Tutorial: How to Move Pages in Documents

Learning Objectives

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

Move a page from one position to another within a document
Work with both unprotected and password-protected documents
Implement page movement in multiple programming languages
Understand how page renumbering works when moving pages

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have:

A GroupDocs.Merger Cloud account (get a free trial here
Your Client ID and Client Secret (available in the API dashboard
A document uploaded to your cloud storage
The appropriate SDK installed for your language of choice

Practical Scenario

Imagine you have a document where page 1 contains introductory content that would be better positioned after the table of contents on page 2. Rather than recreating the document, you can simply move page 1 to position 2. This tutorial will teach you how to perform such page reordering efficiently.

Understanding Page Movement Mechanics

Before diving into the implementation, it’s important to understand how page movement works:

When you move a page, the content of that page is relocated to a new position
All other pages are shifted accordingly
Page numbers refer to the current order (page 1 is the first page, page 2 is the second, etc.)
After moving, pages are renumbered sequentially in the new order

Step 1: Obtain Your JWT Token

Before making any API request, you need to authenticate with the GroupDocs.Merger Cloud API:

curl -v "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/connect/token" \
-X POST \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-H "Accept: application/json"

The response will include your JWT token that you’ll use in subsequent requests.

Step 2: Define Your Page Move Request

Create a JSON request that specifies:

The source document path
The page number to move
The new page number (destination position)
The destination path for the new document

Step 3: Execute the API Request

Using cURL

curl -v "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/v1.0/merger/pages/move" \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
-d "{
  'FileInfo': { 'FilePath': 'words/four-pages.docx'},
  'PageNumber': 1,
  'NewPageNumber': 2,
  'OutputPath': 'output/move-page.docx'
 }"

Try it yourself!

Replace the placeholder values with your actual Client ID, Client Secret, and file paths, then run the command. The API will return a JSON response with the path to your newly created document, which will have page 1 moved to position 2.

Step 4: Verify the Results

Download the resulting document from your storage and open it. You should see that:

The content that was originally on page 1 is now on page 2
The content that was originally on page 2 is now on page 1
All other pages maintain their relative order, just shifted accordingly

Working with Password-Protected Documents

If your document is password-protected, you need to include the password in your request:

curl -v "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/v1.0/merger/pages/move" \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
-d "{
  'FileInfo': { 
      'FilePath': 'words/protected-document.docx',
      'Password': 'your_password'
  },
  'PageNumber': 1,
  'NewPageNumber': 2,
  'OutputPath': 'output/move-page-protected.docx'
 }"

SDK Implementation Examples

C# Example

// Move Pages using C# SDK
string MyClientSecret = ""; // Get ClientId and ClientSecret from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
string MyClientId = ""; // Get ClientId and ClientSecret from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
  
var configuration = new Configuration(MyClientId, MyClientSecret);
  
var apiInstance = new PagesApi(configuration);

var options = new MoveOptions
{
    FileInfo = new FileInfo
    {
        FilePath = "words/four-pages.docx"
    },
    PageNumber = 1,
    NewPageNumber = 2,
    OutputPath = "output/move-page.docx"
};

var response = apiInstance.Move(new MoveRequest(options));
Console.WriteLine("Output file path: " + response.Path);

Java Example

// Move Pages using Java SDK
String MyClientSecret = ""; // Get ClientId and ClientSecret from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
String MyClientId = ""; // Get ClientId and ClientSecret from https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud

Configuration configuration = new Configuration(MyClientId, MyClientSecret);
PagesApi apiInstance = new PagesApi(configuration);

FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo();
fileInfo.setFilePath("words/four-pages.docx");

MoveOptions options = new MoveOptions();
options.setFileInfo(fileInfo);
options.setPageNumber(1);
options.setNewPageNumber(2);
options.setOutputPath("output/move-page.docx");

MoveRequest request = new MoveRequest(options);
DocumentResult response = apiInstance.move(request);
System.out.println("Output file path: " + response.getPath());

Python Example

# Move Pages using Python SDK
import groupdocs_merger_cloud

# Get your app_sid and app_key at https://dashboard.groupdocs.cloud
my_client_id = ""
my_client_secret = ""

# Create instance of the API
configuration = groupdocs_merger_cloud.Configuration(my_client_id, my_client_secret)
api_instance = groupdocs_merger_cloud.PagesApi(configuration)

file_info = groupdocs_merger_cloud.FileInfo()
file_info.file_path = "words/four-pages.docx"

options = groupdocs_merger_cloud.MoveOptions()
options.file_info = file_info
options.page_number = 1
options.new_page_number = 2
options.output_path = "output/move-page.docx"

request = groupdocs_merger_cloud.MoveRequest(options)
response = api_instance.move(request)
print("Output file path: " + response.path)

Special Case: Moving to the End of the Document

If you want to move a page to the end of the document, you need to specify the total number of pages plus 1 as the new page number. For example, in a 4-page document, to move page 1 to the end:

curl -v "https://api.groupdocs.cloud/v1.0/merger/pages/move" \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
-d "{
  'FileInfo': { 'FilePath': 'words/four-pages.docx'},
  'PageNumber': 1,
  'NewPageNumber': 5,
  'OutputPath': 'output/move-to-end.docx'
 }"

Troubleshooting Tips

Error 401: If you receive an authentication error, make sure your JWT token is valid and hasn’t expired.
Error 400: Verify that the file path is correct and the file exists in your storage.
Invalid Page Numbers: Ensure that the page number to move exists in the source document and the new page number is valid (between 1 and total pages + 1).
Same Page Number: If the page number and new page number are the same, the API will not make any changes to the document.
Password Issues: If working with protected documents, check that the provided password is correct.

What You’ve Learned

In this tutorial, you’ve learned how to:

Move a page from one position to another within a document
Work with both regular and password-protected documents
Implement page movement functionality using various programming languages
Handle special cases like moving a page to the end of a document

Further Practice

To reinforce your learning, try these exercises:

Move the last page of a document to the first position
Move a page from the middle of the document to the end
Create a program that reverses the order of all pages in a document by performing multiple move operations

Next Tutorial

Ready to learn more? Continue to the next tutorial: How to Rotate Pages in Documents to learn how to change page rotation angles for specific pages in your documents.

Helpful Resources

If you have any questions about this tutorial, please let us know in the comments below or through our support forum!