mozilla/pdf.js · error · Error

Page index ${pageIndex} not found.

Error message

Page index ${pageIndex} not found.

What it means

Thrown at the end of Catalog.getPageDict() (catalog.js:1445) when the entire /Pages tree was traversed (nodesToVisit exhausted) without locating the requested page index. This is a generic Error (not FormatError), indicating the requested page index is out of range or the page tree is inconsistent (e.g., /Count overstates the real number of leaf pages).

Source

Thrown at src/core/catalog.js:1445

      // node further down in the tree (see issue5644.pdf, issue8088.pdf),
      // and to ensure that we actually find the correct `Page` dict.
      for (let last = kids.length - 1; last >= 0; last--) {
        const lastKid = kids[last];
        nodesToVisit.push(lastKid);

        // Launch all requests in parallel so we don't wait for each one in turn
        // when looking for a page near the end, if all the pages are top level.
        if (
          currentNode === this.toplevelPagesDict &&
          lastKid instanceof Ref &&
          !pageDictCache.has(lastKid)
        ) {
          pageDictCache.put(lastKid, xref.fetchAsync(lastKid));
        }
      }
    }

    throw new Error(`Page index ${pageIndex} not found.`);
  }

  /**
   * Eagerly fetches the entire /Pages-tree; should ONLY be used as a fallback.
   * @returns {Promise<Map>}
   */
  async getAllPageDicts(recoveryMode = false) {
    const { ignoreErrors } = this.pdfManager.evaluatorOptions;

    const queue = [{ currentNode: this.toplevelPagesDict, posInKids: 0 }];
    const visitedNodes = new RefSet();

    const pagesRef = this.#catDict.getRaw("Pages");
    if (pagesRef instanceof Ref) {
      visitedNodes.put(pagesRef);
    }
    const map = new Map(),
      xref = this.xref,

View on GitHub (pinned to 5903d58d58)

Solutions

1. Clamp the requested index: always call getPage(i) with 1 <= i <= pdfDocument.numPages and verify numPages first.
2. If numPages is suspect (corrupt /Count), repair with qpdf/mutool to rebuild an accurate count.
3. Catch this Error around getPage() and surface a clear 'page not found' to the user instead of crashing.
4. For robustness, fall back to getAllPageDicts() recovery traversal if a normal getPage fails.

Example fix

// before: trusting an externally supplied index
const page = await pdfDoc.getPage(maybeBadIndex);

// after: bound-check against the real page count and handle missing page
const last = pdfDoc.numPages;
const idx = Math.min(Math.max(1, maybeBadIndex), last);
try {
  return await pdfDoc.getPage(idx);
} catch (e) {
  // page index genuinely unreachable in this document
  throw new Error(`page ${idx} of ${last} not reachable`, { cause: e });
}

// Bound-check the requested page index against the real page count.
const total = pdf.numPages;
const safeIndex = Math.min(Math.max(1, requestedIndex), total);
if (safeIndex !== requestedIndex) {
  throw new RangeError(`page ${requestedIndex} out of range (1..${total})`);
}
const page = await pdf.getPage(safeIndex);

try {
  return await pdf.getPage(idx);
} catch (err) {
  if (/Page index \d+ not found/i.test(err?.message)) {
    throw new RangeError(`page ${idx} not reachable in this document`, { cause: err });
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: pdfDocument.getPage(pageIndex) where pageIndex >= the actual number of reachable leaf pages, or where /Count claims more pages than the tree actually contains so the traversal runs out of nodes before reaching the index.

Common situations: Calling getPage with an index derived from a stale/overstated numPages (corrupt /Count); off-by-one when indexing (requesting page numPages instead of numPages-1); a truncated page tree; a PDF where /Count lies.

Related errors

• Pages tree contains circular reference.
• Page dictionary kid reference points to wrong type of object
• Page dictionary kids object is not an array.
• The reference does not point to a /Page dictionary.
• Node must be a dictionary.

AI-assisted analysis of mozilla/pdf.js@5903d58d58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7908ecaad4e6217c. Report an issue: GitHub.