There is provided a carrying direction changing apparatus of a compact and highly-reliable design capable of changing a carrying direction of documents or the like to three directions. The apparatus includes one gate device having a function of changing the carrying direction from one carrying path to another carrying path while carrying and guiding the documents, a rotation shaft having the gate device fixedly mounted thereon, a bracket fixedly mounted on the rotation shaft, a pin mounted on the bracket, a link device pivotally movable relative to the pin, a drive source connected to the link device so as to drive the gate device, a spring device connected at one end thereof to the bracket, a stop member device provided for contact with the bracket, a rotation shaft for enabling the stop member device to rotate, a pin mounted on the stop member device, a link device pivotally movable relative to this pin, and a drive source connected to this link device so as to drive the stop member device.