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Rotate a PDF

Rotating in a PDF viewer usually only changes what you are looking at. This writes the rotation into the document, so it opens the right way up for everybody.

Drop a file here or click to browse — a PDF file

Result

Why a scan comes out sideways

Sheet-fed scanners record whichever way the paper went through, and document feeders often take landscape sheets in rotated. The page content is stored at that angle, and a viewer's rotate button only adjusts the display, which is why the file looks wrong again when someone else opens it or when you print it.

A PDF page carries a rotation attribute of 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees, and this tool sets it. The content is not redrawn or re-rendered, so there is no quality cost at all and the file size barely moves. The only landscape pages option is the useful one for a mixed scan: it finds pages that are wider than they are tall and leaves the rest alone.

Common questions

Will the rotation stick when I email the file?

Yes. The angle is part of the document now, not a viewer preference, so it travels with the file and applies when printing too.

Does rotating reduce quality?

Not at all. Nothing is rasterised; a single attribute on each page object is changed.

Can I rotate one page a different way from the rest?

Run the tool twice. Rotate the odd page out first using the these pages option, then run the result again for everything else.

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