Steps
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Pull your graduate school's formatting guide for its minimums, then enter them at purplelink.llc/tools/thesis-format-checker/: a margin preset or custom inches per side, page size, minimum font size and a line spacing requirement.
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Click Choose a PDF or drop your thesis into the box. Files up to 200 MB are accepted; a long document takes a minute or two to read.
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Read the summary line once the report loads: page count, and how many checks passed, need review, or are informational.
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Open the page size, margins, page numbers, fonts and line spacing cards. Each names the exact pages that are off, not just a pass or fail.
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Check the front matter card. It lists which standard headings, title or approval page, copyright, abstract, table of contents and more, it found in the first 40 pages, in order. That confirms a heading exists, not that your university accepts its placement.
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Click Download this report as text and save it with your draft, as a record for the next revision.
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Fix only the pages a Review flag names, and only if it's actually wrong. Wide tables, landscape figures and chapter openings without numbers are often fine as is.
What's happening under the hood
The checker reads your PDF with pdf.js, which runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded, not even to Purplelink's servers. It measures where the text layer sits on each page for margins, reads font metadata for size and embedding, and reads printed page numbers for sequence. Front matter detection matches short lines against common heading patterns in the first 40 pages, skipping anything shaped like a table-of-contents entry. Because it only reads the text layer, a scanned thesis has nothing to measure.
Q&A
Will this tell me whether my university will accept my thesis?
No. It measures your document against the numbers you enter, so pull those numbers from your own graduate school's formatting guide first. Rules differ between universities and change over time.
What does a Review status mean?
There's no Fail status. Review means a page measured outside what you entered, which is often fine, a wide table or a chapter opening without a number, so look at the page yourself before changing anything.
If you're still drafting, the free Word Counter can track word count and readability chapter by chapter, catching problems earlier than a formatting pass can. A LaTeX thesis already gets its margins and fonts from your editor's document class; see the Mac LaTeX editors compared if you haven't picked one.
Further reading: The Craft of Research won't check your margins, but it's the book most committees assume you absorbed before the defense. Stylish Academic Writing is worth reading once formatting is off your plate, for the sentences underneath it. More books on the research desk.
Disclosure: the Amazon links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Check your own thesis against your program's rules with the free Thesis Format Checker before you submit.