How to delete pages
- Add the PDF; thumbnails of every page appear.
- Click Delete under each page you want gone. It fades and is outlined, so you can still see what you removed.
- Changed your mind? Click Keep on that page.
- Click Save without deleted pages and download the new copy.
Deleted means gone
Some editors "delete" a page by hiding it while its content stays in the file, which matters if the page held something private. This tool builds a new document from the pages you keep, so the deleted pages' text, images and annotations are not in the saved file at all. Fonts and images used only by deleted pages are left out too, so the file usually gets smaller.
That said, deleting a page is not redaction. If a page you keep contains something sensitive, use Redact PDF, which removes the content under a box, rather than deleting the whole page.
When it is useful
- Blank pages from double-sided scanning. Duplex scanners scan the blank backs of single-sided pages. Thumbnails make the blanks obvious.
- Unneeded pages before sending. Terms and conditions, marketing inserts and instructions that the recipient does not need.
- Duplicate scans. Pages scanned twice when the feeder slipped.
- Upload limits. Fewer pages, smaller file.
Keeping a record
Your original file is not modified: you download a new copy named with -edited. Keep the original if the pages you removed might matter later, for example in a legal or financial context where a complete record is expected. When you submit part of a document to an agency, check whether it wants the full document. Some government forms must be submitted complete even if some pages are not relevant to you.
Related tools
- Split extracts specific ranges into separate files, the opposite way of thinking about the same task.
- Reorder fixes page order with the same thumbnails.
- Rotate turns sideways pages.
Large documents
Thumbnails render one page at a time so the page stays responsive; on a 300-page document they fill in over a few seconds and you can start marking pages straight away. Saving copies pages rather than re-rendering them, so it is quick even for long documents. The free version handles files up to 50 MB; PDF Pro removes the limit.
If thumbnails look blank for a page, the page may genuinely be blank, or it may use a feature pdf.js cannot draw (very rare). The page's content is still copied unchanged if you keep it.
On a phone or tablet
Thumbnails make deleting pages easy on a touch screen: tap Delete under each unwanted page, check the faded pages are the ones you meant, and save. On long documents, scroll the thumbnail grid; it keeps rendering pages in the background while you work.
Deleting versus splitting
Deleting suits removing a handful of pages from a document. If you want to keep only a few pages out of many, it is quicker to split with the ranges you want to keep. Both produce exact copies of the remaining pages, so the choice is about convenience, not quality.
Checking the result
Open the saved file and scroll through it once: check the page count, that no page you needed is missing, and that blank pages from the scan are gone. If you deleted pages from a signed or certified document, check whether the recipient accepts a partial copy.
Spotting blank pages
Blank pages from double-sided scanning are rarely perfectly white. They show faint show-through from the other side, a scanner shadow at the edge, or a little dust. In the thumbnails they look pale grey rather than white. Open any doubtful page in your PDF viewer before deleting it, since a page with a faint signature or a light pencil note can look blank at thumbnail size.
Large documents
Deleting pages is fast even for long documents because the kept pages are copied, not redrawn. The free version handles files up to 50 MB; PDF Pro removes that limit and lets you save your settings.
Does deleting pages affect signatures?
Deleting pages from a document that carries a cryptographic digital signature invalidates that signature, because the signed content has changed. Visual signatures drawn on the kept pages are unaffected. If a signed agreement must be sent complete, send the whole file.
Privacy: the file stays on your device
Online PDF services upload your document to their servers, process it there and keep it for a while. This tool does the work in your browser. The file is read into the page's memory, processed by open-source libraries (pdf-lib for editing and pdf.js for rendering) in a background worker, and the result is offered back as a download. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is no account, and closing the tab discards everything. You can check it: open your browser's developer tools, watch the Network tab while you run the tool, and you will see no upload. After the page has loaded once it also works offline.