# Reorder pages in a PDF

Put the pages of a PDF in a new order: move, swap, reverse or repeat pages, or interleave two scans, by listing the pages in the order you want.

**Available in [pre-release 3.7](https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/prerelease)**

**List the pages in the new order: `sumatrapdf-tool clean in.pdf out.pdf 3,1,2,4-N`.** At a glance:

- **Any order:** `3,1,2,4-N` — page 3 first, then 1, 2, and 4 to the end.
- **Reverse:** `N-1` — last page first.
- **Move the last page to the front:** `N,1--2`
- **Move the first page to the end:** `2-N,1`
- **Repeat a page:** `1,1-N` — page 1 twice.
- **Pages from several files:** `merge`, see below.
- **Interleave front and back scans:** a PowerShell loop, see below.

`sumatrapdf-tool` is installed with SumatraPDF and added to PATH. [SumatraPDF.exe <tool>](Tools.md) takes the same arguments. SumatraPDF can't reorder pages in the window; the tool writes a new PDF and leaves the original unchanged.

## Put pages in a new order

```
sumatrapdf-tool clean in.pdf out.pdf 3,1,2,4-N
```

`out.pdf` gets the pages of `in.pdf` in the order listed. Pages you don't list are left out. Bookmarks are kept and point to the pages' new positions.

`merge` takes the same page list, with `-o` for the output:

```
sumatrapdf-tool merge -o out.pdf in.pdf 3,1,2,4-N
```

Note: with a range written backwards (`N-1`, `6-4`) `merge` puts the pages in the right order but leaves bookmarks at their old page numbers. Use `clean` to reorder a single file.

## Page list syntax

Comma-separated, no spaces. Pages are copied in the order written.

| Page list   | Result on a 6-page PDF                                    |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| `3,1,2,4-N` | 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (`N` is the last page)                   |
| `1,3,2,4-N` | 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 6 (swap pages 2 and 3)                     |
| `N-1`       | 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (reverse)                                |
| `6-4`       | 6, 5, 4 (a range written backwards runs backwards)        |
| `N,1--2`    | 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (`-2` is the second-to-last page)        |
| `2-N,1`     | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1                                          |
| `1,1-N`     | 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (a page listed twice is copied twice) |
| `-3--1`     | 4, 5, 6 (the last three pages)                            |

Note: `1-N-1` does not mean "all but the last page": it reads as `1-N` followed by `-1`, and repeats the last page. Use `1--2`.

Page numbers past the end are cut to the last page: `4-9` on a 6-page PDF gives 4, 5, 6.

## Reverse the page order

```
sumatrapdf-tool clean in.pdf reversed.pdf N-1
```

## Move pages between documents

`merge` takes pages from several files in one go, so you can insert pages from another PDF at any position. To put page 2 of `cover.pdf` first and all of `appendix.pdf` after page 10:

```
sumatrapdf-tool merge -o out.pdf cover.pdf 2 in.pdf 1-10 appendix.pdf in.pdf 11-N
```

See [Merge PDFs](Merge-PDFs.md).

## Interleave front and back scans

A document scanned one side at a time gives two PDFs: `fronts.pdf` (pages 1, 3, 5, ...) and `backs.pdf` (pages ..., 6, 4, 2: reversed, because the stack was turned over). To combine them in reading order, in PowerShell:

```
$n = [int]((sumatrapdf-tool info fronts.pdf 1 | Select-String '^Pages: (\d+)').Matches[0].Groups[1].Value)
$parts = foreach ($i in 1..$n) { "fronts.pdf"; "$i"; "backs.pdf"; "$($n - $i + 1)" }
sumatrapdf-tool merge -o book.pdf @parts
```

For 3 sheets this runs `merge -o book.pdf fronts.pdf 1 backs.pdf 3 fronts.pdf 2 backs.pdf 2 fronts.pdf 3 backs.pdf 1`. If `backs.pdf` is already in page order, use `"$i"` instead of `"$($n - $i + 1)"`.

## Tips

- Open the result in SumatraPDF and check the order before you delete the original.
- Use `Ctrl + K`, `Delete Pages From PDF` in SumatraPDF to drop pages without reordering ([Delete pages from PDF](Tool-x-delete-pages-from-pdf.md)).
- Use [Rotate PDF pages](Rotate-PDF-pages.md) for pages that are upside down or sideways.

## See also

- [Merge PDFs](Merge-PDFs.md) — combine pages from several PDFs
- [Split a PDF](Split-a-PDF.md) — one PDF into several
- [Delete pages from PDF](Tool-x-delete-pages-from-pdf.md)
- [sumatrapdf-tool clean](Tool-clean.md), [merge](Tool-merge.md)
- [All cmd-line tools](Tools.md)