Delete pages from a PDF

Spotting the pages that do not belong

Thumbnails are big enough to catch what should go: the blank back of a two-sided scan, a page fed through the scanner twice, an advertising page in a statement, the cover sheet of a fax. Scroll the main view for a closer look; the page you are on is marked in the bar.

• Blank backs of a scan: Ctrl-click every second page, check the picks, and remove them all with one press.
• A long tail of terms and conditions: click the first of those pages, Shift-click the last.
• Duplicates after a merge: compare pages that look alike at full size, then remove the extra copy.
• Unsure about one? Remove it and look again. Undo goes back up to 100 steps, and nothing reaches the disk before you save.

Click a thumbnail and the main view jumps to that page, large enough to check small print, dates and page numbers before a page goes. Larger and Smaller zoom from 20% to 400%.

What happens when you save

Once pages are gone, Octoolo builds a new PDF from copies of the pages you kept. They look exactly as before: the text stays searchable, pictures keep their quality, and anything you added to them comes along.

Because the result is a new document, extras that belong to the old one as a whole do not come with it: its bookmarks, and the fields of a fillable form. If the PDF is a form, deleting pages costs you those fields, so think twice before trimming one.

Deleting itself only takes pages out of the list in the editor, so it is quick even in a long document; the copying happens once, when you save. The PDF you opened is never changed by deleting. Save asks where the new file goes; choose the original's name and folder only when you mean to replace it.

Pages that need care

• The last page. A PDF needs at least one page, so Octoolo will not delete every page. To start again, choose Close this PDF in the PDF menu.
• Locked files. A PDF that asks for a password to open does not open in Octoolo at all.
• Digitally signed documents. A certificate-based signature covers the document as it was signed. A copy saved after deleting pages no longer carries it, so keep the signed original.
• Pages with your additions. Deleting a page also deletes the text, signatures and highlights you placed on it.
• Printed page numbers. Numbers that were part of the pages stay as they were, so a gap appears where pages went. Add fresh ones with page numbers if the gap matters.

Common reasons to remove pages

Cutting pages is usually about the reader. A twelve-page bank statement becomes the two pages a landlord asked for. A scanned contract loses its blank backs so it reads without gaps. A report drops the draft notes at the end before it goes to a client. A document put together with merge loses its duplicate cover pages. And some pages simply should not be part of what you send: an internal checklist, the instruction sheet of a form, a page about someone else. Taking them out keeps the file shorter and the reader on what matters. When you keep fewer pages than you drop, extracting them is the faster route, and when the rest need a new order, rearrange them in the same session.