A PDF often arrives with pages you do not want: a fax cover sheet, a blank page from double-sided scanning, the terms and conditions at the end of an invoice, a draft page that should not go to the client. This tool shows every page as a thumbnail so you can see exactly what you are removing, then saves a new PDF without those pages.
It works in your browser. The PDF is opened and rebuilt on your device and never uploaded, so it is safe to use on contracts, medical forms and financial statements.
How to delete pages from a PDF
- Drop the PDF on the box at the top of this page, or click it and choose the file. A thumbnail appears for every page.
- Click each page you want to remove. Selected pages are dimmed, crossed out and marked with a red x. Click a page again to keep it. Hold Shift and click to select a whole run of pages at once.
- Or type the pages in Pages to delete, for example
1, 4-6, 12-. The thumbnails update as you type, and clicking thumbnails updates the box, so you can mix both methods. - Use the shortcut buttons when they fit: Odd pages, Even pages or Find blank pages. Clear removes every selection.
- Read the summary line. It says which pages go and how many pages the new PDF will have, for example "Deleting 4 pages (2, 5, 9-10). The new PDF will have 8 pages."
- Click Delete pages, then download the new file. It is named after your original with
-editedadded, and your original file is not changed.
Ways to choose pages
Clicking thumbnails
Thumbnails are the safest way to delete pages because you see the content, not just a number. A scanned document whose page numbers do not match the PDF's page order, or a report where the printed page 1 is actually the third page of the file, is easy to get wrong by number alone. The label under each thumbnail always shows the position in the file, which is what the tool uses.
Typing ranges
For long files, typing is faster. The box accepts single pages, ranges and open ranges:
| You type | Pages deleted (in a 20-page PDF) |
|---|---|
3 | Page 3 |
1, 20 | The first and last pages |
5-8 | Pages 5, 6, 7 and 8 |
15- | Pages 15 to 20 |
-2, 19- | Pages 1, 2, 19 and 20 |
2, 4-6, 10 | Pages 2, 4, 5, 6 and 10 |
Commas, spaces or semicolons can separate the parts. If you type a page that does not exist, such as 25 in a 20-page file, or a backward range like 9-4, the tool tells you what is wrong before anything is deleted.
Odd or even pages
Odd and Even select every other page. This is useful when a double-sided scan captured blank backs, or when a document was printed with a cover sheet behind every page. Select Even, check the thumbnails, deselect any even page that has content, and delete.
Finding blank pages
Find blank pages draws a small version of every page and checks how much of it is printed. A page counts as blank when almost nothing is on it, which catches empty pages from scanners and exports that are not perfectly white, such as a slightly gray scan. Pages it finds are selected, and the summary lists them so you can check before deleting. A page with only a faint page number or a "This page intentionally left blank" line may not be flagged, because it does have some print on it; select those by hand.
Blank detection only selects pages; it never deletes anything on its own. You always see the selection and the summary first, and you can click any page to keep it before you press Delete pages.
Large and scanned files
A 300-page scanned PDF can be several hundred megabytes, because every page is a full-size photo. The tool handles these, but a few habits help. Type the ranges you know instead of scrolling through every thumbnail, since thumbnails are only drawn when they scroll into view. Close other heavy tabs on a phone or an older laptop. And if you need to delete pages from many separate scans, do them one file at a time rather than merging them first, which keeps each job small.
What the new PDF keeps
The pages you keep are copied into a fresh PDF exactly as they are. Nothing is re-rendered or compressed:
- Text stays text, so it remains selectable and searchable.
- Images keep their original quality.
- Page sizes and orientation stay the same, including landscape pages and pages with a rotation setting.
- Links and comments on the kept pages are copied with them.
Some things live at the document level rather than on a page, and these are not carried over: bookmarks (the outline in the sidebar of your PDF viewer), fillable form fields and file attachments. Links that pointed to a deleted page no longer have anywhere to go. If you need bookmarks, re-add them in your PDF editor after deleting pages.
The new file is often smaller than the original, because fonts and images used only on the deleted pages are left out.
Worked examples
Remove a fax cover sheet and a signature page
A 14-page supplier contract has a fax cover on page 1 and an old signature page on page 14 that you will replace. Type 1, 14. The summary reads "Deleting 2 pages (1, 14). The new PDF will have 12 pages." Click Delete pages and download. Then add the new signature page with Merge PDF.
Clean up a double-sided scan
A 40-page scan of single-sided invoices was run through a duplex scanner, so every even page is a blank back. Click Find blank pages. If it selects all 20 even pages, the summary says the new PDF will have 20 pages. If one invoice had something on its back, that page will not be selected and stays in the file.
Trim a product catalog for one customer
A 60-page wholesale catalog has sections for five product lines, and a customer only buys two. Use the thumbnails to find where each section starts, then type the ranges to delete, such as 2-11, 24-47. The 26-page result is easier for the buyer to read and much smaller to email. If you would rather pick the pages to keep than the ones to drop, Extract PDF Pages does the opposite job and can also save each page as its own file.
If you send line sheets like this because a customer orders from your store, keep the store itself as tidy as the PDF: AM Jarvis Bulk Edit Pro changes prices, sale prices and SEO titles across a whole Shopify or WooCommerce catalog with a preview and one-click undo.
Pages people most often delete
| Document | Pages usually removed | Quickest way to select them |
|---|---|---|
| Faxed or e-faxed documents | Cover sheet, transmission report | Type 1 or 1, 20- |
| Duplex scans of one-sided paper | Blank backs | Find blank pages, or Even pages |
| Invoices and statements | Terms and conditions, marketing inserts | Click the thumbnails at the end |
| Reports and decks | Appendix, internal notes, draft slides | Type the range, such as 31- |
| Downloaded e-books and manuals | Ads, order forms, empty notes pages | Click the thumbnails, then shift-click runs |
| Signed contracts | Old signature page before you add the new one | Click the page, then merge the new one in |
Before you send the trimmed PDF
Deleting pages is quick, which also makes it easy to remove the wrong one. A short check saves an awkward follow-up email:
- Open the downloaded file and scroll through it once. The page count in your viewer should match the number in the summary.
- Check the pages either side of each deleted range. If a table or a paragraph ran across the page break, the remaining page may now start or end mid-sentence.
- Look at printed page numbers and "see page 12" references inside the text. They were part of the original layout and do not renumber themselves. If page numbers matter, add fresh ones with Add Page Numbers to PDF.
- Remember that deleting a page does not redact it from copies already sent. If the page held private information, make sure the old file is not still attached to an earlier email or shared link.
Delete pages, extract pages or organize?
| You want to | Best tool |
|---|---|
| Remove a few pages and keep the rest | Delete PDF Pages (this tool) |
| Keep a few pages and drop the rest | Extract PDF Pages |
| Cut a PDF into several files by range | Split PDF |
| Reorder, rotate, duplicate or insert blank pages | Organize PDF |
How to delete pages without this tool
- Mac: open the PDF in Preview, choose View > Thumbnails, select the pages in the sidebar, press Delete and save. Preview changes the original file, so duplicate it first if you want to keep a copy.
- Chrome or Edge on any computer: open the PDF in the browser, press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on Mac), set the printer to Save as PDF, choose Custom pages and enter the pages to keep, such as 1-3, 6-10. This works, but the file is printed rather than copied, which can drop links and change how some pages look.
- Adobe Acrobat: Organize Pages deletes pages and keeps bookmarks, but it is part of the paid Acrobat apps. The free Acrobat Reader cannot delete pages.
Troubleshooting
- The Delete button is grayed out. No pages are selected yet, the page list has an error (shown in red), or you selected every page. A PDF needs at least one page, so keep at least one.
- The PDF will not open. If it is password protected, remove the password first with Unlock PDF (you need the password), then open the unlocked copy here. A PDF with editing restrictions also has to be unlocked before pages can be removed.
- Thumbnails load slowly. Thumbnails are drawn as you scroll, two at a time. On a long scanned PDF, typing ranges is faster than waiting for every thumbnail.
- A blank page was not found. It has a little print on it, such as a page number or scanner noise along the edge. Click it to select it by hand.
Privacy and limits
The tool is free, has no daily limit, needs no account and adds no watermark. Your PDF is processed with pdf-lib and pdf.js inside the browser and never sent to a server. Large PDFs, in the hundreds of megabytes, depend on your device's memory and are more reliable on a computer than on a phone.
Because the work happens on your device, the speed depends on your computer rather than an upload queue: a 20-page text PDF is usually done in a second or two, and you can delete pages from the same file again and again without waiting for anything to transfer.