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Mastering PDF Layout Customization: A Comprehensive Tutorial

When viewing a PDF, reading a PDF-based eBook, or doing other PDF-related tasks, you can edit PDF layout designs to personalize your viewing experience. These layouts will determine what you will witness in the viewing area and if you need to scroll to access the entire width or length of your PDF file. It determines the size of the PDF canvas visible in the viewing area for reading, editing, annotating, or more.

You can alter the PDF layout to tweak the viewing experience for good. If you want to master the skills of PDF layout customization, we have got you covered in this comprehensive guide. In it, we have shed light on how to change PDF layout, PDF page layout, default viewing mode, or PDF size layout with one and only UPDF! Without any further delay, just hop on below to explore all of these step-by-step guides.

How to Change PDF Layout?

UPDF is a versatile, user-friendly software that enables editing, annotating, signing, reading, printing, sharing, and performing more PDF-related tasks. This delightfully fast PDF editor can enhance your productivity, cutting short on time invested in PDF processing and management. It‘s compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Meaning you can access your account from any of these platforms, streamlining your workflow, even when on the go.

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No matter if you are a student, legal professional, business employee, content creator, or anyone else linked with performing PDF-related tasks, UPDF is the best buddy indeed. It also offers multiple PDF layout options for enhancing the viewing experience. Here is a short description of every PDF layout supported by UPDF:

PDF Layout Design 1: Fit Page

This layout option means your PDF file will fit the page size, so you can view it all at once without the need for scrolling up, down, right or left. This layout can be convenient if the original aspect ratio of the PDF is comparable to that of the UPDF. However, if it’s not, PDF pages might appear compressed or stretched.

PDF Layout Design 2: Actual Size

This layout option will display PDF in its actual size, i.e., without any sort of scaling. However, if your PDF pages are larger than the viewing area, you will witness a section of PDF pages at a time. To view the rest, you will have to use the keyboard's arrow keys or right-left and top-bottom scroll bars.

PDF Layout Design 3: Fit Width

In this layout option, PDF is scaled to fit horizontally into the viewing area so that you don't need to scroll horizontally. However, you will have to rely on vertical scrolling to access the entire page.

PDF Layout Design 4: Fit Height

PDF pages will expand or compress on selecting this layout to fill the entire viewing area with their height. For viewing the PDF along the width, you will have to use a scroll bar if the width is more than that of the viewing area's width.

Full Size (Slideshow)

When presenting PDF, we normally select Full Size or Slideshow mode, ensuring that the PDF is the only thing showing up on the screen. In such cases, PDF files usually display in Fit Page, Fit Height, or Fit Width layout options in these modes.

How to Change PDF Layout with UPDF?

PDF page layout determines how you can view PDF pages in the viewing area Here is how you can change PDF layout with UPDF:

  • Launch UPDF and open the PDF that you want to view.
  • Click on the drown-down arrow beside the zooming section to reveal layout options.
  • Select any layout option by clicking on it.
layout pdf updf change pdf layout

Alternative Way: Alternatively, you can right-click on the PDF and select the option you want. You can also rely on shortcut options. Here are the details:

  • Fit Page: Ctrl + 0 (Windows), Cmd + 0 (Mac)
  • Actual Size: Ctrl + 1 (Windows), Cmd + 1 (Mac)
  • Fit Width: Ctrl + 2 (Windows), Cmd + 2 (Mac)
  • Fit Height: Ctrl + 3 (Windows), Cmd + 3 (Mac)

How to Change PDF Page Layout?

UPDF enables viewing in different PDF page layouts too. These include Single Page view, Single Page scrolling, Two Page view, and Two Page scrolling. If you are concerned with changing the PDF Page layout instead of PDF's, follow the steps mentioned below:

  1. Open UPDF and upload the PDF you want to read or view by clicking the Open File.
  2. Once opened, right-click anywhere on the PDF and choose the Page Display option to reveal the menu.
  3. From the following menu, select any option of the following options:
  • Single Page View: Owing to this layout PDF page option, you will view a single page at a time. Scrolling will shift you to one page up or down, depending on whether you have scrolled upward or downward.
  • Single Page Scrolling: This mode will also view a single page at a time, but scrolling will depend on the extent you hold the arrow keys or slide the slider of the vertical scroll. It won't shift directly to the next or previous page.
  • Two-Page View: This PDF layout design displays two pages at a time. Both pages are viewed side-by-side, and pressing the arrow key once will display the next or previous two pages.
  • Two-Page Scrolling: Lastly, this mode allows scrolling your PDF in a continuous vertical column when displaying two PDF pages side-by-side.
change pdf layout page display

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How to Change Default View Mode?

If you want to change your viewing mode by default, you can do so with the following guide:

  • Launch UPDF and navigate to the File tab.
  • Select Preferences to display the relevant menu in the following window. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut Ctrl + K (Windows) or Cmd + K (Mac) to access it.
  • From General, go to the View section.
  • Choose your desired page viewing mode from the options, i.e., Single Page view, Single Page scrolling, Two Page view, and Two Page scrolling.
edit pdf layout page view default

In the same section, you can also adjust Default Page Zoom.

  • Click on the drop-down arrow to reveal and select several zoom percentages, along with PDF layout designs (Fit Page, Actual Size, Fit Width, and Fit Height).

Other customization options will let you change what to display in the left panel by default (Thumbnails, Bookmarks, Hide Sidebar) and Default Mode (Reader, Commenting, and Edit).


How to Change PDF Size Layout?

UPDF also enables users to edit PDF layouts concerning PDF size. For this purpose, you will need to use the Crop Pages option, adjusting the page orientation according to your need. Hop on below to have a look at the detailed step-by-step guide on how to do so!

  • Open UPDF and proceed with opening the PDF that you want to view.
  • On opening the PDF, navigate to the Crop Pages option.
  • Now, use the cursor of your mouse to crop the PDF page. To revert your changes, click the Revert Changes icon or use the shortcut Ctrl + Z (Windows), Cmd + Z (Mac).
pdf layout crop pages
  • You can also click the Options icon and crop pages by tweaking Margin Controls or adjusting Height and Width in the Cropped Page Size section. This can result in quick cropping if you want your PDF pages to be of a specific size.
layout pdf options

What Is the Meaning of PDF Layout?

PDF layout means the canvas of PDF where you can add text, images, or other important components. On the PDF layout, you can arrange the desired objects per your choice. By changing the page layout, you alter the size and margins of the PDF and scale it to adjust according to the multiple PDF layouts.

On the other hand, PDF page layout specifies certain parameters for viewing PDFs. Multiple layout designs have unique scaling options and distinct settings for the section's page margins, the size and orientation of pages, and the format and starting value of the section's page numbers.

Changing the PDF Page layout will change how many pages you want to view at a particular time and to what extent you want to scroll, one or two-page scrolling or random.

Wrapping It Up!

PDF layout customizing will help you tweak your PDF reading experience the way you want. With UPDF, you can access different PDF and PDF page layout options. Besides this, the platform also offers features for editing text, images, or links in the PDF and annotating to add stickers, shapes, or more.

Other features include PDF conversion, organization, compression, printing, sharing, form filling, batch processing, and more. So, if you haven’t purchased UPDF's license yet, get it now! You can use one license of UPDF across different platforms, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

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That was all about how you can change PDF layout designs via different methods. Hope you find this info helpful; stay tuned for more informative guides.

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