Batch process PDF files: run 1 tool over a whole folder at once

What is batch mode here?

There is no switch to turn it on. Give a tool more than 1 file and it runs as a batch: the same options for every file, each file its own job, each result its own file. The tool above is Compress PDF; the same works on the other tools listed below.

What you get at the end:

• 1 output per input, named after it with the tool’s ending added: -compressed, -rotated, -watermarked, -numbered, -no-blanks, -a4.
• A result list with every file, its new size and its own Download button.
• A report that gives each file its own line, up to 200 files, then the finer detail.
• Download all (40) as zip, with your count, or Save to a folder in Chrome and Edge, which writes the files 1 by 1 without a zip and never replaces a file already in that folder.

How do I run a folder through a tool, step by step?

Say 40 scanned receipts came out of the scanner sideways and too big to email. That is 2 jobs: rotate, then compress.

1. Open Rotate PDF. Press or a whole folder and pick the folder, or drag it onto the page. Subfolders are included; hidden files are not; files the tool does not take are left out, and a line says how many.
2. Check the list. Each file shows its page count and size. Take one out with Remove.
3. Set the options once: Turn: 90° right, Pages: All.
4. Press Rotate. The progress line shows which file is running: file 12 of 40.
5. Save to a folder (Chrome, Edge) or Download all (40) as zip and unzip it.
6. Open Compress PDF, drop the folder of rotated files, pick Email, press Compress, and save again.

In our test run of the same code on a mid-range laptop, 40 scanned single pages (528 KB each, 20.6 MB in all) were rotated in 1.4 seconds and compressed with Email in 10.5 seconds, to 5.0 MB in all. A slower device takes longer, and there is no upload queue to wait in on top.

Which tools run as a batch?

Tools in the third column need decisions about 1 file’s pages, such as the order of its pages, so they take 1 file. Delete pages and Extract pages do run as a batch, but with 1 page list for every file: 1 takes the first page of each, which suits a folder of files with a cover sheet, and is wrong for files that differ.

What happens when a file fails?

The run does not stop. Each failing file is listed under “1 file was not done; the others were:” with its reason, and the other files are delivered as normal:

• A file with a password is skipped: It has a password. Run it on its own to type the password. Batches never stop to ask, so a folder of 40 is not held up by file 7.
• A damaged file or something that is not really a PDF is skipped with a message saying it could not be read. Repairing a broken PDF covers what can be done.
• A file with nothing to do, such as a typed document that Compress cannot shrink, is returned unchanged with a line that says so; it is not a failure.

Only when every file fails does the tool show an error instead of a result.

The honest part: what batch mode does not do

• 1 tool per run. There is no chain of steps, such as rotate then compress then stamp. Run each tool over the folder in turn; saving into a folder makes the next step a single drop.
• 1 setting for every file. A batch is right for a folder of similar files. A contract you will print and a phone snapshot deserve different settings; run them on their own.
• Files are done 1 after another, on your device. A folder of 50 large scans with a size target can take a few minutes. That is the price of nothing being uploaded, and it is the reason there is no cap: your device does the work, so there is nothing for us to meter.
• Passwords are not asked for inside a batch, as above.

Competitors meter batch work because their servers do it. Checked on 11 October 2026: Sejda’s website makes processing several files at once a paid feature (getPDF and Sejda compared), Adobe’s online compressor says batch needs a paid plan (compared), and iLovePDF’s free plan caps files per task, 2 for compression (compared). Here the batch is the same free tool, run over more files.

For compression in particular, compressing many PDFs at once shows what a mixed folder gives back, file by file. For putting many files into 1, see merging PDFs in order.