Paperwell PDF Page Planner

What it is for

Merging and splitting PDFs goes wrong in boring ways: the cover ends up on page 13, a range like "8-end" means something different than you thought, or a split produces one file too many. Uploading the files, downloading the result and checking it page by page takes longer than the job itself.

The page planner lets you rehearse the operation with nothing but file names and page counts. It resolves page selections against those counts and lists every resulting file with the pages it takes from each source. It also returns the parameters for the site's pdf-merge-split-reorder tool, so a script or AI agent can check a plan before sending any file.

It does not open, change or upload PDFs, and it cannot know whether a page count you typed is correct.

Worked example

You want a report with the cover first. Operation Merge PDFs, files report.pdf (12 pages), appendix.pdf (3) and cover.pdf (1), merge order 3,1,2.

The result: 16 pages in → one PDF with 16 pages. The output file report-merged.pdf takes "cover.pdf: 1; report.pdf: 1-12; appendix.pdf: 1-3", and the parameters block contains {"mode": "merge", "order": "3,1,2"}.

Next, a 10-page scan into chapters: Split by ranges, scan.pdf (10 pages), ranges 1-2; 3-7; 8-end. Answer: 10 pages in → 3 PDFs with 10 pages in total, named scan-part-1-p1-2.pdf (2 pages), scan-part-2-p3-7.pdf (5) and scan-part-3-p8-10.pdf (3).

Finally Remove pages with pages 2, 9-end on the same scan: 10 pages in → one PDF with 7 pages, file scan-trimmed.pdf with "scan.pdf: 1,3-8", removed pages 2, 9, 10.

How to read the result

• Pages before / Pages after / Output files summarise the plan; a mismatch with what you expected is the first thing to catch.
• The Output files table lists each file name, its page count and "Taken from" — source file and page ranges in order.
• Rotated pages or Removed pages (or Pages not used when selecting) appear when they apply.
• Warnings point out plans that do nothing useful, such as merging a single file.
• Parameters for pdf-merge-split-reorder is the JSON to send to that tool, with the files attached in the same order.

Tips and common mistakes

• "end" and "last" mean the last page of each file, so "8-end" adapts to the page count.
• Descending ranges like "10-1" and the keyword "reverse" fix back-to-front scans in one step.
• "odd", "even" and filters like "1-9:odd" are handy for duplex scans scanned as two stacks.
• In select/reorder mode order and duplicates are kept ("1,1,2" repeats page 1); remove and rotate use the sorted set.
• File numbers not listed in the merge order keep their original order after the listed ones.
• Page numbers start at 1; "0" or a page beyond the count is reported as an error on the field.

FAQ

Does this tool change my PDFs?

No. It only calculates a plan from the names and page counts you enter. Use pdf-merge-split-reorder, or Paperwell's Pages view, to run it on the files.

Why is the merged file named after the first file in the list, not the first in the order?

The name follows the pdf-merge-split-reorder tool, which names the result after the first uploaded file. Rename it after downloading if you like.

Are bookmarks and links kept?

The plan does not deal with them. When merging, the PDF tool keeps the bookmarks of the first file only.

How many files can I plan at once?

Up to 25 files with up to 2,000 pages each.