Mixed page sizes are a quiet source of printing problems: a merged document with A4 text pages, a letter-size form, and an oversized diagram jumps around on screen and prints unpredictably. PDF Arranger’s Page Size dialog rescales pages — by percentage, by exact millimetres, or by fitting them to a standard paper size — so the whole document comes out uniform.
Resizing changes the page dimensions and scales the content to match. It does not compress the file, and it does not change the content itself; text stays text, and images keep their resolution relative to the new page size.
Before you start
You need PDF Arranger 1.14.0 (or a recent version) installed. If it is not on your computer yet, download PDF Arranger first — it is free, open source (GPL-3.0), and works entirely offline, so your files never leave your computer.
Nothing you do in PDF Arranger changes the original file on disk. Every edit only takes effect when you export the result to a new PDF, which makes experimenting safe: if the output is not what you wanted, adjust the arrangement and export again.
Step by step: resize pages in the Page Size dialog
- Open the PDF and select the pages to resize. Select all pages for a uniform document, or only the odd-sized ones.
- Open the Page Size dialog for the selection.
- Choose how to size the pages. Scale by a percentage (for example 70% to bring an A3 page down towards A4 proportions), enter target dimensions in millimetres for an exact result, or use Fit to paper to scale each page onto a standard paper size.
- Pick the paper size if fitting. The dialog offers the standard A-series sizes; version 1.14.0 added the large A0, A1, and A2 sizes and moved paper sizes to the front of the dialog, alongside A3–A6 for everyday documents.
- Apply and inspect a few pages at full size, then export.
Which method should you use?
Percentages are quickest when you only know a page is “about a third too big”. Millimetres are right when the output must match an exact trim size. Fit to paper is the safest default for mixed documents headed for a printer, because every page ends up on the same standard sheet, scaled to fit rather than cropped.
Tips
- Resizing pages that contain links can cost you those links (and outlines may be lost) in the exported file. If the document is link-heavy and meant for screen use, check the exported copy before deleting anything.
- Resize before generating a booklet, not after — imposition assumes uniform pages.
- Pair resizing with cropping: crop white borders first, then fit to paper, for the largest, cleanest printed result.
A worked example
Take a merged application packet: A4 letters, a letter-size form from an overseas office, and an A3 site plan folded into the middle. Printed as-is, the packet scales unpredictably and the plan may be cut off. Select every page, open the Page Size dialog, and fit all pages to A4: the letters stay as they are, the form scales slightly, and the plan shrinks to a readable overview on a single sheet. If the plan must stay large, exclude it from the selection, fit the rest, and print the plan separately at its native size. Resizing by selection, rather than always globally, is what makes the tool practical on real-world mixed documents.
Related guides
Keep going with these step-by-step guides from the same series: