PDF arrange with GUI - discussion

[r5to]

Since version 3.7 we have many useful tools for PDF pages manipulation build into SumatraPDF.
Now it 'only' lacks a GUI for arrange a couple of PDFs in one run in convenient way for page delete, page move, rearrange merged PDFs, etc.

I think Windows lacks good quality tool of this kind (light, fast, portable, reliable), so it would be great to add (maybe as another window) for manipulation with built in commands from GUI and selection feature.

There is PDF Arranger app, but it have some quirks and not so good supported for Windows. Screen for GUI look:

[GitHubRulesOK]

PDF Arranger is perhaps the best of a bunch of Windows PDF adjusters. But altering pages is to be avoided, (like many other PDF object manipulations) without a full-blown editor like PRO to remediate the Adobe collateral damage that is certain to happen.

SumatraPDF does have such abilities in SCRIPTING (see below) , but you need to consider how the PDF might be corrupted by such actions and there are no Open Source PDF PRO / GUI editors. If you have a Licensed Tracker X-Change GUI Editor it can be used as external extension to SumatraPDF.

If PDF Arranger accepts command line controls it to can be an extension.

MuPDF (Core of SumatraPDF) is rightly CONSERVATIVE in how to damage such document types read the docs

PDFDocument.prototype.rearrangePages(pages)
Rearrange (re-order and/or delete) pages in the PDFDocument.
The pages in the document will be rearranged according to the input list. Any pages not listed will be removed, and pages may be duplicated by listing them multiple times.
The PDF objects describing removed pages will remain in the file and take up space (and can be recovered by forensic tools) unless you save with the “garbage” option set, see PDFDocument.prototype.save().

Arguments:
pages (Array of number) – An array of page numbers, each page number is 0-based.
var document = new Document.openDocument("my_pdf.pdf")
pdfDocument.rearrangePages([3,2])
pdfDocument.save("fewer_pages.pdf", "garbage")

[r5to]

Yeah, PDF Arranger is great, but it have problems on Windows... For example with simple tasks as copy/paste from outside the app, because of GTK bugs for Windows... Maybe someone need to ping those bugs...

[GitHubRulesOK]

The WARNING as to why arranging is damaging to a PDF is clearly shown but often not understood and goes WAY WAY deeper than hinted, it is only suitable for limited file types. PDF is often hiding the real flaws in its adjustments.