Changing pages

Delete, turn, reorder, extract or insert pages, in the page grid or from the command line. The file itself changes (it is saved like any other change), and every change can be undone.

Choosing pages, moving, deleting, undoing

In the page grid#

Open the grid with \g. The page under the frame is the selected one; h j k l move the frame. The changes act on the pages chosen (tinted), or on the selected page when none is chosen. There are two ways to choose pages.

Space chooses or unchooses one page. The chosen pages need not be side by side. Choose page 1, go to page 4, choose it, and y saves a PDF with just pages 1 and 4.
v chooses a run of pages. Press it, then move to the other end.

Key	Action
`Space`	choose / unchoose this page
`v`	choose a run of pages (press it again to stop)
`x` or `d`	delete them
`r` / `R`	turn them 90° right / left, in the file
`←` / `→`	move them one place earlier / later (`3→` moves three places); also `<` / `>`
`↑` / `↓`	move them a row up / down
`y`	save them as a new PDF; the name is asked (`paper-p3-7.pdf` or `paper-p1,4.pdf` is offered)
`i`	insert another PDF after the selected page (`Tab` completes the path)
`u` / `Ctrl-r`	undo / redo
`Enter`	go to the page
`Esc`	close the grid

Only pages side by side move with the arrows, as one block, and they stay chosen where they go, so → → → walks them along. Chosen pages apart can be deleted, turned or saved, not moved.

The bottom line of the grid always lists the keys and says which pages are chosen.

From the command line#

Command	Action
`:delete 3-7`	delete pages 3 to 7 (`:delete 4` one page, `:delete 10-` to the end)
`:extract 3-7`	save pages 3 to 7 as `paper-p3-7.pdf` next to the PDF
`:extract 3-7 ~/slides/fig.pdf`	… under another name
`:insert other.pdf`	insert all pages of another PDF after the page you are reading (in the grid, after the selected one)
`:append other.pdf`	add them at the end

Good to know#

Undo works for every page change (u, Ctrl-r), mixed with the undo of highlights and comments. Before each change, the document is kept in ~/.cache/nomadys-pdf/undo; those copies are deleted when the PDF is closed, after which the change is final.
Marks follow their pages. A mark on page 10 is on page 9 after page 3 is deleted. A mark on a deleted page is removed. You stay on the page you were reading.
Highlights and comments go with their pages, into extracted PDFs too.
Turning here changes the file; r while reading only turns the view.
Signed PDFs are left alone, because changing their pages would break the signature.
A PDF needs at least one page, so the last page cannot be deleted.