I downloaded the rotated file and then noticed I turned the wrong page. How do I undo it?

Your original file is never changed, so the simplest fix is to go back to it and start again. If all you have is the rotated copy, open it in the tool and turn the wrong page by the opposite angle: a page you turned with 'Right 90°' comes back with 'Left 90°', because 90 plus 270 is a full turn.

Published · 3 min read

Fix one: you still have the original

Rotate PDF pages never writes over your file. It creates a new file whose name ends in rotated and leaves the original where it was. So if the original is still on your device or in the chat where you received it, delete the wrong copy, open the original in the tool, and this time select the right page.

Fix two: you only have the rotated copy

Maybe you deleted the original, or you sent the rotated copy and the customer asked for it fixed. No problem: the tool reads the rotation value already in each page and adds what you choose, so you can return any page to how it was by adding the opposite angle.

  1. Open the rotated copy in the tool. The wrong page's thumbnail shows the orientation you saved, so it looks sideways.
  2. Choose 'Selected pages', select the wrong page, and press the opposite of the button you pressed the first time.
  3. Select the page you meant to rotate and press the right button for it.
  4. Check the thumbnails and download.
Worked example

A 10-page file. You meant to turn page 5 with 'Right 90°' but turned page 4 by mistake and downloaded, so its rotation value is now 90.

You open the rotated copy, select page 4 and press 'Left 90°', then select page 5 and press 'Right 90°'.

The summary shows: 90° clockwise: pages 5, and 270° clockwise: pages 4.

In the result page 4 goes back to 0, because 90 plus 270 is 360, and page 5 has a value of 90.

Why the summary says 270 and not 'undo'

Because the summary shows what you are adding to each page now, not the final value. The tool does not know page 4 was a 'mistake'; it sees a page at 90 and you adding 270 to it. The final result shows in the thumbnail, and that is what to go by.

Does turning a page twice hurt quality?

No. Each time, the tool changes only the rotation number and does not redraw the content, so turning a page and turning it back leaves no mark on the text or images. You can repeat it as often as you need.

  • Sent the wrong file to a customer? Send the corrected copy and ask them to use it instead of the first.
  • Flipped a page with '180°' by mistake? Press '180°' again, since 180 plus 180 is a full turn.
  • Was the file digitally signed? The signature stopped being valid at the first rotation, and turning the page back does not restore it. Go back to the signed original.

Common questions

Is there an undo button after downloading?

No. 'Clear all rotation' only clears pending rotation before you download. After downloading you work on the new file as in the steps above.

How do I know which button is the opposite?

'Right 90°' is undone by 'Left 90°' and the other way round, and '180°' is undone by '180°'.