How to replace 5 desktop apps with browser tools for quick jobs

If you keep full desktop apps installed for jobs you do twice a year, you can usually do those jobs in a browser tab instead. Photopea handles quick image edits, iLovePDF handles everyday PDF tasks, PairDrop moves files between your phone and PC, CloudConvert converts odd file formats, and diagrams.net draws flowcharts. Below is what each tool does, how to use it, and when you should still use an installed app.

Which jobs suit a browser tool

Browser tools work best for short, occasional jobs that don’t need deep desktop integration. Think of a five-minute photo fix, merging two PDFs, or sending one file to your phone.

Installed software is still the better choice for tools you use every day, and for jobs that need serious performance, automation or dependable offline access. The apps worth removing are the ones you installed for one small task and then ignored for six months.

Edit images and PSD files in Photopea instead of GIMP

Photopea is a browser image editor that covers the occasional jobs you might keep GIMP around for: removing an object from a photo, cleaning up a scan, adding text on its own layer, or opening a PSD file someone sent you.

It supports:

• Layers, masks and smart objects
• Layer styles and adjustment layers
• Selections
• PSD files and a long list of formats from other design apps

The interface follows the general Photoshop layout. If you’ve used a traditional desktop editor, you’ll usually find the tool you want without much searching.

Photopea processes files on your device instead of uploading them. The editor runs locally and can use your computer’s CPU and GPU, so you can open a screenshot or work file without wondering where it ended up afterward.

1. Open Photopea in your browser.
2. Open the image or PSD file you want to edit.
3. Make your edit with the layer, mask or selection tools.
4. Save or export the result, then close the tab.

Merge, split and compress PDFs with iLovePDF instead of Acrobat

Most PDF jobs are smaller than a full editor like Adobe Acrobat is built for. You may need to pull out three pages, combine two files, compress a scan, fix the page rotation, or run OCR (optical character recognition, which turns a scanned image into selectable text) on a badly photographed document.

iLovePDF covers most of those jobs:

• Merging and splitting PDF files
• Converting documents
• Compressing PDFs
• Rotating pages
• Running OCR on scans

Many of the basic tasks are free. Paid plans add higher limits and extra features.

Unlike Photopea, iLovePDF needs you to upload your files for processing. The company says uploaded files are encrypted in transit and automatically deleted from its servers within two hours. That’s fine for plenty of routine documents.

Keep sensitive files off it. Unredacted financial documents, medical records, confidential contracts and anything else you’d rather keep entirely on your machine should go through a local PDF tool instead. An easy website doesn’t make every document a good candidate for uploading.

Send files between your phone and PC with PairDrop

PairDrop moves a file from one device to another through the browser, with no USB cable and no detour through cloud storage. It works across Android, Windows, macOS, iOS and Linux, so you can mix devices freely.

1. Open the PairDrop site on both devices.
2. On the sending device, pick the device you want to send to.
3. Choose the file and send it.

Transfers use WebRTC, a browser technology that connects two devices directly, so the file doesn’t have to be uploaded and downloaded again. When the network won’t allow a direct connection, PairDrop can fall back to a TURN relay, a server that passes the data between the two devices.

If your devices can’t see each other

Restrictive guest Wi-Fi and networks that isolate devices from each other can get in the way. PairDrop grew out of the Snapdrop idea and adds device pairing, temporary rooms and public rooms for these cases, along with its relay support. Try pairing the two devices or using a room when local discovery doesn’t work.

You can also self-host PairDrop if you want the same workflow running under your own control.

Convert odd file formats with CloudConvert

Every so often you’ll end up with one audio file, ebook, font, image, document or video in a format your app refuses to open. CloudConvert supports more than 200 formats, so you don’t need to install a small dedicated converter you’ll never use again.

For deliberate video transcoding, where you want control over codecs, quality, presets, queues and output settings, a desktop tool such as VidCoder or HandBrake is still the better fit. CloudConvert is for the stray file.

The free tier has these limits:

• 10 conversion credits per day
• 1 GB maximum file size
• Five-minute processing limit

That’s enough for occasional conversions, but not for pointing a whole video library at it.

Conversion happens on CloudConvert’s servers. The company says transfers are encrypted, jobs run inside isolated containers, and uploaded files are kept only as long as needed for processing before they’re deleted. If you’d rather not send files to someone else’s servers, a self-hosted converter such as ConvertX keeps much of the browser workflow while the processing runs on hardware you control.

Draw flowcharts and diagrams with diagrams.net instead of Visio

If you make diagrams only now and then, a paid diagramming subscription is hard to justify. diagrams.net, previously known as draw.io, handles most of what you’d use Visio for without an account or subscription.

You can use it for flowcharts, rough network diagrams, process maps and architecture sketches. It includes:

• Snap-to-grid tools and connectors
• A large shape library
• Icon sets for platforms and vendors such as AWS, Azure and Cisco

1. Open diagrams.net in your browser.
2. Build your diagram from the shape library and connectors.
3. Save the editable version in the native .drawio format, either locally or wherever you prefer.
4. Export the finished diagram as PNG, SVG or PDF.

Once the editor has loaded, it keeps working if you lose your internet connection, so a dropped Wi-Fi signal won’t cost you your work in progress.

Frequently asked questions

Does Photopea upload my images to a server?

No. Photopea processes files on your device and runs locally using your computer’s CPU and GPU.

Is iLovePDF safe for private documents?

The company says files are encrypted in transit and deleted from its servers within two hours, which suits routine documents. For financial, medical or confidential files, use a local PDF tool instead.

What are CloudConvert’s free limits?

The free tier gives you 10 conversion credits per day, a 1 GB maximum file size and a five-minute processing limit.

Does diagrams.net work offline?

Yes, once the browser editor has loaded it keeps working if your connection drops, and you can save diagrams locally instead of to an online account.