How to Fix Sideways or Upside Down Pages in a PDF

Why pages end up sideways

Phone camera scans and office scanners sometimes read a page in the wrong direction, especially when landscape and portrait pages are mixed in one document. A PDF viewer may let you turn the view, but that change is not saved for the next person.

How to rotate pages

• Open Rotate PDF and add your file.
• Choose the turn: 90 degrees left, 90 degrees right or 180 degrees.
• Choose which pages: all pages, only odd pages, only even pages, or the pages you type, like 2-3, 5.
• Press the button and download the corrected file.

A common case: double sided scans

When you scan both sides of sheets, the back sides are often upside down. That is a good time to use the option for only even pages, with a 180 degree turn.

When you also need to reorder

If pages are in the wrong order as well, use Organize PDF. It shows thumbnails of every page and lets you move, rotate or remove pages one by one.

Final check

Rotating does not lower quality, since only the page direction changes. Scroll through the result once to confirm every page reads correctly before you send it.

Common mistakes when rotating

• Rotating the whole document when only a few pages are wrong.
• Turning a page the wrong way and having to repeat. Check the direction in the options.
• Forgetting that only the saved file keeps the change, not the view in your PDF reader.
• Rotating before checking the page order.

Which option for which problem

• Whole document sideways: rotate all pages.
• Back sides of double sided scans upside down: rotate only even pages by 180 degrees.
• One or two odd pages: type just those page numbers.
• Pages also out of order: use Organize PDF.

Why PDF pages end up sideways

Scanners and phone scanning apps often store a page in the orientation the sensor captured it, and then mark it with a rotation flag. Some viewers respect the flag and some do not, which is why a page can look correct on one device and sideways on another. Mixed documents, where some pages are portrait and others landscape, make the problem more likely.

Rotating the right pages

Check each page before saving. Sometimes only one or two pages need turning, while the rest are fine. Rotate by the smallest amount that makes text read normally: a quarter turn clockwise or counter clockwise fixes most cases, and a half turn fixes upside down pages.

• Look at the page preview before applying a rotation.
• Apply the rotation only to pages that need it.
• Open the saved file in a second viewer to confirm it looks right.

Preventing it next time

When scanning, place paper in the same direction every time and use the scan app's auto rotate option if it has one. If you photograph pages, hold the phone in portrait for portrait pages. A little care at the start saves you from fixing every page afterwards.

Frequently asked questions