How to delete pages from a PDF
A school portal, a job form or an email limit often wants fewer pages than the PDF you already have. A blank scan, a draft cover sheet or an extra certificate can be the page that has to go. Delete Pages takes the pages you choose off the page list and offers a new file named trimmed.pdf. The tool runs in your browser. The PDF is not uploaded, and the original file on your device is not changed.
Ready to try it?
Open the Delete Pages tool and follow along.
What deleting a page actually changes
Open the download and you see the pages you kept, in the same order. Deleting page 3 does not leave a blank gap. The old page 4 becomes page 3.
That is not a wipe. Delete Pages saves the document you opened, so content from a removed page can still sit inside the download even though a reader does not show that page. Do not use it for an ID page, a bank page, or anything you must not share. Use Extract Pages, below.
It removes whole pages only. It does not delete a sentence, a photo or a table row, and it does not black out words on a page you keep.
Step by step: delete pages from a PDF
Keep the original PDF somewhere you can find it. The tool does not overwrite that file, but the download is named trimmed.pdf until you rename it, so the two are easy to mix up.
- 1Open Delete Pages and drop in one PDF. The box takes a single file, up to 200 MB. An empty file is rejected, and so is a file that is not a PDF.
- 2Wait until the line above the thumbnails shows a page count, such as “8 pages · 0 selected”. If it says “Could not read pages”, stop and use the locked-file section below. Do not guess page numbers yet.
- 3Click each thumbnail you want to remove. A check mark means that page will be deleted. Click it again to keep it. The strip draws 24 thumbnails at most. The corner number is the page number, starting at 1. Further pages appear as a count with “Use page list for more”. Type those numbers, or press Select all, which selects every page, not only the ones on screen. Clear drops the selection.
- 4Or type the pages in the box labelled “Pages to delete”. Commas separate pages, and a hyphen is a range. 2, 4-6, 9 means pages 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9. A range written backwards, such as 6-4, is read as 4 through 6. Numbers outside the file are ignored. The box then lists the chosen pages one by one.
- 5Leave at least one page unselected. Delete pages stays off until a PDF is loaded and at least one page is selected. If the numbers are not valid, the tool reports “Select or enter at least one valid page”.
- 6Press Delete pages. A note says “Pages removed”, then the screen says “Ready to download”. The name is trimmed.pdf. Use the pencil to rename it, then press Download. Nothing is saved until you do.
- 7Read the size and the page count under “Ready to download”. The count is the original number of pages minus the pages you selected. Open the PDF and confirm the unwanted pages are gone and the rest are still in order.
If you selected every page
Select all is useful on a long scan, but do not press Delete pages while every page is selected. The count on the result can read 0 pages. The file is not empty. A PDF with no pages is not what gets saved. The download contains one blank A4 page, with no text on it. Open it. If you see that blank page, start again from the original and leave the pages you need unselected.
The PDF Editor can delete a page as well, from its page list, one page at a time. It will not delete the last page left in the document. Use the editor when you are already adding text, a highlight or a signature. Use Delete Pages when the only job is to drop several pages at once.
When the page must not be in the file you send
For a form, the safer habit is to build a new PDF from the pages you want to keep. Extract Pages asks you to select those pages, then copies them into a new file named extracted.pdf. Something stored only on a page you do not select is not copied into that new file. Pick the pages the instructions asked for — for example the certificate, not the instruction sheet — and upload the extract.
Redact is for words on a page you are keeping. Draw black boxes over them. Those pages become images, so the covered text cannot be copied or searched. Delete Pages does not do that, and it does not turn kept pages into images. If the form needs real text, try selecting a line in the download.
If the pages are still separate files, merge the PDFs first, or use Application PDF to combine Word, PDF, JPG or PNG files and drop pages while you arrange them.
If the PDF will not open
“Could not read pages” means the preview could not be drawn. A password is a common reason. Unlock the PDF first, with a password you already know, and download the unencrypted copy. Then delete pages from that copy. Unlock PDF does not guess a password. If the password is wrong, or the encryption is one this browser tool cannot open, it says so and does not produce a copy.
A damaged download can fail in the same way. Export the PDF again from the app that created it, then try Delete Pages on that new file.
On a Mac, Preview can delete a page too. Show the thumbnails from the View menu, select the page and press Delete, then export a PDF so the full original stays intact. Menu names vary between versions of macOS.
Check the shorter PDF before you upload it
Read the form again. Count the pages in the download against what it asked for, such as a two-page limit or a certificate that must stay in.
Removing a scanned page often cuts the file size. Removing a page of typed text may change the size very little. The result shows the new size next to the page count. It is not a fixed share of the original. If the form also sets a size, such as 100 KB or 1 MB, compress the download and read the size on that result before you submit.
The PDF Submission Checker compares the file with a size and a page count you type in. It only checks those limits. A pass does not mean a portal will accept the file. Rename trimmed.pdf before you send it. Surname-Transcript.pdf is easier for a reviewer to find. Use the pencil on the result, or rename the file on your device.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I delete one page from the middle of a PDF?
- Yes. Select that thumbnail, or type its number. Later pages move up, with no blank gap where the page was. Open the download and check the order.
- Will deleting pages make the PDF smaller?
- Often, if you remove a scan or a photo page. A typed page may barely change the size. Read the size on the result, then compress the download if a limit such as 100 KB still applies.
- Does Delete Pages hide personal information?
- No. It takes whole pages off the page list. Data from a removed page can remain inside the file, and words on a page you keep are not covered. Use Extract Pages to make a new PDF from the pages you want to share. Use Redact to black out text on a page you are keeping.
- Why does the result say 0 pages?
- Every page was selected. The download still contains one blank A4 page, because an empty PDF is not saved. Start again from the original and leave at least one page unselected.
- Is my PDF uploaded?
- No. Delete Pages runs in your browser. The file is not uploaded, and the original on your device is not overwritten. The download starts only when you press Download.
Try Delete Pages now
Free, browser-based, no sign-up.
Open the tool