• Rotate the view: [ / ], View → Rotate Left / Rotate Right. The file is not changed.
• Rotate pages in the file from SumatraPDF: Ctrl + K, Run PDF Script…, example Rotate PDF pages permanently
• 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) and ] 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, or download it.
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.
// Info: Rotate PDF pages permanently.
// Arg: <INPUT> : Input PDF
// Arg: <OUTPUT> : New output PDF
// Arg: 90 : Angle clockwise: 90, 180 or 270; -90 turns left
// Arg: all : Pages: all, 2, 1,3-5, 4-N, odd or even (N is the last page)
// 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 = "all"; // e.g. "2", "1,3-5", "4-N" (N is the last page), "odd", "even"

if (!scriptArgs[0] || !scriptArgs[1]) {
  print("usage: sumatrapdf-tool run rotate-pages.js in.pdf out.pdf [angle] [pages]");
  quit(1);
}
if (scriptArgs[2]) ANGLE = parseInt(scriptArgs[2]);
if (scriptArgs[3]) PAGES = scriptArgs[3];
if (isNaN(ANGLE) || ANGLE % 90) throw new Error("Angle must be a multiple of 90.");

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) {
    part = part.trim();
    if (part == "all") part = "1-N";
    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;
}

var done = {};
parsePages(PAGES).forEach(function (p) {
  if (p < 1 || p > n || done[p]) return;
  done[p] = true;
  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");
print("Saved " + scriptArgs[1]);

• angle: 90 turns clockwise (right), -90 or 270 counterclockwise (left), 180 upside down. Use a multiple of 90, because PDF doesn’t allow other angles.
• pages: page numbers and ranges, separated by commas: 3, 1,4-6, 10-N (N is the last page), odd, even or all. Leave it out to rotate every page. A page listed twice is rotated once.

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