How to change the orientation of PDF files to portrait.
Did you scan your document in the wrong orientation? Learn how to change the orientation of PDF files.
Proper page orientation can make a world of difference for your PDF documents. It can improve the legibility of the text or make it readable in the first place. After all, it isn’t easy to read if your text displays sideways.
Read on to learn how to change a PDF file’s orientation from landscape to portrait — or vice versa.
Can you change PDF orientation easily?
One important thing to note about reorienting PDF pages is that PDF is a publishing-ready file format, meaning the page content is not easily editable. When you change page orientation, the content will rotate with the page.
With PDF editing software, you can reorient text frames and images after changing page orientation. However, it will be a time-consuming process. If you need to reformat and reorient your document completely, it’s best to do so with your original document editor and then save or convert the file back to a PDF.
How to change from landscape to portrait.
PDF pages are frequently in the wrong orientation when they come from scanned documents. To change the orientation of a PDF, you can use Adobe software or Adobe Acrobat online services. You can also choose between temporarily or permanently changing the PDF orientation. These options are great if you’re trying to read, share, or present a PDF but its pages are the wrong way.
How to change the orientation of PDF files temporarily.
If you’re just looking for easier reading and not necessarily looking to alter the document’s layout, you can rotate your view of a PDF in Adobe Reader. When you rotate the page view, it’s not an actual change to the document, so you don’t need to worry that you’re altering the document. Simply follow these steps:
- Open your PDF in Adobe Reader.
- Select View and then Rotate View.
- Select Clockwise or Counterclockwise to rotate in 90-degree increments.
How to change from landscape to portrait permanently.
If you want to save the rotation change so that it’s there every time you open your document, you can use Adobe Acrobat. Follow these steps to learn how to change from landscape to portrait:
- Open your PDF in Acrobat.
- Select Organize Pages from the Tools menu.
- Select which pages you want to rotate by selecting their thumbnails or entering a page range.
- Use the buttons to rotate in 90-degree increments.
Don’t forget to save your PDF after you’ve rotated the pages you selected.
Rotate PDF from landscape to portrait and vice versa online.
If the vertically formatted pages of your PDF display in landscape orientation (or the other way around), you can use a tool to rotate PDF pages found in Adobe Acrobat online services. Just follow the five steps below:
- Open your browser and navigate to the Adobe online Rotate PDF tool.
- Drop your PDF into the editor or click “Select a file.”
- Select the page or pages you want to rotate.
- Rotate the selected pages with the buttons in the top toolbar.
- Select Save, rename your PDF file, and download to finish.
The PDF pages will now display in the correct orientation. You’re then ready to share or present your document in a meeting, classroom, or anywhere else — and you can count on the pages showing the right way around.
Can you change the PDF orientation for just one page?
If you find that just one page of your PDF needs to rotate, you can use either Acrobat or Adobe’s online tool. Follow the steps in the sections above to rotate just one PDF page:
- Open your PDF in Acrobat, or upload it to the Rotate PDF tool.
- Select only one page to rotate. In Acrobat, you can enter a page range of one page.
- Use the buttons to rotate the page in 90-degree increments.
Save your PDF in your folder of choice, with a name of your choice.
What if my content doesn’t fit after I change the PDF orientation to portrait?
If your content doesn’t fit once you change PDF from landscape to portrait, you can use a PDF editor like Adobe Acrobat to rearrange your content to fit. Another option could be to convert your PDF into another format that is simpler for you to edit. After reformatting your document, you can use the same tool to convert it back to PDF so it’s ready to share or publish.
Why is portrait orientation preferred over landscape for PDFs?
Since PDF is frequently used for publishing, portrait is the default format for PDFs. Printing a book in portrait mode is more common and much cheaper than printing a book in landscape orientation. Portrait is also more common in business documents and tends to be more professional. Whether you need your PDF to be portrait or landscape depends on the content and presentation of your specific PDF.
More resources to work with your PDFs.
PDF files are some of the most widely used in many different settings. Since they’re secure and have a static format, you can easily share them across any device.
Now that you’ve learned how to change the orientation of PDF files, here are additional ways to work with them:
- Learn how to convert XLSX to PDF.
- Learn three ways to make PDF files read-only.
- Learn how to find and replace text in Word.
- Compress a PDF to 300KB.
- Compress a PDF to 1MB.
- Merge and split a PDF.
- Edit your PDFs online.
See what more you can do with your PDFs with Adobe Acrobat online services.
