• Rotate the view: [ / ], View → Rotate Left / Rotate Right. The file is not changed.
• Rotate all pages in the file: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf 90
• Rotate some pages: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf -90 2,5-7
• Turn upside-down back sides of a scan: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf 180 even

Rotate the view in SumatraPDF #

• View → Rotate Left or View → Rotate Right
• the Rotate Left / Rotate Right toolbar buttons
• [ rotates left (counterclockwise), ] rotates right (clockwise); Ctrl + Shift + - and Ctrl + Shift + + do the same, and so do / and * on the numeric keypad
• Ctrl + K, Rotate Left or Rotate Right in Command Palette (CmdRotateLeft, CmdRotateRight)

• The PDF file is not changed. Other PDF viewers, and other people you send the file to, see the original orientation.
• SumatraPDF remembers the rotation for that file and uses it next time you open it. It is saved as Rotation in FileStates in the settings, when RememberStatePerDocument is true (the default).
• Printing pages doesn’t use it. To turn the printout, use Rotate printout in the print dialog, see Printing.

Rotate pages in the PDF file #

1. Save the script below as rotate-pages.js.
2. Run it with the angle and the pages to rotate:

sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf 90

// Rotate pages of a PDF permanently.
// Usage: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf [angle] [pages]
// e.g.   sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf 90 1,3-5,N

// ---- Settings (used when not given on the command line) ----
var ANGLE = 90      // clockwise: 90, 180 or 270; -90 turns left
var PAGES = "1-N"   // e.g. "2", "1,3-5", "4-N" (N is the last page), "odd", "even"
// ------------------

if (scriptArgs.length < 2) {
	print("usage: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf [angle] [pages]")
	quit(1)
}
if (scriptArgs.length > 2) ANGLE = parseInt(scriptArgs[2])
if (scriptArgs.length > 3) PAGES = scriptArgs[3]

var doc = Document.openDocument(scriptArgs[0])
var n = doc.countPages()

// turn "1,3-5,N" into [1, 3, 4, 5, n]
function parsePages(spec) {
	var pages = []
	spec.split(",").forEach(function (part) {
		if (part == "odd" || part == "even") {
			for (var p = part == "odd" ? 1 : 2; p <= n; p += 2) pages.push(p)
			return
		}
		var r = part.replace(/N/g, n).split("-")
		for (var p = parseInt(r[0]); p <= parseInt(r[r.length - 1]); p++) pages.push(p)
	})
	return pages
}

parsePages(PAGES).forEach(function (p) {
	if (p < 1 || p > n) return
	var pageObj = doc.loadPage(p - 1).getObject()
	var old = pageObj.getInheritable("Rotate")
	var rotate = (old ? old.valueOf() : 0) + ANGLE
	pageObj.put("Rotate", ((rotate % 360) + 360) % 360)
})

doc.save(scriptArgs[1], "garbage,compress")

• angle: 90 turns clockwise (right), -90 or 270 counterclockwise (left), 180 upside down. Use a multiple of 90; PDF doesn’t allow other angles.
• pages: page numbers and ranges, separated by commas, with no spaces: 3, 1,4-6, 10-N (N is the last page), odd or even. Leave it out to rotate every page.

Rotate with sumatrapdf-tool draw #

sumatrapdf-tool draw -R 90 -o out.pdf in.pdf

Tips #

• Write to a new file. Saving over the input file fails with cannot remove file.
• Rotating pages changes the file, so it breaks existing digital signatures. Rotate before you sign.
• To rotate many files, run the script in a loop: see Batch process PDFs.

See also #

• Reorder PDF pages — change the order of pages
• Crop PDF margins — another page-level fix for scans
• Keyboard shortcuts
• sumatrapdf-tool run — how scripts run
• All cmd-line tools