Skip to main content
Inspiring
July 27, 2015
Answered

Reverse Page Order

  • July 27, 2015
  • 7 replies
  • 100422 views

I know you can reverse the page order when printing out of InDesign (via Print Dialog "General" options) but is there a quick and easy (non-3rd party plug-in or script) to reverse page order within Acrobat DC.

On looking up other answers; a MVP said he would never see a need for this but here in Wales, UK we have native Welsh language and English speakers and we produce a lot of bilingual documents, often with one language reversed and rotated to make up one half of a booklet.

Correct answer mortar11c40

:This worked great.  Your instructions were spot on.  Only one item off for the install: the check boxes (I have no "Enable interactive console" as I'm Using Acrobat 9.0). Thank you very much.  A few pages appeard upside down, but I am not sure if that was my scanning, or not.  Easy to fix.  This was a 136 page file, completed in just minutes.

Thank you again.

7 replies

Participant
September 12, 2022

Participating Frequently
October 11, 2022

I tried the print to pdf option jsut now. I'm getting an error: Acrobat wants me to save-as if I want a pdf, not print. Is there a way to add Acrobat pdf as a printer in my Mac system preferences?

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 11, 2022

> Is there a way to add Acrobat pdf as a printer in my Mac system preferences?

-No.

 

Why not use the free tool I shared above? It can be used on a Mac, too.

Participant
April 10, 2021

Excellent.... Very short method. but taking too much time to reverse all pages. 

 

JR Boulay
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 12, 2018

Really shortest:

Put GKaiseril's script into a plain text editor like notepad or textedit, comment or remove useless lines, then save as an "Action" using Acrobat's Action Wizard.

// function PPReversePages()

// {

var t = app.thermometer;

t.duration = this.numPages;

t.begin();

for (i = this.numPages - 1; i >= 0; i--)

{

  t.value = (i-this.numPages)*-1;

  this.movePage(i);

  t.text = 'Moving page ' + (i + 1);

}

t.end();

return true;

// } // end PRReversePages function;

// } // end not Reader.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
Inspiring
March 12, 2018

Don't mean to rehash old wounds or old threads, but thank you GKaiseril.  Your fix works in DC pro.  I added it to the javascripts folder as ReversePages.js and it works just fine.  I also tried a few other methods.  Here they are...

Long Way:

Move every page to where it needs to be...

IF you have a lot of pages, this doesn't work well...

Medium length:

1. Scan into DC and then name the document.  Now you want to extract the pages to a folder all their own.

2.  For pages 1-9, add a 0 (zero) before the number at the end of the file name.

3.  Back in DC, Create a PDF from multiple files, select them all, starting with the last, holding shift and selecting all the way back to the first.  This only works sometimes, but not always... ...But if your selection works, they will be in reverse order.  If not, just click the Name tab and it will reverse their order.

4. Click create PDF.  Now they are all in the correct order.  Save.

Shortest:

Put GKaiseril's script into a plain text editor like notepad or textedit, change the format to plain text, then save as, and in windows, save as "ALL FILES", on mac this is not necessary; when you give it a name, give it the extension .js  (dot js), and save the file to the application file folder where the Javascripts files are located.  On windows that's programfiles(x86), adobe, Acrobat DC, Acrobat, Javascripts.  On the mac, you'll have to open the package file of the .app file of your Applications folder, but the resources will be under Acrobat>Javascripts or Resources>Javascripts.  After you put the file there, scan your documents, then just save, go to edit, select reverse pages, save, done.

This last only seems longer.  Once you have the script installed, you can do it all day and night, instantly.

nasredenkarah
Participant
April 4, 2017

I am using the newest version and this trick is not working anymore.

and Yeah, I checked all the boxes in.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 4, 2017

What version of Adobe Acrobat do you use?

Participating Frequently
September 27, 2016

There is a very easy way:

  1. open the pdf file that you want to reverse.
  2. then go to file \ print.
  3. choose the printer "Adobe PDF".
  4. in "pages to print" section click on "more options".
  5. you will see a checkbox "Reverse pages", check it.
  6. print your file.

that's it !

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 27, 2016

It's maybe easy, but it's a very bad way of doing it. You will get rid of bookmarks, form fields, comments, metadata, etc., in the process, and it's not possible on a Mac machine. Just use my script instead.

May 13, 2020

Why would you have a document with all of those features that is in reverse? If someone has a reversed pdf I would think it would be a scan and therefore none of that stuff matters and the best solution is printing to pdf. Also, some people work with proprietary files and are unable to download and use scripts due to firewalls or company policy. 

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 27, 2015

I've created a free utility that allows you to do it with a single click in Acrobat: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Reverse Page Order (FREE)

Inspiring
July 27, 2015

Thanks - will take a look.

I always looking for a non-script/plug-in workaround solution as given the vastness of Adobe programmes there is often a little overlooked trick.

JR Boulay
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 4, 2017

Hi.

I always looking for a non-script/plug-in workaround solution

Go to : https://acrobatusers.com/actions-exchange

Select "Browse: Acrobat X" and search for "Reverse Page Order" in this page, you'll get a free Acrobat Action.:

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe