Scan & repair
Repair PDF
Try to recover a PDF that will not open or shows errors. The tool rebuilds the file's structure, lets you preview the recovered pages and tells you what it could verify.
Uploaded securely and deleted after processing
Drag and drop here
PDFOne PDF up to 30 MB
Your PDF stays on your device until you choose Repair PDF. How much can be recovered depends on the damage, and the report tells you what was checked. How files are handled
What Repair PDF does
A PDF is not read from top to bottom. Near the end of the file sits an index that tells a viewer where every page, font and image is stored. When a download is cut short, a transfer corrupts a few bytes or a program crashes while saving, that index no longer matches the contents and viewers give up with an error, even though most of the document is still there.
Repair PDF uploads your file, finds the parts that survive and writes a new PDF with a correct index. If you allow deeper reconstruction and the standard repair fails, it redraws each page into a fresh file instead. That rescues more damaged documents but can flatten forms, links and annotations.
Nothing is uploaded until you start the repair, and temporary processing files are removed when the job finishes or fails. You get a recovery report with page counts and sizes before and after, a page preview and the repaired file. If the original page count could be read and the result does not match it, no partial file is returned.
Is this the right tool?
Good for
- A PDF that stops with a message such as failed to load or file is damaged
- Downloads or email attachments that arrived incomplete
- Files that open in one viewer but show errors in another
- Documents another tool rejected as invalid before merging or converting
Not the right tool for
- A PDF that only asks for a password. It is locked, not broken; remove the password if you have it.Unlock PDF
- Wrong page order or sideways pages. Those are layout problems, not file damage.Organize PDF
- Text you cannot select because the pages are images. That needs text recognition.OCR PDF
How to repair a PDF
Choose the PDF
Drop one file up to 30 MB. A quick check in your browser shows whether it opens at all; the file is not uploaded yet.
Enter the password if asked
If the file is encrypted, type its opening password. The recovered copy is saved without a password.
Decide on deeper reconstruction
Tick Allow deeper reconstruction if you would rather get rebuilt pages than nothing when the standard repair fails.
Repair
Select Repair PDF. The file is uploaded and processed, and you can cancel while it runs.
Read the report and preview
Compare Original pages with Output pages and look through the recovered pages.
Download
Select Download repaired PDF, and Download recovery report if you want a record. Keep the damaged original until you are sure nothing is missing.
Worked example
A 40-page proposal that was cut off mid-download
Say a 40-page proposal downloaded over a weak connection, and your viewer now says the file is damaged. Part of the file's index never arrived.
Add it and select Repair PDF; the browser check cannot open a damaged file, which is expected. The repair rebuilds the index from the page data it can still find, and the recovery report shows Original pages and Output pages. When the original count could be read, you only receive a file if the two numbers match. When it could not, the report says so, and the preview is how you confirm that all 40 pages are present.
Pages whose data never arrived cannot be recreated by any tool. If the preview stops short, download the proposal again from its source.
Tips for a better result
- Try the simplest fix first: download or copy the file again. A fresh copy beats any repair.
- Leave Allow deeper reconstruction off for a fillable form you still need to complete. Turn it on when you only need to read or print the pages.
- Download recovery report gives you a record of the page counts and the repair that was applied, which is useful when you ask the sender for a clean copy.
Repair PDF: questions and answers
What is the difference between standard repair and deeper reconstruction?
Standard repair keeps your pages as they are and rebuilds only the index that points to them, so text, forms and links survive. Deeper reconstruction redraws every page into a new PDF when the standard repair fails. It rescues more files, but form fields, links and annotations may be flattened or lost.
The tool found no structural issues. Why does my PDF still look wrong?
Then the file is intact, and the problem lies in its content or in how one viewer displays it. Missing characters usually mean a font was never embedded, and blank areas can be an image type the viewer does not support. Open the file in a second viewer, and ask the sender to export it again if both show the same fault.
Will repairing remove the password from my PDF?
Yes. To read an encrypted file the tool needs its opening password, and the recovered copy is saved without encryption. Add a password again with Protect PDF if the document should stay locked.
Does a repaired PDF keep its digital signature?
No. A digital signature certifies the exact bytes of a file, and repair rewrites those bytes, so viewers will report the signature as invalid or missing. Keep the damaged original, and ask the signer for a new signed copy if you need one.