diff --git a/frontend/src/components/pageEditor/PageEditor.tsx b/frontend/src/components/pageEditor/PageEditor.tsx
index 71b5e5b7d..7ca640b06 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/pageEditor/PageEditor.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/pageEditor/PageEditor.tsx
@@ -354,6 +354,7 @@ const PageEditor = ({
 
       // Start parallel thumbnail generation WITHOUT blocking the main thread
       await generateThumbnails(
+        fileId, // Add fileId as first parameter
         arrayBuffer,
         pageNumbers,
         {
@@ -363,10 +364,10 @@ const PageEditor = ({
           parallelBatches: 3 // Use 3 Web Workers in parallel
         },
         // Progress callback for thumbnail updates
-        (progress) => {
+        (progress: { completed: number; total: number; thumbnails: Array<{ pageNumber: number; thumbnail: string }> }) => {
           // Batch process thumbnails to reduce main thread work
           requestAnimationFrame(() => {
-            progress.thumbnails.forEach(({ pageNumber, thumbnail }) => {
+            progress.thumbnails.forEach(({ pageNumber, thumbnail }: { pageNumber: number; thumbnail: string }) => {
               // Use stable fileId for cache key
               const pageId = `${fileId}-page-${pageNumber}`;
               addThumbnailToCache(pageId, thumbnail);
diff --git a/frontend/src/hooks/useThumbnailGeneration.ts b/frontend/src/hooks/useThumbnailGeneration.ts
index 2fe92477b..09bec7c9c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/hooks/useThumbnailGeneration.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/hooks/useThumbnailGeneration.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ async function processRequestQueue() {
           
           console.log(`📸 Batch generating ${requests.length} thumbnails for pages: ${pageNumbers.slice(0, 5).join(', ')}${pageNumbers.length > 5 ? '...' : ''}`);
           
+          // Use file name as fileId for PDF document caching
+          const fileId = file.name + '_' + file.size + '_' + file.lastModified;
+          
           const results = await thumbnailGenerationService.generateThumbnails(
+            fileId,
             arrayBuffer,
             pageNumbers,
             { scale: 1.0, quality: 0.8, batchSize: BATCH_SIZE },
@@ -111,6 +115,7 @@ async function processRequestQueue() {
  */
 export function useThumbnailGeneration() {
   const generateThumbnails = useCallback(async (
+    fileId: string,
     pdfArrayBuffer: ArrayBuffer,
     pageNumbers: number[],
     options: {
@@ -122,6 +127,7 @@ export function useThumbnailGeneration() {
     onProgress?: (progress: { completed: number; total: number; thumbnails: any[] }) => void
   ) => {
     return thumbnailGenerationService.generateThumbnails(
+      fileId,
       pdfArrayBuffer,
       pageNumbers,
       options,
@@ -160,6 +166,10 @@ export function useThumbnailGeneration() {
     thumbnailGenerationService.destroy();
   }, []);
 
+  const clearPDFCacheForFile = useCallback((fileId: string) => {
+    thumbnailGenerationService.clearPDFCacheForFile(fileId);
+  }, []);
+
   const requestThumbnail = useCallback(async (
     pageId: string, 
     file: File, 
@@ -223,6 +233,7 @@ export function useThumbnailGeneration() {
     getCacheStats,
     stopGeneration,
     destroyThumbnails,
+    clearPDFCacheForFile,
     requestThumbnail
   };
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/src/services/thumbnailGenerationService.ts b/frontend/src/services/thumbnailGenerationService.ts
index 17f8faa9a..a8f130dd9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/services/thumbnailGenerationService.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/services/thumbnailGenerationService.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
  * High-performance thumbnail generation service using main thread processing
  */
 
+import { pdfWorkerManager } from './pdfWorkerManager';
+
 interface ThumbnailResult {
   pageNumber: number;
   thumbnail: string;
@@ -22,20 +24,90 @@ interface CachedThumbnail {
   sizeBytes: number;
 }
 
+interface CachedPDFDocument {
+  pdf: any; // PDFDocumentProxy from pdfjs-dist
+  lastUsed: number;
+  refCount: number;
+}
+
 export class ThumbnailGenerationService {
   // Session-based thumbnail cache
   private thumbnailCache = new Map<string, CachedThumbnail>();
   private maxCacheSizeBytes = 1024 * 1024 * 1024; // 1GB cache limit
   private currentCacheSize = 0;
 
+  // PDF document cache to reuse PDF instances and avoid creating multiple workers
+  private pdfDocumentCache = new Map<string, CachedPDFDocument>();
+  private maxPdfCacheSize = 10; // Keep up to 10 PDF documents cached
+
   constructor(private maxWorkers: number = 3) {
     // PDF rendering requires DOM access, so we use optimized main thread processing
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Get or create a cached PDF document
+   */
+  private async getCachedPDFDocument(fileId: string, pdfArrayBuffer: ArrayBuffer): Promise<any> {
+    const cached = this.pdfDocumentCache.get(fileId);
+    if (cached) {
+      cached.lastUsed = Date.now();
+      cached.refCount++;
+      return cached.pdf;
+    }
+
+    // Evict old PDFs if cache is full
+    while (this.pdfDocumentCache.size >= this.maxPdfCacheSize) {
+      this.evictLeastRecentlyUsedPDF();
+    }
+
+    const { getDocument } = await import('pdfjs-dist');
+    const pdf = await getDocument({ data: pdfArrayBuffer }).promise;
+
+    this.pdfDocumentCache.set(fileId, {
+      pdf,
+      lastUsed: Date.now(),
+      refCount: 1
+    });
+
+    return pdf;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Release a reference to a cached PDF document
+   */
+  private releasePDFDocument(fileId: string): void {
+    const cached = this.pdfDocumentCache.get(fileId);
+    if (cached) {
+      cached.refCount--;
+      // Don't destroy immediately - keep in cache for potential reuse
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Evict the least recently used PDF document
+   */
+  private evictLeastRecentlyUsedPDF(): void {
+    let oldestEntry: [string, CachedPDFDocument] | null = null;
+    let oldestTime = Date.now();
+
+    for (const [key, value] of this.pdfDocumentCache.entries()) {
+      if (value.lastUsed < oldestTime && value.refCount === 0) {
+        oldestTime = value.lastUsed;
+        oldestEntry = [key, value];
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (oldestEntry) {
+      oldestEntry[1].pdf.destroy(); // Clean up PDF worker
+      this.pdfDocumentCache.delete(oldestEntry[0]);
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Generate thumbnails for multiple pages using main thread processing
    */
   async generateThumbnails(
+    fileId: string,
     pdfArrayBuffer: ArrayBuffer,
     pageNumbers: number[],
     options: ThumbnailGenerationOptions = {},
@@ -46,21 +118,21 @@ export class ThumbnailGenerationService {
       quality = 0.8
     } = options;
 
-    return await this.generateThumbnailsMainThread(pdfArrayBuffer, pageNumbers, scale, quality, onProgress);
+    return await this.generateThumbnailsMainThread(fileId, pdfArrayBuffer, pageNumbers, scale, quality, onProgress);
   }
 
   /**
    * Main thread thumbnail generation with batching for UI responsiveness
    */
   private async generateThumbnailsMainThread(
+    fileId: string,
     pdfArrayBuffer: ArrayBuffer,
     pageNumbers: number[],
     scale: number,
     quality: number,
     onProgress?: (progress: { completed: number; total: number; thumbnails: ThumbnailResult[] }) => void
   ): Promise<ThumbnailResult[]> {
-    const { getDocument } = await import('pdfjs-dist');
-    const pdf = await getDocument({ data: pdfArrayBuffer }).promise;
+    const pdf = await this.getCachedPDFDocument(fileId, pdfArrayBuffer);
     
     const allResults: ThumbnailResult[] = [];
     let completed = 0;
@@ -116,7 +188,8 @@ export class ThumbnailGenerationService {
       await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1));
     }
     
-    await pdf.destroy();
+    // Release reference to PDF document (don't destroy - keep in cache)
+    this.releasePDFDocument(fileId);
     return allResults;
   }
 
@@ -183,8 +256,25 @@ export class ThumbnailGenerationService {
     this.currentCacheSize = 0;
   }
 
+  clearPDFCache(): void {
+    // Destroy all cached PDF documents
+    for (const [, cached] of this.pdfDocumentCache) {
+      cached.pdf.destroy();
+    }
+    this.pdfDocumentCache.clear();
+  }
+
+  clearPDFCacheForFile(fileId: string): void {
+    const cached = this.pdfDocumentCache.get(fileId);
+    if (cached) {
+      cached.pdf.destroy();
+      this.pdfDocumentCache.delete(fileId);
+    }
+  }
+
   destroy(): void {
     this.clearCache();
+    this.clearPDFCache();
   }
 }