Repair a damaged PDF

Rebuild a PDF that won't open and keep every page that survives. It says plainly what it recovered, and your file stays on your device.

Drop a damaged PDF, or click to choose

It is checked and rebuilt on your device as soon as you choose it.

Need to write on the pages too? The PDF editor adds text, signatures and highlights.

How to repair a PDF

Drop the file onto the box, or click Choose file. It is checked and, if needed, rebuilt on your device straight away.
The bar under the preview says whether damage was found and how many pages were recovered, including how many the file says it should have.
Compare page one of the original and the repaired copy, then open the download and check every page before you rely on it.
Select Download PDF. The original file is not changed.

Why PDFs break

Every PDF ends with an index that says where each part of the file starts. Reader programs jump straight to that index. When it is wrong or missing, the reader gives up with “the file is damaged and could not be repaired”, even though nearly everything else in the file is fine. Common causes are a download or upload that stopped early, an email system that changed a few bytes, a disk or USB stick error, and programs that crashed while saving.

What happens to your file

First, a check
The file is read the strict way a PDF reader does. If it reads cleanly, you are told no damage was found and get a fresh, tidy copy of it. Nothing is changed for the sake of it.
If it is damaged, a rebuild
The whole file is scanned for its parts without trusting the broken index. A part cut off at the end of a short download is dropped, every page that can still be found is collected in order, and a new PDF is written around them. The new file has to pass the same strict check before it is offered.

What repair can’t do

No tool can bring back data that is not in the file. If a download stopped halfway, the pages in the missing half are gone; the result tells you how many pages the file lists and how many came back. A page whose own content is garbled may come out blank or partly drawn, so it is left out rather than shown empty. A damaged file that is also password-protected cannot be rebuilt without breaking its encryption. In those cases, the honest fix is a fresh copy from whoever sent it.

A rebuilt file keeps its pages, text and images. Bookmarks, form fields and links between pages are not carried over.

Common questions

Is my PDF uploaded to be repaired?

No. The check and the rebuild run inside your browser, so the file never leaves your device. That matters when the broken file is a contract or a statement.

Can it fix a PDF that says it is damaged and could not be repaired?

Often, yes. That message usually means the file's index is broken while the pages are still there. The rebuild finds the pages without the index.

Can it recover a PDF that only partly downloaded?

It recovers the pages that arrived. Pages in the part that never downloaded are not in the file, so no tool can bring them back. The result says how many pages the file lists and how many were recovered.

Will the repaired PDF look the same?

The pages that are recovered keep their text, fonts and images. Bookmarks, form fields and links between pages are not carried over when a file has to be rebuilt.

What if my PDF has no damage?

You are told no damage was found, and the download is a clean copy of the same file. If it still will not open somewhere, the problem may be the program opening it.

Can it repair a password-protected PDF?

If the file is sound, yes: enter the password and you get a copy without one. If it is both damaged and password-protected, it cannot be rebuilt without breaking its encryption, and the tool says so.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no sign-up and no limit on how many files you repair.