Optimise PDF
Repair PDF files
Repair PDF files with recoverable pages, or confirm that they already open.
Choose a file
Choose one unprotected PDF, up to 200 pages or 120 MB.
Try to recover a PDF that will not open
Repair can rebuild some damaged PDF headers and file structures. It cannot replace missing data, and it keeps the source file unchanged.
A readable file is returned unchanged
First, the tool tries to open every page normally. If that succeeds, it returns the original file unchanged. This avoids disturbing signatures, metadata or features that a rewrite might change.
A file opening here does not establish that every PDF reader will accept it. Repair is also separate from compression, password removal and content editing.
Recovery needs enough of the document to survive
If normal opening fails, the tool looks for complete pages and the information needed to rebuild them. It can sometimes recover a file from an interrupted download or a faulty PDF program.
Missing pages, unclear references or invalid page sizes stop recovery. A new copy is offered only after structural and visual checks compare it with the readable parts of the source.
Check what the recovered file contains
The checks cover pages, text, forms, annotations, bookmarks, page labels and attachments. Layers that a PDF reader can show or hide, called optional-content layers, are checked too. A detected difference stops the download.
Open a successful recovery in another reader and inspect the pages you need. Keep the damaged source: a recovered copy cannot restore information that was already missing.
Some damaged PDFs need specialist software
Repair accepts one unprotected PDF up to 200 pages and 120 MB. It refuses to rewrite damaged encrypted or signed files, tagged PDFs with accessibility structure, PDF/A or PDF/X files, and XFA forms.
Those features need checks that this repair tool cannot provide. If a file with one of them opens normally, the tool returns it unchanged.
Questions
Which damaged PDFs can be repaired?
Recovery requires complete pages and supported structures. Damaged encrypted, signed, tagged, XFA, PDF/A and PDF/X files are not rebuilt.
What happens to digital signatures?
A readable signed PDF is returned byte-for-byte unchanged. A damaged signed PDF is not rebuilt because a rewrite would invalidate its signature.