How to Rotate a PDF in Google Drive: A Step-by-Step Guide

Did you just receive another PDF that has to be read with your neck torqued at a 90-degree angle? Or worse, did you just send out one of these PDFs and suddenly see your co-workers begin tilting their heads trying to read your document?

Technology isn't always the easiest to understand and work with. Scanners, for example, tend to read a page layout in landscape mode rather than portrait, leaving your PDF pages inconsistent and difficult to read.

While many technologies are becoming more complicated to use, it's not true of all tech tools. Some are actually becoming more user-friendly. When it comes to PDF management and modification, Google Drive is one such tool. In this step-by-step guide, we'll cover how to rotate a PDF in Google Drive as well as an additional tool to help keep those PDF pages presentable and readable.

Part 1: How to Rotate a PDF in Google Drive and Save

Google Drive isn't just a tool for saving documents and files in the cloud. It also has a few productivity features in its suite of tools. Among these tools is a simple and useful approach to rotating PDF documents. Here's a step-by-step guide to rotate your PDF documents with Google Drive:

Step 1 - Access Google Drive

Open Google Drive in your browser. Use the navigation bar to go to Google Drive, or if you're a Google Chrome user, you can simply locate the Google Drive icon in the grid menu in the top right corner of your browser window.

Step 2 - Locate or Upload the PDF in Google Drive

If your PDF document isn't already in your Google Drive folder, you can simply drag the file from your desktop or computer folder directly onto the Google Drive window, and it will automatically upload. You can also click the 'New' button and select 'File Upload' from the drop-down menu and upload your PDF to Google Drive this way.

Step 3 - Open the PDF

Double-click the file name or icon to open your PDF. This will open a general preview window over your Google Drive page.

Step 4 - Click the 'Print' Icon

The 'Print' function will open a new window or tab depending on your settings. This new view of your document will enable you to make modifications to the PDF.

Step 5 - Rotate the PDF

Option 1: Locate the 'Rotate Counterclockwise' button in the toolbox at the top of the print window. Click this button and the document will rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise. Continue to click this button until the document rotates the appropriate radial distance and appears as it is meant to be viewed.

Option 2: Right-click and find and select either 'Rotate clockwise' or 'Rotate counterclockwise'. Repeat this step until the document has rotated in the desired direction and has reached the appropriate orientation.

Congratulations! You have successfully used Google Drive to rotate a PDF. However, you need to know that Google Drive cannot help you save the rotated PDF. So you need to use an alternative method to do that. The below method is the guide you need.

Part 2: How to Rotate a PDF Without Google Drive

Google Drive is a quick and easy solution to rotating incorrectly oriented PDFs, but it's not the only simple way to do this. It's not even the best way to do this. The two biggest disadvantages to using Google Drive to rotate a PDF are that you can only rotate the whole PDF and you cannot save the rotated PDF. That means you cannot rotate one page or several pages. However, UPDF can help you out. It has free downloadable software that offers the same feature along with several other useful tools like rotating only selected pages to help make your PDFs more readable and presentable.

Click below to get started using UPDF to rotate your PDFs now.

Method 1: Rotate a Single PDF Page in the Thumbnail Panel

If you need to rotate a single PDF page, you can do it directly in the thumbnail panel of UPDF. Just follow the below guide.

Step 1 - Open the PDF in UPDF

Launch the UPDF application and drag and drop the PDF into the 'Open File' box at the top of the window. You can also click the purple arrow icon to open a file navigation window. Locate your file and click 'Open'.

Step 2 - Select the Page in the Thumbnail Panel

The lefthand column, called the Thumbnail Panel, will display each of the PDF pages in the document. Click the page you wish to rotate to select the page.

Step 3 - Rotate the Page

With the desired page selected, right-click the page. From the dropdown menu, select either 'Rotate clockwise' or 'Rotate counterclockwise'. Repeat this step until the document has rotated in the desired direction and has reached the appropriate orientation.

Step 4 - Save the PDF

Click the 'File' from the menu bar and select 'Save' from the dropdown menu. Select the desired folder location for your PDF. Click 'Save'.

Method 2: Rotate a PDF via Organizing Pages

If you need to select a range of PDF pages and rotate them, then, use UPDF's organizing pages features with the below steps.

Step 1 - Open the PDF in UPDF

Launch the UPDF application and drag and drop the PDF into the 'Open File' box at the top of the window. You can also click the purple arrow icon to open a file navigation window. Locate your file and click 'Open'.

Step 2 - Open the Organize Pages Tool

Locate the 'Organize Pages' icon in the toolbar on the left-hand side. The icon displays two pages layered on top of each other.

Step 3 - Select the Pages

Find the 'Select Pages' button in the upper right corner and click. Choose the appropriate function to select the pages you wish to rotate. To rotate a range of pages, use the 'Add Page Range function to select a range of pages. In the 'Suggested Page' section, you can find additional selections such as odd or even pages only, or portrait or landscape pages only.

Step 4 - Rotate the Pages

With the desired pages selected, right-click on any of the selected pages. From the dropdown menu, select either 'Rotate clockwise' or 'Rotate counterclockwise'. Repeat this step until the selected pages have rotated in the desired direction and have reached the appropriate orientation. You can also use the 'Rotate clockwise' and 'Rotate counterclockwise' buttons in the top right portion of the toolbar.

Step 5 - Save the PDF

Click the 'File' from the menu bar and select 'Save' from the dropdown menu. Select the desired folder location for your PDF. Click 'Save'.

Along with the ability to select and rotate multiple pages at once, UPDF also offers many more tools for modifying and editing PDFs such as multiple viewing functions, editing tools, a fill and sign function, and even an AI Assistant with a suite of tools to help you get your PDF work done faster. To learn more about UPDF, you can read this review article or watch the below video guide. Or you can click the below button to test all features.

Final Thoughts

Incorrectly oriented PDFs are difficult to read and embarrassing to send out. Luckily, learning how to rotate a PDF with Google Drive is a quick and easy fix, but UPDF's larger suite of tools makes it the best option for modifying PDFs. From its ability to rotate multiple pages swiftly and easily to its game-changing AI assistant, UPDF has the tools to help you get your PDF work done better and more efficiently.

Click below to download UPDF and start boosting your PDF skills today! If you like this method, you can upgrade to pro version by clicking the below picture with a big discount.