Repair PDF

What this tool does

Tries to rescue a document that no longer opens properly. The file is parsed as forgivingly as possible, the objects that cannot be read are dropped, and the pages that survive are copied into a clean new document. There is nothing to set: drop the file and run it. Not every damaged file can be saved — when the page structure itself is gone, there is nothing left to recover, and the tool says so rather than handing you a file that only looks fixed.

How to use it

1. Drop the damaged PDF. The other tools turn an unreadable file away as soon as you drop it; this one takes it, since those are exactly the files it is for.
2. Run the repair. What can be read is kept, what cannot is left behind, and the recovered pages are written out as a new document.
3. Open the result and check the pages that mattered before you rely on it, then download the file.

Common questions

Can every damaged file be recovered?

No. The tool keeps whatever it can still parse, so a file with a few broken objects usually comes back. If the page structure itself is unreadable there is nothing to salvage, and you get a clear message instead of an empty document.

My file is password-protected and the repair fails.

A protected file cannot be repaired: its content stays encrypted and the result would not open. Remove the password with Unlock PDF first — you need the password for that — and then run the repair.

Can anything be lost even when the repair works?

Yes. Damaged parts are dropped, so a page may come back without one of its images or annotations. The pages are also copied into a brand-new document, which means what belongs to the document rather than to a page — bookmarks, form fields, attachments — does not come across.