Reversing the page order in Adobe Acrobat

A coworker stopped by my office seeking a solution to a dilemma.  She had received a large PDF document in reverse order (page 1 of the document was page 100 of the PDF, page 2 was page 99, and so on).  Since backwards workpapers are the type of thing that can drive an accountant to the brink of insanity, there was a lot at stake here. We brainstormed a few possible ways to reverse the page order.  In the past, I had just used the pages navigation panel to rearrange the page order for small PDF files of five pages or less.  However, for a long document of about 100 pages, this idea didn’t seem practical.  We also could have printed off the entire document and resorted the pages by hand, but that didn’t sound like fun. Naturally, I turned to Google.  I searched for “reverse page order in Adobe Acrobat” and ended up in this Adobe forum.  The sixth post in this forum provides Javascript code, which I saved to my Acrobat Javascript Folder.  After How to Create a Bodybuilding Diet uk roids central bodybuilding episode 37 | ironmag bodybuilding blog that, a new item called “reverse” appeared under the document menu (see screenshot below). Within a few seconds, the script put the pages in the right order, and I literally saved one accountant’s world from turning upside-down.

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Comments (26)

  • Avatar

    Tim Gavin

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    Woah, I never would have thought of that. That’s an awesome tip!

    Reply

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    Joel Ungar

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    I’m with Tim – an awesome tip. Worked for me too on Acrobat 9. Thanks Dustin!

    Reply

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    Dustin Wheeler

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    I’m using Acrobat 9 Standard. Thanks for the tip, Rick.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Frank D.

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    Of course this function isn’t anywhere to be found in Acrobat X after receiving a 300 page scan in reverse chronological order. Thanks Adobe!!!!

    Anyhow. Thanks Dustin for sharing this solution 🙂

    Reply

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    Shirley

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    I do not see the “reverse” what is the Javacode that needs to be saved?

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Dustin Wheeler, CPA

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    Shirley, the Javascript code can be found in the Adobe forum I linked to.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Rolando

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    Thanks for sharing what you’ve found, now im on to sharing this to the colleagues!

    Reply

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    John Cain

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    Also you could try printing to PDF. There is a reverse order choice in the print to PDF properties. It simply makes a new PDF file in reverse order.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Dustin Wheeler, CPA

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    John, reverse printing takes out the OCR and page orientation. However, it works if those features are not important.

    Reply

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    Joe Lewis

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    This is in response to John Cain’s comment … John, when I used Acrobat 7 Pro I was able to print in reverse order. I haven’t found that command anywhere in Acrobat X Pro. Thanks!

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Anil

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    I have Windows 8 (not Pro) 64-bit and Acrobat X Standard.

    I just tried the JavaScript file from the forum Dustin mentioned. In order for it to work, I had to do two things:

    1. Change the code by changing from “Document” to “Edit” so that it appears in Edit menu because there is no Document menu in Acrobat X Standard

    2. Put the JavaScript file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Javascripts

    Thanks Dustin.
    HTH others..

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Mike

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    Fantastic. I use Acrobat 10 Standard as well but on Windows 7 Ultimate and Anil’s solution worked fine for me apart from the path on Windows 7 is a little different:

    I put the script in here on win7:
    C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Javascripts

    Thanks,
    Mike.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Mike

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    Oh, one more thing: I found I also had to go to in Acrobat – Edit – Preferences – JavaScript ; then tick ‘Enable menu items JavaScript execution priviledges’.

    HTH,
    Mike.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    M. Snyder

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    Thanks Lots!

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Terry

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    All of a sudden my Adobe Acrobat creates pdf files in reverse order. First, it created them with just the last page first, now it is total reverse. I’ve searched all dialog boxes for “Reverse Order” in both Word and Acrobat to see if I inadvertently checked something. I am the one creating these messed up files. I don’t want to fix a file that came to me in reverse order. Does anyone have any recommendations for why this is happening? I use Acrobat 8 (sorry!). Right now, I am taking the pdf and re-printing to pdf with “reverse order” chosen and it works, but is very undignified. ;-/

    Reply

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    Rifhan

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    I am using acrobat XI pro but i couldnt find the page reverse order so plz help me.

    Reply

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    Bill

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    Thanks loads!
    Worked on a BIG DOC in AA 9.5

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Bill O'Connor

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    I’m Using Acrobat X (10.1.9). The ‘Document’ menu no longer exists, so the JavaScript command has to be added to one that still does. I changed my js as follows to place it in the ‘File’ menu:

    cParent: “File”

    This places the command directly under the ‘Open…’ command in the ‘File’ menu.

    Here’s the contents of the file:

    app.addMenuItem({ cName: “Reverse Page Order”, cParent: “File”, cExec: “PPReversePages();”, cEnable: “event.rc = (event.target != null);”, nPos: 0
    });

    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();
    }// JavaScript Document

    Put this code in a file named ReversePageOrder.js and save it to the Javascript file for Acrobat. On Windows 7 the file should be put in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Javascripts folder [not sure where on MAC, but it’s javascript and will run on both platforms]. Restart AA and you’ll see the command under ‘Open…’.

    Reply

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    Shannon

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    I am so impressed! I followed all of the instructions from various different people (I have acrobat 10) and it worked great! Thankyou!

    Reply

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    Mike Brown

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    thanks and thanks to the app designer.

    Is there any app for combining two pdf files , First file even no . Second file odd

    Reply

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    Jeanne B.

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    I use Acrobat Pro XI on the Mac at a University, so printing to PDF doesn’t work, the Document menu no longer exists, and University regulations prohibit me from mangling anything system-wise.

    I was at my wit’s end, but PAUL BROWN, thank you for pointing me in the direction of that reversepdf.appspot.com thing. IT WORKED!!! Beautifully. It’s now bookmarked in my browser.

    Adobe, TAKE NOTE. You need to put that reverse page order feature back into Acrobat. Thanks.

    Reply

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    Wes M

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    For a most reliable method, use the print command. Select the Adobe PDF as the printer. Click the More Options below Pages to Print. Check the Reverse Pages box. Good luck and good night.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Daniel

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    Dear Anil, Mike and Bill O’Connor,

    I’m using Acrobat X Pro on Windows 10 Pro and I’m trying to make this modified script to work. I tried both “Edit” and “File” versions, but nothing happens. “Reverse” menu item just does not appear.
    I restart Acrobat every time I place script file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Javascripts folder.
    “Enable menu items JavaScript execution privileges” in Preferences is checked.

    What is the problem?

    Thank You!
    Daniel

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Theodore Norvell

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    Here is a method that works with Acrobat X Pro on the Mac. Your milage may vary.

    Suppose we have a 99 page document called x.pdf
    * Split the document into 1 page segments using “Split Document” under page tools. This make 99 files called x_Part1.pdf through x_Part99.pdf.
    * Delete the first 98 pages.
    * Use the Insert from File tool under Page tools
    – Select files x_Part1.pdf though x_Part98.pdf
    (Luckily on the Mac, these are ordered numerically rather than alphabetically. Otherwise you may need to rename x_Part1.pdf to x_Part01.pdf etc before this step. And if the document is longer than 100 pages the problem is even worse!)
    – After selecting the files, be sure to check “After” and “First”. (Well, actually, “After” and “Last” also works.)
    – Click OK.
    * That’s it.

    Of course this will lose bookmarks and who knows what else. But OCR seemed to still work.

    Reply

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