Reorder PDF Pages
Reorder PDF pages: rearrange them in any order by typing the sequence you want.
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How to use Reorder Pages
Key features of Reorder Pages
Enter 3, 1, 2 and the new file opens with page 3. Pages you leave out are dropped, and a page listed twice appears twice.
Pages are copied with pdf-lib into a new document, so content, size and rotation are unchanged.
The file is read and rewritten by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
About Reorder Pages
Reorder Pages loads your PDF with pdf-lib, reads the sequence you typed, and copies the pages into a new document in that order. The output is saved as reordered_ followed by your file name. Because the output only contains the pages you list, the same box can be used to drop a page or repeat one. Bookmarks are not carried over.
It is useful for fixing a scan where the sheets were fed in the wrong order, moving a summary to the front of a report, or reversing a document that was scanned back to front (the default value does exactly that). Only comma-separated page numbers are read, so a range like 1-4 must be written out. Files up to 150 MB.
When to use Reorder Pages
A double-sided document scanned on a single-sided scanner comes out as all the fronts followed by all the backs, often with the backs in reverse. For a 6-page file that means typing 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4 to interleave the sheets back into reading order.
An application pack has the checklist on its last page and the reviewer wants it first. Type that page number, then the rest in sequence, and the checklist leads the file.
A cover page has to appear both at the start and again before the appendix. Repeat its number where the second copy belongs, for example 1, 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, and the page is copied twice.
When the only change is dropping pages, Delete Pages is less typing: it takes the numbers to remove rather than the full sequence. To pull a few pages into a separate file while the original stays whole, use Extract PDF Pages, which accepts the same kind of comma-separated list.
Tips and troubleshooting
- The box opens pre-filled with every page in reverse. Edit that list rather than typing from scratch: it already holds every page number once, so you only need to move numbers around, and a page you forget to include is left out of the result.
- Ranges are misread: 1-4 becomes page 1 alone, because the number parser stops at the dash. Write 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Numbers beyond the page count and entries that do not begin with a digit are dropped without a message. Compare the count in the result message (Reordered the document into N pages) with what you expected before you download.
- If every entry is invalid, an alert asks for a valid page sequence and the form stays as it was.
- If the page shows "This file could not be opened" after the upload, the file is password-protected, damaged, or not a PDF. Remove the password with Unlock PDF if there is one, then reload and try again.
- The output is named reordered_ plus your original file name, and your original file is not changed. Preview Document opens the result in your browser's PDF viewer so you can check the sequence before saving.
- Only one PDF, up to 150 MB, is loaded per run. When you are done, Process Another File reloads the page so the next file starts from a clean form.
How Reorder Pages works in your browser
The uploaded file is read into memory and opened with pdf-lib as soon as it arrives, and the page count fills the form, including the reversed default sequence. On Rearrange & Download PDF, the box is split at commas, each entry is parsed as an integer, entries outside 1 to the page count are discarded, and the survivors become zero-based indices in the order you typed them.
Those indices go to copyPages on a new, empty document: pdf-lib copies each page with its fonts and images, and a page named twice is copied twice. The document is saved to bytes, wrapped in a Blob, and offered as reordered_ plus your file name through a temporary object URL. Preview Document shows the Blob in your browser's own PDF viewer. The file never leaves the tab; the original and the new version exist only in memory until you download.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to list every page?
No. Only the pages you list end up in the new file, in the order you typed them. Leaving a page out removes it.
Why is the box filled in with the pages reversed?
The default sequence lists the pages from last to first, which fixes a document scanned back to front. Replace it with any order you like.
Does reordering change the page content?
No. Pages are copied into the new file as they are, so text, images and page sizes are unchanged.
Can I drag pages to reorder them?
Not on this page: the sequence is typed into one box. The reversed default shows the format to follow, and editing that list is quicker than typing every number by hand.
What happens if I type a page number twice?
The page is copied twice and appears at both positions. The page count in the result message includes both copies, so a 5-page file with one repeated page comes out as 6 pages.
Can I reorder pages in several PDFs at once?
No. One file is loaded at a time, and Process Another File reloads the page for the next one. To combine pages from different files in a chosen order, use Combine PDF.
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