How to delete a page from a PDF
Remove a blank page, a cover sheet or a duplicate from a PDF for free. How to pick the pages and why deleting beats printing to PDF with a page range.
Scanners add blank pages, exports include cover sheets nobody needs and merged documents end up with duplicates. Removing a page shouldn’t require a subscription to a PDF editor and it doesn’t.
Removing pages
Delete PDF pages shows every page as a thumbnail. Click each page you want gone; it is marked and clicking again unmarks it. Download the result and you have the same document without those pages. The pages you keep are copied exactly as they were, so text stays selectable, links keep working and images keep their quality.
Delete or extract
If you want to keep most of a document, deleting is quicker. If you want to keep only a few pages, extracting is quicker: see how to extract pages from a PDF. Both produce a new file and leave your original untouched.
Pages in the wrong order
Often a page isn’t unwanted, just misplaced. Reorder PDF pages lets you drag pages into position. Double-sided documents scanned on a single-sided scanner come out with fronts and backs in separate runs and reordering puts them back together.
Why not print to PDF
Printing to PDF with a page range does remove pages, but it redraws every page it keeps. That can turn links into plain text, drop bookmarks, change fonts and sometimes make the file larger. Deleting works on the document’s structure instead, so nothing that stays is changed.
After deleting
If the document had page numbers printed on it, they will now skip. If it didn’t and it needs them, add them after you have finished removing and reordering pages, as described in how to add page numbers to a PDF.
Common questions
Does deleting pages reduce the file size?
Usually, because the removed pages' content goes with them. Pages that share images or fonts with the pages you keep may save less than expected.
Can I undo a deleted page?
Not in the new file, which simply doesn’t contain it. The original PDF on your device is untouched, so keep it until you have checked the result.
Why not just print to PDF and skip those pages?
Printing to PDF redraws every page, which can lose links, bookmarks and selectable text and can change the size. Deleting pages copies the ones you keep exactly as they’re.
Can I delete pages from a password-protected PDF?
Not without the password. Remove the protection in the program that created the PDF, then delete the pages.