TL;DR: Tired of clunky desktop tools for PDF manipulation in React? This guide explores how to organize PDF pages in React using Syncfusion PDF Viewer, including reordering, rotating, inserting blank pages, deleting, copying, and importing PDFs with ease for efficient browser-based editing.
Introduction
As a React developer, you’ve likely wrestled with PDF workflows that force users to switch to desktop apps for simple edits, talk about a productivity killer! Whether it’s legal contracts, compliance docs, or healthcare records, enabling users to organize PDF pages directly in your React app can transform the experience.
In this guide, we will explore how to organize PDF pages in a React application using Syncfusion® PDF Viewer. You’ll learn to set up the viewer, enable the page organizer, configure permissions, and build an intuitive UI for page-level editing.
Why PDF page organization matters
Interactive page management improves document workflows across industries. Users can drag pages into the correct order, rotate misaligned scans, insert blank pages for notes or signatures, delete unnecessary pages, and even import pages from other PDFs without leaving the application.
Syncfusion’s organized pages feature lets you do precisely that: rotate pages in 90° increments, drag to rearrange pages, insert blank pages to the left or right of a selected page, delete selected pages, duplicate pages, and import another PDF into the current document. These actions are reflected instantly in the viewer and saved to a new file via the Save or Save As commands.
Tools & setup: What you’ll need
Prerequisites
To get started, make sure you have the following:
- Node.js (version 16 or newer) along with npm or Yarn for package management.
- A solid understanding of React, including its component lifecycle.
- TypeScript (optional but highly recommended) to enhance type safety and improve development efficiency.
Installation and dependencies
Create a new React project with TypeScript support:
npm create vite@latest pdf-organizer -- --template react-ts
cd pdf-organizer
Install the core Syncfusion® PDF Viewer package:
npm install @syncfusion/ej2-react-pdfviewer
Introducing Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer
Syncfusion’s PDF Viewer component brings enterprise-grade PDF rendering and editing to web applications. It supports annotations, form filling, and document processing. The page organizer feature is built on top of this viewer and is disabled by default. You must import the necessary services and enable the organizer via component properties.
Required services
The PDF Viewer uses a service-based architecture for modular functionality:
Essential services:
- PageOrganizer: Core service for all page manipulation operations.
- Navigation: Page navigation controls and programmatic navigation.
- Toolbar: Built-in toolbar with standard PDF operations.
- Magnification: Zoom operations during page organization.
Optional services: TextSelection, Annotation, FormFields, Print, and additional features as needed.
Core PDF page organization features
Page reordering
The Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer provides intuitive drag-and-drop page reordering with real-time visual feedback. Users can click and drag page thumbnails to new positions with visual cues, including highlighted drop zones and smooth animations.
Page rotation
The rotation system in the Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer supports 90° steps clockwise and counterclockwise rotations. It ensures that the document’s content, annotations, and text searchability remain intact during rotation, providing a seamless editing experience within the UI.
Page insertion
The Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer supports dynamic insertion of blank pages into the loaded document directly from the UI. This allows users to expand or restructure their PDFs seamlessly without needing external tools.
Page deletion
Removing pages from a loaded PDF document is simple and intuitive. Users can select one or multiple pages by clicking on their thumbnails in the Organize Pages pane. Once selected, clicking the Delete option instantly removes those pages from the document.
Page copying
Duplicating pages in the loaded PDF is quick and effortless. Simply select the page thumbnails you want to copy, then use the Copy option in the Organize Pages pane. The duplicated pages are automatically inserted to the right of the originals. You can create multiple copies using the toolbar actions for efficient page replication.
PDF importing
You can seamlessly import another PDF into the currently loaded document using the Import Document button. If a page is selected, the imported PDF will be inserted to the right of that page; otherwise, it will be added as the first page. Once imported, the new pages can be repositioned via drag-and-drop, deleted, or surrounded with blank pages. When you click Save or Save As, the imported content is merged into the existing document.
Page thumbnail zooming
The Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer allows users to adjust the size of page thumbnails in the Organize Pages panel for improved visibility and precision. Using the zoom slider, you can:
- Enlarge thumbnails to view finer page details.
- Reduce thumbnail size to see more pages at once.
This feature is helpful when working with documents with complex layouts or small elements requiring close inspection during page organization.
Real-time updates
Any changes made in the Organize Pages panel, such as inserting, deleting, or rearranging pages, are instantly reflected in the PDF Viewer. Click Save to apply and preserve all modifications in real time.
SaveAs functionality
Secure your edits using the Save As feature, which lets you download a modified copy of the PDF document. This ensures all changes are preserved and available for future reference or sharing.
Implementation guide: Building the PDF page organizer
Enable page organization dialog
The simplest way to get started is to display the organizer dialog automatically when the PDF loads. Set the isPageOrganizerOpen property to true (it is false by default). Inject the required services, including PageOrganizer, into the viewer:
<PdfViewerComponent
ref={(scope) => { pdfviewer = scope; }}
id="container"
documentPath="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/content/pdf/pdf-succinctly.pdf"
resourceUrl="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/30.1.37/dist/ej2-pdfviewer-lib"
isPageOrganizerOpen={true}
style={{ height: '680px' }}>
<Inject
services={[
Toolbar,
Annotation,
Magnification,
Navigation,
LinkAnnotation,
BookmarkView,
ThumbnailView,
Print,
TextSelection,
TextSearch,
FormFields,
FormDesigner,
PageOrganizer
]}/>
</PdfViewerComponent>
The viewer loads a sample PDF and opens the page organizer panel. Users can drag pages, rotate them by 90° in either direction, insert blank pages, delete pages, and copy pages as described above.
Customizing page organizer settings
For fine-grained control over available actions and thumbnail zoom, use the pageOrganizerSettings property. It accepts flags to enable or disable specific actions and controls the default zoom level and limits. Here’s how to allow only rotating and rearranging pages while disabling deletion, insertion, copying, and importing:
<PdfViewerComponent
ref={(scope) => { pdfviewer = scope; }}
id="container"
documentPath="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/content/pdf/pdf-succinctly.pdf"
resourceUrl="https://cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/30.1.37/dist/ej2-pdfviewer-lib"
pageOrganizerSettings={{
canDelete: true,
canInsert: true,
canRotate: true,
canCopy: true,
canRearrange: true,
canImport: true,
imageZoom: 1,
showImageZoomingSlider: true,
imageZoomMin: 1,
imageZoomMax: 5
}}
style={{ height: '680px' }}>
<Inject
services={[
Toolbar,
Annotation,
Magnification,
Navigation,
LinkAnnotation,
BookmarkView,
ThumbnailView,
Print,
TextSelection,
TextSearch,
FormFields,
FormDesigner,
PageOrganizer
]}/>
</PdfViewerComponent>
You can adjust these flags at runtime based on user roles. For example, fetch the authenticated user’s permissions and pass different settings accordingly.
Mobile responsiveness UI
Syncfusion’s PDF Viewer is responsive by design. The organize pages panel collapses neatly on smaller screens, and touch interactions support drag-and-drop, rotation, and deletion. Under the hood, the component streams pages rather than loading the entire document into memory, so even large PDFs remain responsive.
GitHub reference
For the complete sample, refer to the GitHub demo.
FAQs
Q1: Does the viewer prompt for passwords when importing protected PDFs?
Yes. If the imported file is password-protected, the viewer displays a password prompt to ensure secure access.
Q2: Are undo/redo operations supported?
Yes, users can easily undo or redo actions like rearranging, rotating, or deleting pages using built-in UI controls, making editing safe and reversible.
Q3: Can I add annotations to copied or inserted pages?
Absolutely. Annotations can be added to any page, including those inserted or duplicated, and are preserved when saving.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading! In this blog post, we’ve explored how to implement professional-grade PDF page organization capabilities using the Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer. We have covered everything from basic setup and core features to advanced implementations and best practices.
Key achievements
- Complete page manipulation suits intuitive controls.
- Enterprise-grade features include rotation, insert, copy, import PDF document, and zooming.
- Professional user experience with responsive design and visual feedback.
- Performance optimization for handling large documents efficiently.
By following the patterns and implementations shown in this guide, you can create sophisticated PDF page organization applications that rival desktop solutions while leveraging the advantages of modern web technologies. The Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer provides the foundation to build exceptional document management experiences that users will love.
Additional resources
- Syncfusion® React PDF Viewer Documentation
- Organize pages of Web API documentation
- API reference for PageOrganizerSettings
Related Blogs
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This article was originally published at Syncfusion.com.
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