---
name: "pdf123-rotate"
description: "Change page orientation. Runs the PDF123 \"Rotate PDF\" tool (pdf123.xyz) over its REST API with curl, no account needed. Use when the user wants this done to their file. Also known as: 旋转 PDF, Rotar PDF, PDF घुमाएँ, تدوير PDF, Girar PDF, Putar PDF, Faire pivoter le PDF, Повернуть PDF, PDFの回転, PDF drehen, PDF 회전, Xoay PDF, PDF döndür, 旋轉 PDF, Ruota PDF, หมุน PDF, Obróć PDF, Повернути PDF, PDF draaien, Rotera PDF, Περιστροφή PDF, Завъртане на PDF, Gira PDF, Zungusha PDF."
compatibility: "Needs curl 7.76+ and outbound HTTPS to pdf123.xyz, or PDFX_API_BASE pointing at a self-hosted pdfx-server."
---

# Rotate PDF (PDF123)

Change page orientation.

Web version: https://pdf123.xyz/rotate · All tools: https://pdf123.xyz/skills/pdf123.md

## When to use

- Turn a sideways scan export so viewers show it upright
- Set every page to 180 after a head-down ADF pass
- Normalize a mix of stored rotations to one angle

## Run it

Replace the sample file names and values with the user's, then run:

```bash
API="${PDFX_API_BASE:-https://pdf123.xyz}"
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST "$API/api/v1/general/rotate-pdf" \
  -F "fileInput=@input.pdf" \
  -F "pageNumbers=all" \
  -F "angle=90" \
  --output-dir "pdf123-output/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" --create-dirs -OJ -w '%{filename_effective} %{content_type}\n'
```

## Inputs

Everything is `multipart/form-data`. The command above already sends each field with its default; keep them all and change only the values the user asked for, since some endpoints reject a missing optional field.

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fileInput` | file | yes | | .pdf (one file) |
| `pageNumbers` | text | no | `all` | Pages to rotate. 1-based page list: `1,3-5`, open range `7-`, `all`, or an `n` expression such as `2n` for even pages |
| `angle` | choice | no | `90` | Rotation angle. One of: `90` (90°), `180` (180°), `270` (270°) |

## Result

curl saves the result in a new `pdf123-output/<timestamp>/` directory under the server's file name and prints its path and content type. Several output files come back as one ZIP. Tell the user where the file is.

## Limits

- One angle per run: pages that need different angles take separate runs
- Not incremental; not 0 or arbitrary degrees
- Does not rasterize, so some printers ignore the flag
- Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

## Errors

- A non-zero curl exit means the request failed. The saved file then holds `application/problem+json`; read it and report its `detail` to the user instead of retrying blindly.
- `413`: the upload exceeds 100 MiB. `429`: wait for `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once.
- Send `X-API-KEY: $PDFX_API_KEY` only if the user has a PDF123 API key; anonymous calls work without it.

## Privacy

Files are uploaded to the API host, processed, and deleted once the response is sent. For confidential files, ask before uploading, or use a self-hosted server via `PDFX_API_BASE`.