pdf tool
Remove PDF pages
The whole document is laid out as a contact sheet. Tap a page to strike it out, tap again to bring it back, and the panel at the top always says exactly what will be left. Blank pages from a scanner are spotted for you.
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- Runs on your device, nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign in
- No watermark, no file limit
How it works
- 1
Drop the PDF
Every page is drawn as a tile, and any that look blank are pointed out to you.
- 2
Strike out what goes
Tap a tile to cross it through. Shift tap to strike a whole run at once, and Undo takes back the last move.
- 3
Read what survives
The panel at the top counts the surviving pages, lists their numbers and shows the first of them.
- 4
Save the trimmed file
The button follows the count, so it says how many pages are going before you press it.
A contact sheet, not a page number box
Typing 2, 5-7 into a field means opening the document somewhere else first, counting, and hoping the numbering matches. Here every page is on the table at once. Striking one out draws a red cross through it and marks the caption, so the state is never carried by colour alone, and the survivors panel spells out what you are left with. If you prefer typing, the field is still there under Advanced options, and it stays in step with what you tap.
Blank pages from a scanner
A sheet fed scanner set to duplex produces a blank page for the back of every single sided sheet, which is the single most common reason people remove pages at all. When the file opens, each page is measured for how much ink it carries, and pages that come out near empty are named in a banner with one button to strike them all out. It is a suggestion rather than an action: nothing changes until you press it, and Undo takes it back.
Keeping bookmarks and form fields
By default the trimmed file is rebuilt from the pages you kept, which makes it smaller but leaves the bookmark tree and form field definitions behind. Advanced options has a switch that edits the original file instead, so bookmarks and form fields survive. Bookmarks that opened a removed page are dropped, form fields that sat only on a removed page go with it, and everything the removed pages drew is cleared out of the file. Both behaviours are useful, so the tool lets you choose rather than picking for you.
Removing a page is not redaction
Removing a page takes it out of the file for good. With Keep bookmarks and form fields off, the new file is rebuilt from the pages you kept. With it on, the page and everything only it used are cleared out of the original file before it is saved. Either way, a PDF tool cannot dig the removed page back out. What it does not do is remove sensitive text from a page you keep. Drawing a black box over text in a reader leaves the text underneath, which is the classic redaction failure. For that, the page has to be rebuilt without the text.
Limits
- Page numbers are positions in the file, not what is printed on the page.
- At least one page has to remain; a PDF cannot have none.
- The blank page check reads the rendered picture, so a scan with heavy speckle may not be counted as blank.
- Digital signatures on the source do not survive the rewrite.
What it does not do
- It does not redact; removing a page is not the same as hiding text on a page you keep.
- It does not open password protected files.
- It does not reorder what is left.
Questions people ask
How does it decide a page is blank?
Each page is drawn to a small picture and the tool counts how many pixels are darker than near white. A page with almost none is called blank. That reads what the page looks like rather than what is inside it, so a heavily speckled scan may not be counted, and a page holding only a faint watermark might be. It only ever suggests.
What happens to bookmarks when I keep them?
That option edits the original file instead of rebuilding it, which is the only way the bookmark tree and form fields survive. Bookmarks that pointed at a removed page are dropped, while a heading whose other bookmarks survive stays. The removed pages and their content are cleared out of the file. Leave the option off and the file is rebuilt from the pages you kept, which drops every bookmark.
Is removing a page the same as redacting it?
For that page, yes. The removed page and its content leave the file whether Keep bookmarks and form fields is on or off. For pages you keep, no. Text under a black box drawn in a reader is still there and still selectable. Proper redaction rebuilds the page without the text, which is a different job from this one.
Can I undo a mistake?
Yes. The Undo button sits above the contact sheet and takes back the last move, including a shift tap that struck a whole run and the one tap that struck every blank page. It holds the last forty moves. Nothing is written to your device until you press the save button at the bottom.
Can I remove every page?
No. A PDF has to have at least one page, so the tool refuses rather than producing a file no reader will open. The survivors panel says so plainly when you have struck out everything, and the save button stays disabled until at least one page is left standing.
Do the page numbers match what is printed?
Not always. The tiles count positions in the file, so cover sheets and roman numeral front matter push the printed numbers out of step. That is exactly why the whole document is shown as pictures: you can recognise the page you mean instead of counting, and the survivors panel lists what is left before you commit.
What if I want to keep three pages out of a hundred?
Turn on the switch in Advanced options that keeps the pages you tap instead of removing them. The tiles then work the other way round, the survivors panel updates the same way, and you tap three pages rather than ninety seven. The typed range switches meaning to match, and its label changes to say so.
Does the document leave my device while I trim it?
No. The contact sheet thumbnails and the blank page check are both drawn on canvases inside this tab, and the trimmed copy is assembled in the same place before your browser saves it. Your original file is never changed. If you want proof, open the network tab before choosing a file and nothing is sent.
Write a clean version instead
Take what you made here into documents.
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Built with pdf-lib (MIT).
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .