Rotate PDF

Put a sideways PDF the right way up — 90, 180 or 270 degrees, across the whole document or only the pages you name.

Runs on your devicePDFWorkingNo account needed

What this tool does

Every page in a PDF carries a rotation attribute: a number, always a multiple of 90, telling a reader which way up to draw it. Rotate PDF rewrites that number and nothing else. No page content is redrawn, so a selectable text layer stays selectable and a scanned image keeps the resolution it came in at.

Two behaviours are offered because rotation accumulates. Add to the current rotation turns a page relative to where it already sits, which is what you want when a scanner has already flagged part of the document. Set the rotation absolutely writes your angle over whatever was there, which is the dependable way to bring a mixed batch into one orientation.

The work happens in this browser tab using pdf-lib, and the document is not uploaded. The limit worth knowing before you rely on it: the rotation is display metadata, not a change of geometry. The page box keeps its original width and height, so software downstream that reads raw coordinates and ignores the flag still sees an A4 portrait page as portrait after you have turned it.

How to use it

  1. Add your PDF. Drop in one file or several. Each document is handled separately with the same settings and comes back with a -rotated suffix on its name.
  2. Choose the angle. The Rotation setting offers 90° clockwise, 180° and 90° anticlockwise. Anticlockwise is stored as 270°, which is the figure the summary line quotes back once the run finishes.
  3. Name the pages. Leave it on all, or type odd, even, a single number, a range such as 2-5, an open range such as 7-, or a mix like 1,4-6,last.
  4. Pick add or set, then rotate. Add turns each page relative to its current angle; set replaces that angle outright. The result downloads as a new PDF.

Processing & privacy

Runs on your device. Your file is processed directly in this browser.

Common use cases

A scan that came out sideways

Sheet-fed scanners routinely feed landscape originals into a portrait bed. One 90° pass stands the whole document upright without re-scanning it.

One page facing the wrong way

A landscape table dropped into a portrait report. Name that page on its own and every other page is written back untouched.

A duplex run with reversed backs

When a double-sided scan flips the reverse sides, the even pages come out upside down. Set the pages field to even and turn them 180°.

Preparing a file to print

Readers and print dialogs that honour the rotation flag lay each page out as you set it here, instead of you choosing landscape by hand mid-job.

Questions

Is my file uploaded?
No. The PDF is read and rewritten inside this browser tab and stays on your device. The pdf-lib library doing the rewriting is served from this site and fetched on the first run, so once you have rotated one document the tool carries on working with the network disconnected.
Can I rotate by some angle other than 90, 180 or 270?
No. The format stores page rotation in quarter turns only, so no value in between is representable. Straightening a crooked scan is a different operation that requires the page to be re-rendered, which this tool does not do.
Why did a page end up at 180° when I asked for 90°?
It already carried a rotation and Add to the current rotation added to it. Switch to Set the rotation absolutely to write the angle you chose regardless of what the page held before.
Does rotating cost quality or size?
Neither meaningfully. Nothing is re-encoded — only the rotation attribute changes — although the document is rewritten on save, so the byte count can shift a little either way.
Can it work out which pages are sideways by itself?
No, there is no orientation detection. You choose the angle and the pages, so a document that mixes orientations takes one pass per group: the even pages at 180°, say, then a single page at 90°.
What happens with a password-protected PDF?
It cannot be opened. Encrypted documents are refused with a message pointing at Unlock PDF — remove the password there first, using a password you already have.

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