How to Rearrange Pages in a PDF
A document assembled from three sources, or scanned in whatever order the pages came off the desk, ends up in the wrong sequence. Nothing is missing - it's just not in the order anyone can read. The PDF Page Reorder tool moves pages around without touching their contents.
Why your PDF reader can't help
Free PDF viewers are built for reading, not editing, so almost none of them let you move a page. That leaves most people with two bad options: rescan the whole stack, or pay for desktop software to make one change. Neither is proportionate to moving page 7 above page 4.
How to put the pages in order
Open the tool and choose your PDF. You'll see the pages listed in their current order, with up and down controls beside each one. Move pages until the sequence is right, then download the corrected file.
Work from the front. Fixing the first out-of-place page often shifts several others into the right position, and it's much easier to track than starting in the middle. If you lose track, the original file is unchanged, so you can simply start again.
When reordering isn't the fix
If a double-sided scan came out as all the fronts followed by all the backs, you're not looking at a shuffling problem - you're looking at two interleaved sets. The Extract Odd/Even Pages tool separates them properly, which is a far shorter job than moving thirty pages by hand.
And if some pages simply shouldn't be there, remove them first with the Delete PDF Pages tool. Reordering a shorter document is quicker and less error-prone.
Reordering does not renumber
If the document already has page numbers printed on it, moving pages around will not move those numbers. Page 7 keeps its printed 7 even after it becomes the fourth sheet, which is confusing to anyone referring to the document out loud.
For anything that will be read in order, renumber the finished file with the Add Page Numbers to PDF tool so the printed numbers match reality again.
The same applies to a contents page. Reordering changes where things are without updating any list that points at them, so a document with its own index will need that page corrected by hand.
Common questions
Does reordering change the pages themselves?
No. The pages are the same; only their position in the document changes. Text stays selectable and images keep their resolution.
Can I reorder a scanned document?
Yes. The tool moves pages regardless of whether they contain real text or scanned images.
Is there a limit on how many pages I can move?
No. Longer documents simply take more clicks, which is why it is worth fixing the obvious problems first.
Will reordering affect the file size?
No. The same pages are stored, in a different sequence.
Got a document in the wrong order?