Rotate PDF
Turn sideways or upside-down pages the right way up and keep them that way in every viewer, on every device and in print. Rotate a whole document, only certain pages, or let the tool find the crooked ones by reading the text.
Rotate PDF
or drop PDF files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Even pages only fixes scans where every back side came out upside down.
Page numbers or ranges separated by commas, e.g. 2, 5-7.
Only matters when you rotate several PDFs at once.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the PDF
Add up to 20 PDFs, each up to 95 MB. Several files are rotated with the same settings.
- 2
Pick the angle and pages
Leave Rotate on By angle and choose 90°, 180° or 270° with a Direction, or switch to Auto upright. Under Advanced settings, Apply to limits the turn to odd, even, landscape, portrait or selected pages.
- 3
Rotate and save
Press Rotate and download the corrected PDF; several files come as one ZIP unless you choose separate files.
Rotating a PDF changes one number per page, the page's rotation in multiples of 90°, so the fix is lossless, instant and the same in every viewer.
Rotate pages in a PDF: which pages to turn
All pages
The default. Use it when a whole document was scanned sideways or exported in the wrong orientation.
Odd pages
Fixes the front sides of a duplex scan when only fronts came out upside down.
Even pages
The classic duplex fix: back sides scanned upside down while the fronts are fine.
Landscape pages
Turns only the wide pages, such as spreadsheets or charts inside a report, so the whole file reads upright.
Portrait pages
The reverse: turns tall pages in a deck that should be landscape throughout.
Selected pages
Type numbers and ranges such as 2, 5-7 to rotate exactly the pages you name.
How PDF rotation is stored, and why some fixes do not stick
Every page in a PDF carries a rotation value, which the PDF specification (ISO 32000) limits to multiples of 90 degrees. A viewer reads that value and turns the page before drawing it. The text, images and drawings inside the page are untouched, which is why rotating is lossless and the file size hardly moves.
Many readers also offer a rotate-view button that only changes how the page is shown on your screen in that session. Adobe Acrobat Reader's Rotate View and the rotate buttons in browser PDF viewers work this way: close the file and the page is sideways again, and the colleague you send it to still sees it sideways. Writing the rotation into the page, as this tool does, is the fix that travels with the file.
A stored rotation can also be the cause of the problem. Scanner software and some phone apps set a rotation on pages instead of turning the image itself, and later edits stack further rotations on top. Reset existing rotation clears that history so the angle you choose is the only one applied.
Rotate before you combine or cut documents. Fixing orientation first means merge PDF and split PDF both work on pages that already face the right way, and anything converted afterwards with PDF to image comes out upright too.
Choosing the angle and direction
| Top of the text points | Choose | Same as |
|---|---|---|
| Left | 90° Clockwise | 270° Counter-clockwise |
| Right | 90° Counter-clockwise | 270° Clockwise |
| Down (upside down) | 180°, either direction | 180° the other way |
| Mixed across pages | **Rotate**: Auto upright | Per-page angle chosen from the text |
| Up, but the page was turned before | Any angle with **Reset existing rotation** on | Starts from the unrotated page |
Rotate PDF myths
MythRotating a scanned page blurs it because the image is redrawn.
FactOnly the page's rotation value changes; the scan is not resampled, so it stays exactly as sharp.
MythYou need paid software to rotate a PDF permanently.
FactAny tool that writes the rotation into the file does it. macOS Preview can, and so can this page, for free.
MythA PDF can be turned by any angle, such as 45°.
FactThe format allows only 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees per page. Straightening a slightly crooked scan is a different job done on the image.
MythRotating breaks form fields and links.
FactFields, links and comments rotate with their page and keep working, because they are positioned relative to it.
When rotated pages still look wrong
Rotate PDF questions
How do I rotate a PDF and save it permanently?
Upload it here, pick the angle and press Rotate. The rotation is written into each page of the downloaded file, so it opens the right way in Acrobat, Chrome, Preview, phone viewers and print dialogs, unlike the rotate-view buttons in many readers that forget the turn when the file is closed.
Can I rotate only one page in a PDF?
Yes. Under Advanced settings, set Apply to to Selected pages and type the page number, or several pages and ranges such as 2, 5-7, in Page range. All other pages stay exactly as they were.
Is 270 degrees clockwise the same as 90 degrees counter-clockwise?
Yes, they end in the same position. Both options exist so you can describe the turn the way you see it: if the top of the text points left, the page needs 90° clockwise; if it points right, 90° counter-clockwise.
How does Auto upright decide which way a page should face?
It reads the direction of the text on each page and turns pages whose lines run sideways or upside down. It works best on pages with a few lines of printed text; photos, drawings and nearly blank pages give it nothing to read, so rotate those by angle.
Does rotating a PDF lower the quality?
No. Rotation is a page setting, not an edit of the content, so text, images and vector drawings are not re-rendered or recompressed. The file size barely changes.
Why did my page rotate twice as far as I expected?
The page already had a rotation stored in the file, and the new angle was added to it. Turn on Reset existing rotation to clear the stored value first, so the angle you pick is measured from the page's unrotated state.
Can I rotate several PDF files at once for free?
Yes, up to 20 PDFs per batch, each up to 95 MB, all with the same angle and page selection. Download as decides whether they come back in one ZIP file or as separate downloads; it only matters when there is more than one file.
| Split PDF | Merge PDF | Resize PDF Pages |
| Flatten PDF | Compress PDF | PDF to Image |