Delete PDF Pages

The tool removes the pages you list and saves everything else as a new PDF. Your original file is not changed.

1. Drag one PDF onto the box, or click the box to choose it. Password-protected files are rejected, so remove the password first.
2. Open the PDF in a viewer and note the numbers of the pages to remove. Use the page numbers of the file itself, counting from 1, not the numbers printed on the pages.
3. Type them in Pages to remove (e.g. 2, 5-7). Separate single pages and ranges with commas.
4. Press Delete pages.
5. Read the note under the result. It says how many pages were removed and how many are left, and it lists any numbers it ignored. Then download the file, which is named after your original with -pages-removed added.

Single pages and ranges can be mixed. Suppose a file has 10 pages and you type 2, 5-7. That removes pages 2, 5, 6 and 7, which is four pages, so six pages are left and the note reads "Removed 4 of 10 pages, 6 left". A range typed backwards, such as 7-5, is accepted and means the same as 5-7.

A few rules decide the rest:

• A number that is outside the file, such as 12 in a 10-page PDF, is ignored and listed in the result note, so you can see that it did nothing.
• Typing the same page twice, or overlapping ranges, is harmless. Each page is removed once.
• If your list would remove every page, the tool refuses and tells you to leave at least one page.
• Only numbers, commas and hyphens are understood. Words such as last are not accepted here, so count the final page number from your viewer.

It helps to double check the numbers before pressing the button, because a typo removes the wrong page. If that happens, simply run the original file again with the right list. A mistaken result does not overwrite anything.

The pages you keep are copied into the new file with the pdf-lib library. They are not redrawn, so their text, links and fonts stay exactly as they were, and you can still select and search the text. This is the difference from tools that flatten pages into pictures.

There are limits to be aware of:

• Annotations that point to a removed page may stay in the file but lead nowhere.
• Bookmarks may not be carried over to the new file.
• The file size does not always shrink much, so compare the before and after sizes in the note.
• Printed page numbers on the pages are not renumbered. The add page numbers tool can stamp a new sequence, although it does not remove numbers already there.

Common jobs include removing a blank page from a scan, dropping a cover sheet, taking out an appendix before sharing, and trimming a long document to the pages a colleague needs. If you need only a handful of pages, it may be quicker to extract them with split PDF.

When a file needs several fixes, the order of the steps matters. A sensible sequence is to delete the pages you do not need, then fix the order, then rotate any sideways page, then add page numbers, so that the numbers match the final layout.

• Use reorder PDF pages to move a page or reverse the file.
• Use rotate PDF for pages that were scanned sideways.
• Use merge PDF to join the cleaned file with another one.

Be careful with private material. Deleting pages from the new file does not alter the original, and the original may still contain what you removed. Check the result by scrolling through every page before you share it, and do not send the original by mistake. All the work happens in your browser, and the file is never uploaded.