Blank pages from a double-sided scan. A fax cover sheet. The terms-and-conditions pages nobody needs to see in an application pack. Open the PDF, tap the pages you want gone, and download a version without them. It takes less time than hunting for the "remove pages" option in a big PDF editor and doesn't cost anything.
Two ways to choose pages
Tap the thumbnails: selected pages get a red cross and fade out, and you can tap again to bring one back. Or, if you already know the numbers, type them in the box, like 2, 4, 7-9. The two stay in sync, so you can type a range and then adjust individual pages by tapping. The counter shows how many pages will be deleted and how many will remain before you save.
Things people usually remove
- Blank backs of single-sided pages that were scanned double-sided.
- Cover letters and fax headers that aren't needed by the recipient.
- Duplicate pages from a scanner that fed two sheets at once.
- Pages with information you don't need to share, for example extra pages of a bank statement when only the summary is required.
That last one is worth thinking about. Sharing only what's needed is good practice anyway, and under European data protection rules it's the idea behind "data minimization". Deleting pages here doesn't upload anything, so the pages you remove never leave your device either. If you need to hide details on a page you do want to keep, use Redact PDF, which blacks out the text permanently.
Deleting versus extracting
Deleting pages and extracting pages are two sides of the same job. If you want to remove two pages from a hundred, deleting is quicker. If you want to keep two pages out of a hundred, Split PDF is quicker, because you only type the pages you want. Pick whichever list is shorter. Either way, you end up with a new file and your original is unchanged.
Before and after
It helps to look at the whole document before deleting. If you're not sure which pages are blank or duplicated, the thumbnails make it obvious. For text-heavy documents, the thumbnails are small, so open the file in your reader if you need to read a page before deciding. If you need to reorder pages as well, Organize PDF lets you delete, move and rotate in one place.
After you've removed pages
Removing pages changes the numbering. If the document already had printed page numbers, they'll now skip. If it didn't, Add Page Numbers gives you a fresh, consistent sequence. If the file is still too big to send, compress it. And if you want to put several cleaned-up documents into a single file, Merge PDF joins them in the order you choose.
A few cautions
You can't delete every page; a PDF needs at least one. If you accidentally remove the wrong page, simply don't save, or reload the file and start again; the original on your computer is never changed. For documents that are legally important, keep the original: a version with pages removed isn't the same document, and the recipient may need the complete one.
The work is done in your browser; the PDF isn't sent to a server. Password-protected files need to be unlocked in your reader first.
A worked example
You've scanned a 20-page agreement double-sided on a scanner that also scans blank backs. Pages 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on are empty, so you have ten pages of content and ten blanks. Type 2-20? No, that would remove everything. Better, just open the thumbnails, look for the empty pages and tap each, or type the even numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. The counter says ten pages will be deleted and ten kept. Save, and the document is half the size and twice as easy to read.
How to spot blank pages
True blanks look white in the thumbnail, but scanned blanks often show faint grey noise, a punch-hole shadow or a smudge near the edge. If a page looks almost empty, zoom into it in your reader first, because a nearly blank page may carry a line of important text such as "this page intentionally left blank" or a small footer reference number. When in doubt, keep it.
Deleting pages from very long files
With a long document, typing ranges is faster than tapping hundreds of thumbnails. Use the range box for the bulk work, such as 1-3, 40-56, and then use the thumbnails to fine-tune individual pages. On a phone, very long files may render slowly; if you see lag, split the document first with Split PDF and clean each part separately.
Keeping a record of what you removed
If the document matters, write down what you took out and why, for example in the file name: "report-pages-4-5-removed.pdf". That way, if someone asks why the numbering skips, you know. Keep the original in a folder of its own. In business and legal contexts, it's often important to be able to show exactly what was sent and what was withheld.