressful enough without a paywall in the middle.

If you try them and something breaks, we genuinely want to know. Small tools live or die on the details nobody reports.

— The MakeHumanAI team

DV Lottery 2027 Registration Opens November 1 — Dates, the New $1 Fee, Passport Rule and Photo Specs

MakeHumanAI — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:19:30 +0000

The US Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery — the "Green Card Lottery" — has been paused since December 2025. That is about to change. A US federal court order issued on October 14, 2026 requires the State Department to open DV-2027 registration by November 1, 2026, and to keep it open for at least 30 days. An official announcement with the final dates is expected by October 29, 2026.

Here is what is known so far, what is only reported (not yet official), and how to get your entry — especially your photo — right the first time.

The key dates

Event	Date
Program paused	Since December 2025
Court order requiring registration to open	October 14, 2026
Official announcement expected by	October 29, 2026
Registration opens by	November 1, 2026
Registration stays open	At least 30 days

Treat November 1 as the working date, but always confirm the final window on the only official entry site: dvprogram.state.gov.

Reported new requirements: $1 fee and a passport scan

News reports on the restarted program describe two changes this year:

A $1 entry fee — a small fee where entering used to be completely free.
A passport scan — applicants may need to upload a scan of a valid passport with the entry.

Both points are reported, not yet published in a final official announcement. Requirements can change between a court order and the official instructions, so check dvprogram.state.gov before you enter, and follow the instructions published there — not screenshots or social-media posts.

What has NOT changed: entering is something you do yourself

Submitting your own entry on dvprogram.state.gov costs nothing beyond the reported $1 fee. There is no official agent, broker or "commission" system for the DV Lottery.
Nobody can guarantee selection. Selection is a random draw. Anyone charging you for "guaranteed" selection, a "reserved slot" or a higher chance is running a scam.
Never hand over your confirmation number. You receive it when you submit your entry, and you need it to check your result. Anyone who submits "for you" and keeps the number can hold your result hostage. Enter yourself, save the number yourself.
A private service may legitimately help you prepare — for example checking your photo against the official specs — but the entry itself should always be submitted by you, on the official site.

DV photo specs (the part that rejects the most entries)

The photo is uploaded with your entry, and it is checked automatically. The requirements:

Requirement	Specification
Dimensions	600 × 600 px (square, 2×2 inch)
File format	JPEG (.jpg)
File size	240 KB or less
Background	Plain white or off-white, no shadows or patterns
Recency	Taken within the last 6 months
Head size	Head height must be 50–69% of the total image height
Face	Full face, directly facing the camera, neutral expression, both eyes open
Glasses	Not allowed
Editing	No filters, no retouching that changes your appearance

The most common failures are a head that is too small in the frame, a non-white background, and a file that is far over 240 KB straight from a phone camera.

You can check a photo against these rules before you enter with the free DV Lottery photo checker — it validates the size, dimensions and composition in your browser (nothing is uploaded) and can fix a photo to an exact 600×600 file. The full dates, rules and entry walkthrough are collected in the DV-2027 registration guide.

Pre-entry checklist

[ ] Valid passport ready (scan may be required this year — confirm on dvprogram.state.gov)
[ ] Photo: 600×600 px, JPEG, ≤ 240 KB, white background, taken within 6 months
[ ] Head fills 50–69% of the photo height, no glasses, no filters
[ ] Full names and dates of birth exactly as in official documents
[ ] Spouse and ALL children under 21 listed, as the instructions require
[ ] Entry submitted by you, on dvprogram.state.gov only
[ ] Confirmation number saved by you, in more than one place
[ ] One entry only — entering more than once disqualifies you

Prepare the photo and documents now, wait for the official announcement, and enter once, carefully, in the official window.

MakeHumanAI is a private tools website and is not affiliated with the US government or the State Department. Always confirm the final DV-2027 dates and requirements on dvprogram.state.gov before submitting.

US Visa Photo Requirements (DS-160) — The Exact Specs and How to Fix Rejections

MakeHumanAI — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:13:10 +0000

Every year, thousands of US visa applications hit an avoidable wall: the photo. The DS-160 form validates your uploaded photo automatically, and if it fails the technical checks, you cannot proceed until you fix it. Here are the exact requirements — and how to repair a rejected photo without Photoshop or a photo studio.

The official DS-160 photo specs

Requirement	Specification
Dimensions	Minimum 600 × 600 px, maximum 1200 × 1200 px (square, 2×2 inch)
File format	JPEG (.jpg) only
File size	240 KB or less
Background	Plain white or off-white, no shadows or patterns
Recency	Taken within the last 6 months
Head size	Head height must be 50–69% of the total image height
Eye position	Eyes must sit at 56–69% of the height from the bottom
Face	Full face, directly facing the camera, neutral expression, both eyes open
Glasses	Not allowed (since Nov 2016), except documented medical reasons
Head coverings	Only for religious/medical reasons, and the face must remain fully visible
Editing	No filters, no retouching that changes your appearance

Why photos get rejected

Wrong file size — A phone photo is usually 2–5 MB. The limit is 240 KB.
Head too small or too large — The 50–69% head-height rule is the single most common failure. A normal portrait usually has the head at 30–40% of the frame.
Non-white background — Cream walls, blue studio backdrops and outdoor shots all fail.
Shadows — A shadow on the wall behind you or across the face triggers rejection.
Glasses glare — Even when glasses sneak in, glare on the lenses hides the eyes.

How to fix a photo yourself (free, in the browser)

You do not need an app install or a studio visit for the technical parts:

Crop with a guide, not by eye. Use a framing guide that shows the head oval and eye lines so you can drag/zoom the photo until the head fills 50–69% of the frame. The DV Lottery photo checker uses the same head/eye geometry (the State Department applies near-identical composition rules), and its Smart Crop frame exports an exact 600×600 photo.
Validate against the DS-160 preset. The free Form Photo Validator checks dimensions, file size and format against the US visa preset and auto-fixes what it can, then lets you enhance a dark photo before downloading.
Compress last, not first. Always finish cropping before compressing — compressing first and cropping later multiplies quality loss. If the file is still over 240 KB after cropping, a targeted resize to an exact KB size keeps the dimensions intact.

One privacy note worth caring about: your passport/visa photo is identity data. Browser-based tools that process the image locally (on your device, with nothing uploaded) are safer than random "free converter" sites that keep your photo on their servers. Check for that before uploading a face photo anywhere.

Quick pre-upload checklist

[ ] Square, at least 600×600 px
[ ] JPEG, ≤ 240 KB
[ ] White background, no shadows
[ ] Head fills roughly 50–69% of the height
[ ] No glasses, no filters, taken within 6 months

Get those five right and the DS-160 uploader accepts the photo on the first try.

If you are applying for the DV Lottery instead, the composition rules are the same but the program has its own checker flow — see the DV Lottery photo checker. Always confirm the final specs on the official travel.state.gov website before submitting.