Turn photos into one PDF: order, rotation and file size

Job applications, insurance claims and school forms often ask for one PDF made from photos. The common problems are wrong order, sideways pages and files that are far too large.

Put the pages in order

As with merging PDFs, file pickers may sort by name. Rename photos 01, 02, 03 before you add them. JPG/PNG to PDF places each image on its own page in the order it receives them.

Watch the file size

Phone photos are commonly 3 to 8 MB each, so ten of them can make a 40 MB PDF. Shrink them first with Image Compress & Resize at about 1600 pixels and quality 75; text remains readable, and the finished PDF is often several times smaller.

Orientation

Phones store a rotation flag in the photo, which browsers usually respect. Look through the PDF anyway. If a page is sideways, rotate the original photo in your gallery and rebuild the PDF.

Page size and transparency

Each page takes the pixel size of its image rather than a standard A4 or Letter sheet. It looks correct on screen but may be scaled when printed. Transparent areas in PNG files are filled with white. If you scanned paper, clean the pictures first with Scanned Document to Clean PDF, which also produces a PDF.

Related: all guides and all tools.