Reorder or delete pages in a PDF

Organizing a PDF combines three operations often carried out together on the same document: changing the page order, deleting some of them, and fixing the orientation of pages that are sideways — typical of a batch of scanned pages where some were fed into the scanner upside down. Rather than offering three separate tools for a need that almost always comes combined, this page brings them together in a single page grid you can manipulate by drag and drop.

A thumbnail grid as your workspace

On import, each page of the document is rendered as a thumbnail by pdf.js. These thumbnails behave like physical cards you can reorder by drag and drop (mouse, touch, or keyboard arrows for accessibility), rotate individually by 90°, or mark for deletion. Nothing is applied to the file until you confirm: you can freely adjust the whole layout before generating the final document, avoiding the tedious back-and-forth of a tool that applies each change immediately.

What page deletion actually does

Technically, "deleting" a page doesn't erase its content but simply skips copying it into the new document pdf-lib generates: the output file is rebuilt from scratch, page by page, in the order and with the rotations you set, excluding those marked for deletion. The original file, for that matter, stays completely unchanged on your device — the tool only reads its content to build a new, separate file.

Typical use cases

Removing a blank page left by a badly configured double-sided scan, deleting a cover page before assembling a document into a larger report, reordering a manuscript's chapters written out of sequence, or straightening the orientation of a batch of hastily scanned invoices: these are this tool's most common uses, and that's why it combines reordering, deletion, and rotation into a single interface rather than forcing you to juggle several different tools for the same document.

Frequently asked questions

Can I undo a page deletion before downloading the result?
Yes: deletion is only applied when the final file is generated. Until you click the generate button, you can restore a page marked for deletion.
How do I reorder pages?
Drag and drop the thumbnails in the grid to change their order — with a keyboard, a finger on mobile, or a mouse. The grid's visual order is exactly the final document's order.
Can I rotate a single page without touching the others?
Yes: each thumbnail has its own rotation buttons (90° either way), independent of the document's other pages.
Can this tool also add pages to an existing document?
Not directly in this view: to add pages from another file, use the merge tool first, then come back here to reorganize the result if needed. Both tools share the same page-grid interface.
Is the original document modified?
No: the file you import is never altered. The tool always generates a new, separate PDF file to download, leaving the original intact on your device.
Why do some pages appear rotated differently when I open the result?
Some scanned PDFs store a rotation at the reader level rather than in the page's content itself. If a page looks wrongly oriented right after import, use the rotation buttons before continuing: the rotation applied here actually changes the orientation stored in the final file.

Related operations