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How to prepare a PDF: combine, reorder, rotate and compress pages

Sending a document often means a chain of small jobs: join a form with a photographed receipt, turn the page that was scanned sideways, drop a blank page, then make the file small enough for an upload limit. Doing each job in a different tool means downloading and re-selecting the file every time. This guide does it in one pass, and shows where the real trade-offs are.

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Step by step

  1. Open Prepare a PDF and add all your files at once: PDFs and JPG, PNG or WebP photos, in any mix.
  2. Every page appears as a thumbnail. Drag pages into order, or use each page's ← and → buttons (they also work from the keyboard and on a phone).
  3. Turn sideways pages with ↺ or ↻, and remove pages you do not need with ×.
  4. Made a mistake? Undo and Redo step through your changes, and Reset to original puts every page back as it was.
  5. Choose how photos are placed: fitted on A4, on US Letter, or on a page the size of the photo.
  6. Leave Compression off unless you need a smaller file (see below), then press Build PDF.
  7. Check the result: the page count, the size, and the final preview of every page. Then download it.

What the check covers

After building, the tool opens the new file again and checks that it is a real PDF, has the number of pages you arranged, that each position has the page size and orientation planned for it (which catches pages in the wrong order or the wrong way round), that it draws, and that pages which had selectable text still have it. You can only download a file that passed. It does not check form fields, links or bookmarks, and it cannot tell you how a particular website will treat the file.

Compression: when it is worth it

A browser cannot re-optimize the inside of a PDF the way desktop software can. What it can do is redraw each page as a JPEG picture at a lower resolution. That is why compression is off by default and asks you to confirm it:

Build without compression first and look at the size. Only turn it on if the file is still too big. The single-file Compress PDF tool uses the same method.

Signed, protected and fillable PDFs

Limits

Up to 30 files, 100 MB per file, 300 MB in total and 500 pages, because everything is held in your browser tab. Compression is limited to 200 pages. A phone has less memory than a laptop, so very large documents are more comfortable on a computer.

A note on privacy

Documents you assemble like this are often private: applications, statements, IDs. Prepare a PDF works entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded, nothing is stored, and pressing Clear releases them from the tab.

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Common questions

Should I compress the PDF?

Only if the file is too big for where it is going. Compression in a browser works by redrawing each page as a picture, which makes text impossible to select or search and stops links and form fields working. For a scanned document that is already pictures, that costs little; for a typed document it costs a lot. Try without compression first and check the size.

My PDF is digitally signed. Can I still combine it?

You can, but the new file is not signed. A digital signature covers the exact bytes of the original file, so any change, even adding a page or reordering, produces a file that a PDF reader shows as unsigned or invalid. If the signature matters, send the original signed file on its own.

Is a signature I drew on the page a digital signature?

No. A drawn, typed or pasted signature is part of the page's picture, like any other ink. It is kept when you rearrange pages. A digital signature is a separate cryptographic seal stored inside the file.

Why can't I add a password-protected PDF?

An encrypted PDF cannot be read without its password, and copying its pages would produce garbage. Open it in your PDF reader and, if you are allowed to, save or print it as a new PDF without the password, then add that copy.

Are my files uploaded?

No. Prepare a PDF reads, arranges and checks everything in your browser tab. Nothing is uploaded or saved, and the files are released when you press Clear or close the tab.