Organize PDF pages

How to reorder, rotate and delete PDF pages

1. Drop a PDF onto the box above, or click it to browse. Each page appears as a small preview, numbered by its current position.
2. Drag a preview to where it belongs. On a phone or tablet, press and hold it first, so that a normal swipe still scrolls. The arrows beside a preview move it one place at a time.
3. Use the buttons under a page to give it a quarter turn left or right, or to delete it. Undo steps back one change at a time; Reset puts every page back where it started.
4. Press Add PDF to bring in pages from another document. They join the end of the grid, marked with a letter so you can tell the files apart.
5. Press Save PDF. The new file downloads under the original name with -organized added, and the counter above the grid shows the page count before and after.

What people use it for

Usually the content is fine and only the arrangement is wrong. When one fix applies to a whole file, Rotate PDF, Delete Pages or Merge PDF gets there in fewer steps; this page is for handling pages one by one. Typical jobs:

• Putting a scan back in order after the sheets went through the feeder out of sequence, or the reverse sides were scanned separately.
• Removing the blank pages a double-sided scan produces from single-sided originals.
• Turning a landscape table or a receipt that was scanned sideways so it reads the right way up.
• Assembling one document from several files, such as slotting a signed page back into a contract.
• Moving a summary or cover page to the front before a report goes out.

Good to know

Pages are carried over exactly as they are: nothing is redrawn or recompressed, so text stays selectable and the file only shrinks by what you delete. A rotation is stored as an instruction in the PDF, which is lossless and is how readers expect it. Bookmarks, links and form fields from the first file stay attached to their pages; an added file brings its form fields but not its bookmarks. A bookmark to a page you deleted stays in the list but leads nowhere, while the page itself is left out of the file entirely. If the main PDF engine fails to load, a simpler method saves the file instead and the page says so, because that method can drop bookmarks and form fields.

None of this involves a server. The document is read into the memory of this tab, rearranged there and handed back as a download, and the previews are drawn on your own screen. Close the tab and the working copy goes with it.

Questions people ask

Does the original file change?

No. It is only read, and your arrangement is saved as a separate file, so the original is still there if you want to start again.

Is there a limit on the number of pages?

The tool sets none. Previews are drawn a few at a time as they come into view, but every file you load is held in your device's memory, so an older phone may struggle with a very large scan. If it does, work on it in parts and join them afterwards.

Can I use a password-protected PDF?

Yes. A file that only restricts printing or copying opens without a prompt; one that needs a password to open asks for it, and the password is used only inside this tab. The saved copy has no password and none of those restrictions, and the page tells you when that has happened.

Can I do all this without a mouse?

Yes. Tab to the grid and move between pages with the arrow keys; hold Shift with an arrow to carry the selected page along. R turns it right, Shift + R turns it left and Delete removes it, while Ctrl + Z, or Cmd + Z on a Mac, undoes. Every page also has labelled buttons for screen readers.