Merge PDF
Combine PDFs and reorder pages by dragging. Nothing is uploaded.
Rotate PDF
Fix sideways scans, one page at a time or all at once.
What it does. Rotating a PDF permanently changes the orientation each page displays at. This tool rotates in 90-degree steps, per page or across the whole document, and writes the change into the file so every viewer honors it. Unlike rotating in a PDF reader, the result is saved. Nothing is uploaded.
Runs in your browserNothing uploadsNo signupWorks offline
How to use Rotate PDF
- Drop the PDF and wait for the page thumbnails to render.
- Rotate individual pages with their own controls, or use rotate-all for the whole document.
- Save and download. The new orientation is written into the file.
Why does my PDF reader forget the rotation?
Because most readers rotate the view rather than the document. Adobe Reader, Preview and browser viewers all offer a rotate button that changes what you see on screen without modifying the file. Close it and the rotation is gone.
A PDF page carries a /Rotate entry in its dictionary — a value of 0, 90, 180 or 270 that every conforming viewer must apply when rendering. Writing to that entry is what makes a rotation permanent.
This tool sets /Rotate on each page and re-serializes the document, so the file itself is corrected. Send it to a colleague, print it, or open it in any reader on any platform, and it appears the right way up.
Which direction should I rotate?
| Problem | Rotate by | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Text runs bottom-to-top on the left | 90° | Clockwise |
| Text runs top-to-bottom on the right | 270° | Counter-clockwise |
| Page is upside down | 180° | Either |
| Alternating pages sideways | Per page | Duplex scan fed inconsistently |
The alternating case is a common one. A document scanned through a sheet feeder with an automatic duplexer often produces even pages rotated 180° relative to the odd ones, because the second side is imaged as the sheet passes back. Rotate all even pages by 180° in one action and the document reads correctly throughout.
Does rotating affect quality or file size?
Neither. Rotation changes one integer in each page dictionary. The page content stream, its fonts and its images are untouched, so there is no re-encoding, no quality loss, and no meaningful change in file size.
This is worth contrasting with rotating an image, where a non-90-degree rotation requires resampling every pixel. PDF rotation in 90-degree steps is purely a metadata operation — instantaneous even on documents of thousands of pages.
Can I rotate only some pages?
Yes, and this is the normal case rather than the exception. Every page has its own control in the thumbnail grid, and there are bulk actions for all pages, odd pages only and even pages only.
A typical mixed document — a report in portrait with two landscape spreadsheet pages scanned sideways — needs exactly two pages rotated. Click those two thumbnails, rotate, save.
Frequently asked questions
Is the rotation permanent?
Yes. The /Rotate value is written into each page, so every viewer on every platform displays the corrected orientation.
Can I rotate by an arbitrary angle, like 5 degrees?
No. The PDF specification only permits 0, 90, 180 and 270. Correcting a slightly skewed scan requires re-rendering the page as an image and rotating that.
Does rotating change the page size?
The dimensions swap when you rotate 90 or 270 degrees — a portrait page displays as landscape. The underlying media box is unchanged.
Will it fix a scan that is slightly crooked?
No. Deskewing is a different operation requiring image resampling. This handles 90-degree steps only.
Can I rotate a password-protected PDF?
Only with the password, since the document structure must be decrypted before it can be modified.
How do I rotate every second page?
Use the even-pages or odd-pages bulk action, which exists specifically for duplex scanning artifacts.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The rotation is applied by pdf-lib in this tab and the file is re-serialized locally.
Guides for Rotate PDF
- Choosing and Setting Your PDF Viewer6 min read
- How to Edit Text in a PDF8 min read
- Removing Pages and Page Breaks from a PDF6 min read
- How to Merge PDF Files and Keep Them in Order6 min read
- How to Split a PDF (Pages, Ranges, Chapters)7 min read
- How to Rotate a PDF So It Stays Rotated6 min read
- Why Your PDF Will Not Print Properly8 min read
- How to Reorder, Insert and Remove PDF Pages6 min read
- Editing a PDF on Mac, iPhone or Google Drive6 min read
- How to Scan Documents to PDF Properly8 min read
- How to Print a PDF From Any Device7 min read