How to Rotate PDF Pages with ModernPDF
Upload your PDF
Drag your file into the rotate tool. Processing happens locally — your document never leaves your device.
Select pages and rotation direction
Click on page thumbnails to select them. Then choose 90° clockwise, 90° counter-clockwise, or 180° flip. You can rotate all pages at once or just the ones that need fixing.
Download your corrected PDF
Click apply and download the fixed document. The rotation is permanently saved.
Common Rotation Scenarios
Scanned documents are the most common reason people need to rotate PDFs. Flatbed scanners and phone scanning apps occasionally get orientation wrong, especially when scanning landscape-oriented pages like checks, certificates, or architectural drawings.
Another frequent scenario is receiving a PDF where some pages are portrait and others are landscape. Rather than printing and re-scanning, you can fix the orientation digitally in seconds.
Rotate vs. Reorient
Rotation changes the viewing angle of existing pages. It doesn't change the content — text and images stay exactly where they are, just viewed from a different angle. This is different from reflowing content, which would rearrange text to fit a new page orientation.
Alternative Methods
Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat's "Organize Pages" view lets you rotate pages, but requires a paid subscription. For just rotating pages, it's overkill.
macOS Preview
Open the PDF in Preview, select pages in the sidebar, and use Tools → Rotate Left/Right. Simple but Mac-only.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rotate just some pages in a PDF?
Yes. ModernPDF shows thumbnails of every page. Click individual pages to select them, then apply rotation only to those pages. Unselected pages remain untouched.
Is the rotation permanent?
Yes. The downloaded PDF has the rotation baked in, so it displays correctly in every PDF viewer, email client, and print queue.
Why are my scanned pages sideways?
Scanners use auto-orientation detection that occasionally fails, especially with landscape pages, low-contrast documents, or mixed-orientation batches. A quick rotation fix takes under 10 seconds.
Does rotating affect text quality?
No. Rotation is a lossless operation that changes how pages are displayed without recompressing or modifying the content. Text, images, and vectors remain crisp.