Repair PDF

What it's for

Try to get a PDF that won’t open, or opens with errors, to work again, without sending it anywhere. It is often a file that was cut short in a download, an email attachment that was changed on the way, or a file whose index of its own contents is damaged.

For example, when a PDF reader says “the file is damaged and could not be repaired”, choose the file here and see whether a rebuilt copy opens.

How to use it

Choose, drop or paste the PDF. The tool tries two ways in turn and tells you which one worked before you save anything.

1. Rebuild: it reads the pages one by one without trusting the file’s index, writes a new index, and checks that the result opens. Text, pictures and fonts stay as they were.
2. Pictures of the pages: if that fails but the pages can still be drawn, the button saves a new PDF made of a picture of each page. It looks the same, but the text can no longer be selected, searched or copied.

The new file is saved under the old name with -rebuilt or -pictures added; the original is not changed.

Example

Make a copy of a PDF and, with a file tool, cut off its last few hundred bytes (the end of a PDF holds its index, so many readers then complain). Choose the copy here. If its pages are still in the file, you’re told that the structure was rebuilt and the new copy opens with its pages; if not, you’re told what was tried.

Good to know

This is a best effort: it can’t bring back pages or objects that are missing, and a badly damaged file may give fewer pages, blank pages or garbled ones, so check the saved file in a PDF reader before you rely on it. A file cut short loses what was in the missing part. Forms, links, bookmarks and signatures may not survive a rebuild, and the picture version keeps none of them. PDFs protected with a password aren’t handled (unlock them first), and very large files may run out of memory.