Automatic PDF Processor - Online Help
Comprehensive documentation of all features and settings

33 Auto-rotate Pages

Task: Auto-rotate Pages

33.1 Description

The Auto-rotate Pages task detects the text orientation of each page and automatically corrects misrotated pages. Optionally, OCR text recognition can be used for non-searchable (image-based) pages to determine the correct orientation there as well.

Typical Use Cases

  • Scanner Correction: Automatic correction of incorrectly fed or rotated scans
  • Mixed Orientation: Standardize documents with portrait and landscape pages
  • Batch Processing: Correct large volumes of scanned documents with varying orientation
  • Archive Preparation: Bring documents to uniform orientation before archiving

33.2 General Settings

Enabled

Enable this option so the task is executed for matching PDF files. Disabled tasks are skipped.

33.3 Settings

Settings

Use OCR for Non-Searchable Pages

Enable this option if your PDFs also contain image-based pages (e.g., scans without text recognition). In this case, OCR analysis is performed to determine text orientation.

Without OCR: Only pages with existing text are analyzed. Image-based pages remain unchanged.

With OCR: Image-based pages are also analyzed using optical character recognition and rotated if necessary.

OCR Language

Select the document language for OCR analysis. The correct language significantly improves recognition accuracy.

Setting Description
Language The main language of the documents to be analyzed

Note: The selected language must be installed. You can download additional languages via the Install Language… button.

33.4 Storage Location

Directory

Specify the target directory for the corrected PDF file.

Note: It’s recommended to use a separate folder for each processing step to ensure clear separation.

Filename

Set the name for the processed file.

Examples:

Input Result
(empty) Scan_001.pdf (original name)
<FileName>_corrected Scan_001_corrected.pdf

Name Collisions

Choose what should happen if a file with the target name already exists.

33.5 File Date

Adjust Creation and Modification Date

Optionally, you can change the file date of the processed file.

33.6 Afterwards

Call External Program

After auto-rotation, an external program can be started automatically.

Parameters: Available placeholders: - <PathIncludingFilename> - Full path of the processed file - <ParentDirectory> - Path of parent folder - <Filename> - Filename

33.7 Example: Correct Scanned Documents

Initial Situation

A document scanner regularly produces PDFs where individual pages are misaligned — some are rotated 90° or 180°.

Configuration

  1. Enabled: Yes
  2. Use OCR for Non-Searchable Pages: Yes
  3. OCR Language: English
  4. Directory: D:\Scans\Corrected
  5. Filename: <FileName>

Result

Original Processed
Scan_001.pdf (3 of 5 pages rotated) Scan_001.pdf (all pages correctly aligned)

33.8 Example: Landscape Pages in Mixed Documents

Initial Situation

Business documents contain both portrait text and landscape tables. For archiving, all pages should be uniformly aligned.

Configuration

  1. Enabled: Yes
  2. Use OCR for Non-Searchable Pages: No (documents are already searchable)
  3. Directory: D:\Archive\Cleaned
  4. Filename: <FileName>

Result

Landscape pages are detected and automatically rotated to portrait. The text orientation is correctly maintained.

33.5 Tips and Notes

When to Enable OCR?

Enable the OCR option only when your documents contain image-based pages (e.g., pure scans without prior text recognition). For PDFs that already contain searchable text, OCR is not required and would only slow down processing.

Choose the Right Language

The choice of the correct OCR language affects recognition accuracy: - Use the main language of your documents - For multilingual documents, choose the predominant language - For mixed batches (e.g., German and English), English works as a good compromise

Order in Task List

Typically place “Auto-rotate Pages” before other tasks like Copy or Send Email. It’s particularly useful before the OCR task, as correct page orientation improves OCR results.

Already Correct Pages

Pages that are already correctly aligned are not changed. The task only rotates pages where incorrect orientation is detected.

Backup Copy

Create a backup copy if needed by placing a “Copy File” task before the “Auto-rotate Pages” task.

Flatten Pages Redact Text