How to rearrange pages in a PDF

Rearrange pages in a PDF with Quick PDF

1. Open Organize pages Go to quickpdfapp.com, sign in and open Organize pages. It works in any modern browser on phone or computer.
2. Choose your PDF Pick the file from Files, Downloads or your computer. You'll see a thumbnail of every page. The file stays on your device.
3. Drag pages into order Press on a page thumbnail and drag it to where it belongs, then let go. The other pages shift to make room. Works with a finger, a mouse or a trackpad.
4. Tidy up while you're there Rotate any sideways page left or right, delete pages you don't need, or duplicate a page you need twice.
5. Check the order Scroll through the thumbnails from start to finish once more. It's easy to drop a page one spot too far.
6. Download the reordered PDF Download the result. You get a new PDF in the order you set, and the original file is untouched.

Open Organize pages

Everything Organize pages can do

• Reorder: drag pages into any order.
• Rotate: turn a page left or right.
• Delete: remove pages you don't need.
• Duplicate: make a copy of a page, for example a form you need twice.
• Extract: save selected pages as a separate PDF.
• Insert a blank page: add an empty page for notes or to separate sections.
• Add PDFs or photos to this document: bring in pages from another PDF or a photo and place them where you want.

Doing all of this in one pass means one download instead of four separate tools and four files.

Plan the order before you start

For a long document, a minute of planning saves a lot of dragging. Scroll through the thumbnails once and note which pages are out of place. Move the biggest blocks first, such as a whole section that belongs at the end, then fix individual pages. If the document is a mess of many sources, it can be quicker to split it into sections and merge them back in the right order.

Fixing a scan that came out backwards

Feeding a stack face-down, or scanning the backs of double-sided pages as a second batch, often leaves pages reversed or interleaved wrongly. A few tips:

• Reversed stack: drag the last page to the front, then the new last page to second place, and so on. For long documents it's often quicker to rescan with the stack the other way.
• Fronts and backs in two batches: combine both scans into one file first, then drag each back to sit after its front.
• Upside-down pages: rotate them twice in the same direction to turn them the right way up.

If you're scanning with your phone, Quick PDF's Scan to PDF shows each page as you go, so you can catch the order before saving.

Reordering pages on each device

• iPhone and iPad: in Safari, press a thumbnail and drag it with your finger. Turning the phone sideways gives you more room for thumbnails.
• Android: in Chrome, the same press-and-drag works. Close other tabs if a big file feels slow.
• Mac, Windows, Chromebook: click and drag with the mouse or trackpad. A larger window shows more thumbnails at once, which helps with long documents.

On a Mac, Preview can also reorder pages by dragging thumbnails in its sidebar; remember it saves over the original unless you duplicate the file first.

Rearranging pages from several PDFs

If the pages you want to order come from different files, start by putting them in one document. Either use Merge and drag files into order there, or open the main document in Organize pages and use Add PDFs or photos to this document to bring the others in. Our guide to combining PDF files into one has more detail. Note that merging flattens form fields, so fill in forms first.

Troubleshooting

• The page won't move on my phone. If the screen scrolls instead of the page moving, try holding your finger still on the thumbnail for a moment before dragging, or turn the phone sideways for bigger thumbnails.
• Page numbers printed on the pages are now wrong. Reordering moves pages but doesn't change numbers printed on them. Quick PDF doesn't add or edit page numbers automatically.
• The file is password protected. Remove the password with Unlock first (you need to know it).
• I need to add a page, not move one. See how to add a page to a PDF.

Questions people ask