Troubleshooting – PDF Arranger

How to Uninstall PDF Arranger on Windows and Linux

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:35:00 +0000

How you uninstall PDF Arranger depends entirely on how you installed it, and picking the wrong method is the usual reason people think the app is still there afterwards. This guide covers each route separately: the Windows MSI install, the Windows portable version, and the main Linux methods. Uninstalling never touches the PDF files you created with the app; those are yours and stay where you saved them.

Windows: MSI install

Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps (on older Windows wording, Apps & features).
Find PDF Arranger in the list, open its menu, and choose Uninstall.
Confirm the prompts and let the uninstaller finish. PDF Arranger disappears from the Start menu and from the apps list.

One honest footnote: users have reported in the project’s issue tracker that uninstalling some versions on Windows could leave the install folder behind. After uninstalling, look in the folder where the app was installed (by default under Program Files); if a leftover PDF Arranger folder is still there and the app no longer appears in Settings, you can delete that folder manually. If you plan to reinstall, our Windows install guide covers verifying the fresh installer.

Windows: portable version

The portable build was never installed, so there is nothing to uninstall and no entry in Settings to find. Close the app, delete the folder you extracted the ZIP into, and delete the ZIP itself if you kept it. That is the complete removal, which is one of the reasons people choose the portable build described in our portable guide.

Linux: distribution package

Remove a distribution package with the same package manager that installed it:

Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint: sudo apt remove pdfarranger
Fedora: sudo dnf remove pdfarranger
Arch Linux: sudo pacman -R pdfarranger

Removing the package removes the application. Shared libraries it originally pulled in may stay on the system, which is normal package-manager behaviour and harmless, since other programs may use them.

Linux: Flatpak

For the Flathub install, run: flatpak uninstall com.github.jeromerobert.pdfarranger. Flatpak will ask for confirmation. If you installed the Flatpak only for PDF Arranger and want the full background on that route, see our Flatpak install guide.

What about leftover settings?

Like most desktop applications, PDF Arranger can leave small user preference files behind after uninstall. Where those live depends on your platform and install method, and the project does not publish a single official list of locations, so we are not going to invent exact paths for you. The practical guidance is simple: leftover preferences are tiny, harmless, and actually convenient if you reinstall later, because the app picks your settings back up. If you want a completely clean slate, look in your platform’s standard per-user configuration area after uninstalling, bearing in mind that exact locations vary.

Before you go

If you are uninstalling because the app would not start or would not open files, the problem may be fixable faster than switching tools: see our guides on PDF Arranger not launching on Windows and PDF Arranger not opening a PDF. And if you are removing it from one machine to move to another, remember the app is free and open source under GPL-3.0, so there are no licences or accounts to transfer.

Related guides

PDF Arranger on Linux: Fixing Dependency Problems

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:30:00 +0000

Most Linux dependency trouble with PDF Arranger comes from one route: installing from source. Package and Flatpak installs bring their dependencies with them, but a source install only works if the right Python, GTK and library bindings are already on your system, and the app may refuse to start when one is missing, or may start but fail on a specific feature whose library is absent or too old. This guide lists what the project itself requires, then explains the easier routes that avoid the problem entirely.

The dependency list, from the project’s own documentation

For a source install, the project’s README names these requirements. On Debian and Ubuntu based systems, the packages are:

python3-gi — the Python bindings for GObject-based libraries, which the GTK interface is built on.
gir1.2-gtk-3.0 — the GTK 3 introspection data the bindings use.
gir1.2-poppler-0.18 — Poppler is the library that renders the PDF pages you see.
gir1.2-handy-1 — libhandy, which provides parts of the interface.
pikepdf 6 or newer — the library that reads and writes the PDF files. Note the second threshold: outline preservation in 1.14.0 needs pikepdf 8.0 or newer.
img2pdf (optional) — only needed if you want to import images as PDF pages.

Other distributions package the same components under their own names, which is one reason source installs vary so much between systems. If the app fails to start after a source install and reports that something it needs is missing, compare what you have installed against this list first, and pay special attention to the pikepdf version: an old pikepdf is enough to run into both startup trouble and the export behaviour described in our pikepdf error guide.

The easier routes: package or Flatpak first

Your distribution’s package. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and several other distributions package PDF Arranger, and their package managers resolve this whole dependency list for you. The trade-off is version: distribution packages can lag behind the current 1.14.0 release. Our install guides cover Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch Linux.
Flatpak from Flathub. The Flatpak (app ID com.github.jeromerobert.pdfarranger) bundles its runtime, sidesteps distribution dependency differences, and tracks the current release. Our Flatpak guide walks through it. If you already have a broken source install, switching to the Flatpak is usually faster than repairing it.
Source install, deliberately. Keep this for when you specifically need it, for example to test a development version, and treat the checklist above as part of the install rather than as troubleshooting afterwards.

A note on mixing methods

As a general rule, run one installation method per machine. Having a distribution package, a Flatpak and a source install side by side makes it genuinely hard to know which copy, and which pikepdf, actually launched when something goes wrong. Pick the method, remove the others using our uninstall guide, and your troubleshooting surface shrinks immediately.

Still stuck?

Search the official GitHub Issues tracker, where dependency and packaging questions are a recurring topic, and include your distribution and its version, your install method, your PDF Arranger version and your pikepdf version in any report. Those four facts are what maintainers ask for first, and having them ready speeds everything up.

Related guides

PDF Arranger Slow or Freezing with Large PDFs: Practical Fixes

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:25:00 +0000

PDF Arranger shows you every page as a thumbnail and lets you drag pages around visually. That is its strength, and it is also why very large files feel heavy: a document with hundreds of pages, or pages scanned at high resolution, means hundreds of previews to render and keep in memory. Slowness and unresponsiveness with oversized files are a known topic in the project’s issue tracker. The fixes below are practical rather than magical, and the biggest one is changing how you split up the work.

Fix 1: Split first, arrange in sections

Do not load an entire huge document and try to do everything in one session. Instead, split the file into logical sections first, following our split guide, then arrange each section in its own session and export it. Work section by section, and merge the finished sections together at the end; merging already-tidy files is much lighter than editing the whole document at once. This also limits the damage if the app or your PC struggles midway: you lose one section’s unsaved edits, not the whole job.

Fix 2: Be careful with scanned and imported-image pages

Pages that are really large images, such as high-resolution scans, are heavier than text pages of the same page count. If you are importing images to build a PDF, importing a small batch at a time is steadier than importing everything at once. Where you have a choice of scan resolution and the document is for reading or sharing rather than print production, scanning at a moderate resolution keeps the whole workflow noticeably lighter, whichever tool you arrange the pages in afterwards.

Fix 3: Avoid rasterized exports for big files

A rasterized export renders every page into an image. On a large document that is the slowest export path and can produce a very large output file. Use the normal export for big jobs, and keep rasterized export for small documents or as the fallback described in our pikepdf export guide. For the same reason, exporting every page as images is a job to run on a section, not on the whole library at once.

Fix 4: Reduce what the app is juggling

Work on one file at a time, and close PDF Arranger windows and documents you are not actively editing.
Restart the app between sections of a very big job instead of keeping one session alive for hours.
Work from a local copy of the file rather than directly from a slow network location or removable drive, as a general practical step.
Give the app a moment after opening a large file before dragging pages around, so it can finish rendering thumbnails.

Set expectations honestly

PDF Arranger is a graphical, interactive tool, officially positioned as exactly that: it is not a batch-processing or automation tool for libraries of huge files, and the project publishes no official system-requirement numbers we could quote you for how much memory a given document needs. Performance also varies a lot between computers, and we are not going to invent figures for it. If your regular work is hundreds of large scans a day, treat PDF Arranger as the visual arranging step in a wider workflow, with splitting and preparation done in smaller pieces before it.

When slow becomes broken

If the app freezes on one specific file rather than merely working slowly, that file may be damaged or unusual, and the checks in our won’t-open guide apply. If 1.14.0 consistently freezes on a healthy file that other tools handle, search the official GitHub Issues tracker and report it with the file’s page count and size, your version and your operating system, without uploading private documents.

Related guides

Bookmarks or Outlines Missing After Export in PDF Arranger

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:20:00 +0000

You merged or rearranged a document, exported it, and the bookmarks that were in the original file are gone from the result. In PDF Arranger 1.14.0 this is partly a settings question and partly a known limitation with specific operations, and the official user manual is explicit about both. This guide covers the setting to switch on, the version requirement behind it, and the operations that can still cost you your outlines, with a workaround for each.

First: turn on Preserve document information

Open PDF Arranger’s Preferences and enable the option labelled “Preserve document information from the first file opened”. With that option on, and a new enough library underneath (see the next section), version 1.14.0 rebuilds the outlines of merged files when exporting, instead of discarding them. Two details in the wording matter: the information comes from the first file opened, so open the file whose bookmarks you care about first; and the option needs to be set before you export, not after.

Check the pikepdf requirement

Outline preservation requires pikepdf 8.0 or newer. The official Windows builds and the current Flathub package ship recent versions, so most users meet this automatically. The risk group is source installs and older distribution packages, where an older pikepdf may be present. If the Preferences option seems to have no effect, update PDF Arranger to 1.14.0 and, on Linux, work through our dependency guide to bring pikepdf up to date.

Operations that can still drop outlines and links

The official manual is upfront that, even with preservation enabled, outlines and internal links can be lost after certain operations. It names these cases:

Changing the page size of pages that contain links.
Generating or splitting a booklet.
Merge pages (combining several pages onto one sheet).
Hide margins.
Overlay or underlay (pasting a page over or under another).

This is not a bug you can configure away; it reflects how much those operations rebuild the affected pages. Plan around it with the workarounds below.

Workarounds, operation by operation

Page size changes: test on a copy first. If the resized result loses outlines you need, do the merge and reorder work (with preservation on) as your main export, and treat resizing as a separate job on a copy, accepting that the copy may not keep bookmarks.
Booklet: booklets are normally produced for printing, where on-screen bookmarks rarely matter. Keep a separate, non-booklet export as your archival version with outlines intact.
Merge pages, hide margins, overlay/underlay: apply these to the smallest possible part of the document, or as the final step on a copy. There is no outline editor inside PDF Arranger to re-add bookmarks afterwards, so keeping an untouched master file is the reliable protection.
When bookmarks are the priority: limit the job to merge, split, reorder, rotate and delete operations, which are the page-level edits the preservation feature is built around, and verify the export in your reader’s outline panel before deleting any originals.

Our tutorials on merging PDF files and editing metadata cover the neighbouring settings if you are setting up a clean export workflow.

Still losing bookmarks on a plain merge?

If a straightforward merge with the Preferences option enabled, on 1.14.0 with pikepdf 8 or newer, still loses outlines, that is a case for the official GitHub Issues tracker. Describe which files went in, in which order, and which operation you used, and check first whether one of the operations above was part of your workflow.

Related guides

Export Fails in PDF Arranger: Working Through a pikepdf Error

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:15:00 +0000

PDF Arranger describes itself as a front end for pikepdf, the library that does the actual reading and writing of PDF files underneath the interface. That is why, if saving or exporting fails, the message you see may mention pikepdf rather than PDF Arranger itself. Users have reported save failures traced to the pikepdf layer in the project’s issue tracker, so you are not alone, and the steps below are the sensible order to work through them.

Step 1: Update everything first

Start with the current release: PDF Arranger 1.14.0 (May 23, 2026), from our download page on Windows, or through Flathub or your distribution on Linux. Newer releases ship with newer pikepdf versions, and that matters beyond bug fixes: the outline-preserving export introduced in 1.14.0 requires pikepdf 8.0 or newer. If you installed from source, make sure your pikepdf meets the version requirements in our Linux dependency guide. Retest the same export after updating; a large share of save failures disappear at this step.

Step 2: Suspect the source file, not just the app

An export can fail because one of the input files is damaged in a way that only shows up when the file is rewritten. Test it: open the source PDF in another PDF tool and save a fresh copy from there, then import that copy into PDF Arranger and repeat your edits. Re-saving rebuilds the file’s internal structure. If the fresh copy exports cleanly, the original file was the cause, and you have lost nothing but a few minutes.

Step 3: Find the problem page by splitting the export

If you are exporting many pages and the failure keeps happening, export in two halves instead of all at once. If one half succeeds and the other fails, split the failing half again. A few rounds of this usually narrow the problem down to a single page or a single source file. You can then leave that page out, re-create it from its original document, or handle it in a separate export and merge the results afterwards. This is slower than a single export, but it turns a mystery failure into a localised one.

Step 4: Use a rasterized export as a fallback

PDF Arranger can also export a rasterized PDF, in which each page is rendered as an image inside the PDF, and can export pages as PNG or JPEG images. If a normal export fails but you need the document today, a rasterized export is a reasonable fallback: it takes a different code path that does not depend on copying the original page structure across. Be aware of the trade-offs before you rely on it: text in a rasterized export is no longer selectable or searchable, and the file is often larger. Keep your project in the normal format as well, so you can re-export properly once the underlying problem is fixed.

Step 5: Check the destination

As a general check, make sure the folder you are saving to is writable and has free space, and that the target file is not currently open in another program that might be locking it. Saving to a new filename in a different folder rules all of this out in one test.

Still failing? Report it with the details that matter

Search the official GitHub Issues tracker and, if your case is new, open an issue. The useful details are your PDF Arranger version, how pikepdf was installed if you know it, your operating system, and exactly which export you attempted when the failure occurred. If a sample file reproduces the failure and contains nothing private, attaching it helps more than any description.

Related guides

Opening Password-Protected PDFs in PDF Arranger

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:10:00 +0000

PDF Arranger can open password-protected PDFs, but only in the way any honest tool can: you type the password, and the file opens. This guide explains what happens when you open an encrypted file, what you can do with it once it is open, and where the hard limits are, so you do not waste time looking for an unlock feature that does not exist.

How opening a protected file works

Open PDF Arranger and choose the protected PDF as you would any other file.
The app prompts you for the password. Type it exactly, watching out for capital letters and for the keyboard layout if the password contains symbols.
If the password is correct, the pages appear and you can merge, split, reorder, rotate, crop and export just like with an unprotected file.

If the password is wrong, the file simply does not open. Check for the common typing causes first: Caps Lock, a switched keyboard layout, or a trailing space if you pasted the password. If you received the file from someone else, ask the sender to confirm the password rather than guessing repeatedly.

What if you do not know the password?

Then PDF Arranger cannot help, and neither can we: the app has no password recovery, guessing or removal feature for files you cannot already open, and it is not designed to be one. Your realistic options are to get the password from whoever created or sent the file, or to work from an unprotected copy of the same document if one exists. Anything advertised as cracking an unknown PDF password is a different category of tool, with the legal and security questions that come with it.

Owner restrictions are not bypassed

Some PDFs use an owner password that restricts actions such as printing or copying, sometimes combined with a user password needed to open the file at all. PDF Arranger does not offer a way to strip or bypass those restrictions, and it does not provide settings to re-apply detailed permissions of your own, such as separate open and permissions passwords or print-only locks. What it does provide is a single password for the files you export, covered in the next section’s linked guide.

Saving a copy without a password

If you know the password and have opened the file, you can export it without setting a password on the output. That exported copy is then unprotected and opens anywhere without a prompt. In other words, removing a password in PDF Arranger always starts from knowing it: open with the password, export without one. The reverse direction works too: our guide on how to password-protect a PDF shows the Set Password dialog used when exporting, and explains that PDF Arranger applies the same password as both the user and owner password, using strong R=6 encryption.

One practical warning

Only remove protection from files you own or are authorised to handle, and think before sharing the unprotected copy: the password was probably there for a reason. Keep the original protected file as your master copy, and treat the unprotected export as a working copy for your own use.

Still having trouble?

If you are typing a password you are sure is correct and the file still will not open, test the same file and password in another PDF reader. If it fails there too, the password or the file is the problem. If it opens there but not in PDF Arranger 1.14.0, search the official GitHub Issues tracker and report it with your version, operating system and install method, without ever posting the password or the document itself.

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PDF Arranger Not Launching on Windows: Fixes to Try

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:05:00 +0000

You installed PDF Arranger on Windows, clicked its icon, and nothing happened: no window, no message, the app simply does not start. Launch failures after an install have been reported by Windows users in the project’s issue tracker, and in practice they usually come down to a damaged download, an incomplete install, or something on the PC interfering with the app. The steps below isolate each of those, in order.

Step 1: Restart and try once more

It sounds basic, but do it first: close anything related to the failed launch, restart the PC, and start PDF Arranger from the Start menu rather than from a desktop shortcut. This rules out a leftover process from the first failed start and a broken shortcut in one move. If the app opens now, you are done.

Step 2: Verify your installer, then reinstall

A corrupted installer can produce an install that looks complete but will not run. Download the MSI again from our download page, which links to the official GitHub 1.14.0 release, and verify the file before installing. Open Command Prompt in your Downloads folder and run:

certutil -hashfile pdfarranger-1.14.0-windows-installer.msi SHA256

For the official 1.14.0 installer, the result must match this SHA-256 exactly: 33ba1c3028cc81eb364b8eed288389fc8a4869c015ce817b9408a3d31e0e90b0. If it does not match, delete the file and download it again. Then uninstall the current copy (Settings > Apps), run the verified installer, and follow our Windows installation guide if you want the step-by-step version. Note that the official Windows build is a 64-bit (x86_64) build, so it needs a 64-bit edition of Windows.

Step 3: Check whether security software is interfering

As a general troubleshooting step, security and antivirus software can sometimes block or quarantine a newly installed program it does not recognise yet. If PDF Arranger stopped launching right after an install or an update, open your security software and check its protection history or quarantine list for entries relating to PDF Arranger, and follow that product’s own instructions for restoring or allowing a file you trust. Only do this for an installer whose hash you verified in Step 2, and re-download from the official source rather than trusting copies from download sites.

Step 4: Bypass the install with the portable build

The portable ZIP needs no installation at all. Download it from the same download page, extract the whole ZIP to a new folder, and run the app from there. Two outcomes are possible:

The portable build works: your installed copy is damaged. Uninstall it and reinstall from the verified MSI, or simply keep using the portable build; our portable guide explains how it differs.
The portable build also will not start: the problem is on the PC rather than in one install, which makes the security-software check in Step 3 and a report to the developers (below) the right next moves.

Step 5: Make sure you are on the current version

Launch problems in older releases may already be fixed. Version 1.14.0 (May 23, 2026) is current at the time of writing. If you installed PDF Arranger some time ago, or through a third-party package, replace it with the official 1.14.0 build from GitHub Releases before digging deeper. If the app does start but then fails to open a particular file, switch to our guide on PDF Arranger not opening a PDF instead, because that is a different problem.

Still not launching?

Search the official GitHub Issues tracker for your Windows version and a short description of what happens, and open a new issue if yours is not there. State that you verified the installer hash and tried the portable build: those two facts save the developers a full round of questions. Mention your Windows edition, how you installed the app, and whether any security software reported anything at the same time.

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PDF Arranger Won’t Open a PDF: What to Check

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000

You double-click a PDF, or use File > Open inside PDF Arranger, and nothing useful happens: the file does not appear, the window stays empty, or the app closes again. Before assuming the app is broken, work through the checks below in order. Most cases turn out to be a problem with the file itself rather than with PDF Arranger, and each check takes less than a minute.

First: is the file itself healthy?

Open the same PDF in a second program, such as your regular PDF reader or a web browser. Browsers open most PDFs, so they make a quick neutral test.

If the second program also fails, the file is most likely damaged or incomplete. Re-download it, ask the sender for a fresh copy, or restore it from your backup, then try again. A file that was interrupted while downloading is a common cause of this kind of failure.
If the second program opens it fine, the file is readable in principle, and the problem is specific to how PDF Arranger handles it. Continue with the checks below.

Is the file password-protected or DRM-protected?

When PDF Arranger opens a password-protected PDF, it asks for the password. If you do not know the password, the file will not open, and there is no way around that inside the app: PDF Arranger is not a password-cracking tool. Our separate guide on opening password-protected PDFs explains exactly what is and is not possible.

Files bought from some eBook stores carry DRM protection rather than a normal password. Those files are a known limitation that users have raised with the project, and PDF Arranger cannot open them. Open DRM-protected purchases in the store’s own reader app instead.

Is the file unusually large or unusual in structure?

Very large files, and files with an unusual internal structure, have also been discussed in the project’s issue tracker. If a small, ordinary PDF opens but one specific large file does not, try this: open the large file in another PDF tool, save a fresh copy of it there, and open that copy in PDF Arranger. Re-saving rebuilds the file’s internal structure, which sometimes removes whatever the first file contained that caused the failure. If the file matters and it still will not open, that is worth reporting, as explained at the end of this guide.

Update to the current version

PDF Arranger 1.14.0 (released May 23, 2026) is the current version at the time of writing, and it includes fixes made since earlier releases. If you are running an older version, update before troubleshooting further: get the installer or portable ZIP from our download page, which links to the official GitHub release. On Linux, update through the same channel you installed from, such as Flathub or your distribution’s package manager.

Cross-check with the portable build (Windows)

On Windows, the portable ZIP gives you a clean second copy of the app without installing anything. Download it, extract it to a new folder, run it, and try the same file there. If the portable build opens the file, your installed copy is the problem, and reinstalling usually fixes it; see our guide on PDF Arranger not launching on Windows. If the portable build fails in the same way, the file itself is the likely cause.

Still stuck? Report it properly

If a healthy-looking, unprotected file opens in other readers but not in PDF Arranger 1.14.0, search the official GitHub Issues tracker to see whether the same problem is already known, and open a new issue if it is not. Include your PDF Arranger version, your operating system, how you installed the app, and a description of what happens when you try to open the file. If you can share a sample file that reproduces the problem, that helps the developers most, but do not upload documents that contain private information.