How to rearrange the pages of a PDF on a Mac
Put PDF pages in the right order on a Mac by dragging thumbnails in Preview, move several at once, and fix a scan that came out shuffled.
The problem
Scanned pages came out in the wrong order, an appendix sits in the middle, or the cover sheet is on page 6.
How do I change the order of pages in a PDF on a Mac?
- Open the PDF in Preview and choose View > Thumbnails.
- Drag a thumbnail up or down the sidebar. A line shows where it will land.
- Choose File > Save, or File > Export as PDF to keep the original as it was.
Can I move several pages at once?
Yes. Command click each page in the thumbnail sidebar, or Shift click to select a run of pages, then drag them together.
How do I reorder pages in a long PDF?
- Make the sidebar wider so the thumbnails are easier to tell apart.
- Use Go > Go to Page to jump near the page, then drag from there.
- For pages that belong in another file, extract them and merge them back where they belong.
Our take
Fix order before anything else you do to a PDF. Page numbers, bookmarks and a table of contents all follow the order, so reordering after adding them means doing them twice.
In Simply PDF
Simply PDF's Organise Pages shows the pages as a grid, so you can drag across a long document without scrolling a narrow sidebar, and see the new order before you save. It needs a key.
Questions
How do I change the order of pages in a PDF on a Mac?
Open it in Preview, show thumbnails, and drag the pages into the order you want. Then save.
Can I move several pages at once?
Yes. Command click each page in the thumbnail sidebar, then drag them together.