The fastest way to remove pages from a PDF
You can remove pages from a PDF using free software on your computer or a web browser — you do not need to buy anything or use a paid service. The method depends on what you have installed: if you use Adobe Acrobat Reader (the free version), you cannot delete pages directly, but you can use Preview on Mac, built-in tools on Windows, or a free online tool. Most people finish in under five minutes once they know which tool to use.
The pages you delete are gone permanently from that file, so make a copy of the original PDF first if you might need those pages later. After you delete pages, the remaining pages stay in their original order — page 5 becomes page 4, and so on.
Key Takeaways
- Mac users can open any PDF in Preview, select pages in the sidebar, and delete them without installing anything extra.
- Windows users can use Microsoft Edge or a free tool like PDFtk or ILovePDF to remove pages from a PDF file.
- Online tools like ILovePDF, Smallpdf, and PDF.io let you upload a PDF, choose which pages to delete, and download the result in your browser.
- Always save a backup copy of the original PDF before you delete pages, because the deletion is permanent.
- Deleting pages does not reduce file size much — if you need a smaller file, you may need to compress images inside the PDF instead.
Removing pages on a Mac using Preview
Preview is built into every Mac and can delete PDF pages without any setup. Open the PDF by right-clicking it, selecting "Open With," and choosing Preview. On the left side of the window, you will see thumbnails of every page in the PDF.
Click on the page you want to delete, then press Delete or Backspace on your keyboard. If you need to delete multiple pages, hold down Shift and click the first and last page in the range you want gone, then press Delete. You can also hold Ctrl and click individual pages one at a time to select them separately, then delete them all at once.
After you delete the pages, go to File > Save to overwrite the original file, or File > Save As to save it with a new name. If you chose Save As, you can keep both the original and the edited version.
Removing pages on Windows using Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge, which comes with Windows 10 and later, can open and edit PDFs directly. Right-click the PDF file, select "Open With," and choose Microsoft Edge. Once the PDF is open, look for the pencil icon in the top toolbar and click it to enter edit mode.
In edit mode, you will see page thumbnails on the left side. Right-click any page thumbnail and select "Delete Page." You can select multiple pages by holding Shift or Ctrl while clicking, then right-click and delete them all at once. When you are finished, click the save icon (or press Ctrl+S) to save your changes to the file.
If you want to keep the original file unchanged, click File > Save As instead, and give it a new name. Edge will save the edited version separately.
Using a free online tool to delete pages
If you do not want to install software or your computer does not have the tools above, you can use a web-based PDF editor. ILovePDF, Smallpdf, and PDF.io are free and work in any web browser. Go to the website, click the button to upload your PDF, and the tool will show you thumbnails of all the pages.
Click on each page you want to remove — most tools highlight selected pages in red or show a trash icon next to them. After you have selected all the pages to delete, click a button like "Delete Pages" or "Remove," and the tool will process the file. Download the edited PDF to your computer when it is ready.
Online tools are convenient because you do not need to install anything, but they do upload your file to a server on the internet. If your PDF contains sensitive information, use a tool on your computer instead. Most online tools delete uploaded files after a few hours, but read their privacy policy if you are concerned.
Using free desktop software on Windows or Mac
If you work with PDFs often, installing dedicated software can be faster than using Preview or Edge each time. PDFtk Free (Windows and Mac) and QPDF (Windows and Mac) are both free and let you delete pages from the command line or through a simple interface. Sejda is another free tool that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
These programs are more powerful than Preview or Edge — they let you rearrange pages, merge multiple PDFs, and rotate pages — but they take a few minutes to learn. If you only need to delete pages once or twice, stick with Preview or Edge. If you edit PDFs regularly, downloading one of these tools saves time.
What to do if the PDF is password-protected
Some PDFs have a password that prevents editing. If you try to delete pages and the software tells you the file is protected, you need the password to proceed. If you created the PDF yourself and forgot the password, you may be able to remove the protection using a tool like PDFtk or an online service, but this only works if the PDF does not have strong encryption.
If someone else created the PDF and protected it, you cannot remove the protection without their password. In that case, contact the person who created the file and ask them to send you an unprotected version, or ask them to remove the pages you do not need and send you the edited file.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
The most common mistake is deleting pages from the only copy of the PDF. Before you delete anything, make a backup by copying the file to another folder or renaming it with "backup" in the name. That way, if you delete the wrong pages, you still have the original.
Another mistake is expecting the file size to shrink significantly after deleting pages. Deleting pages removes the page content, but the file size may not change much because PDFs store images and fonts in a way that does not always compress when you remove individual pages. If you need a smaller file, you may need to compress the images inside the PDF using a different tool.
A third mistake is trying to delete pages from a scanned PDF (a PDF made from photographs of paper documents). Scanned PDFs are just images, and most tools can delete the image pages, but you cannot edit the text inside them. If you need to edit text in a scanned PDF, you need optical character recognition (OCR) software, which is a different process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I undo a page deletion after I save the file?
No. Once you save the file after deleting pages, the deletion is permanent. Your computer's undo function only works while the file is open in the editor — after you close and reopen it, undo is no longer available. This is why making a backup copy before you delete is important.
Will deleting pages from a PDF affect the original file?
Only if you save the changes to the same file. If you use "Save As" and give it a new name, the original PDF stays unchanged. If you use "Save" or "Overwrite," the original file is replaced with the edited version. Always check which save option you are using before you confirm.
Can I delete pages from a PDF on my phone?
Yes, but it depends on your phone. On iPhone, you can use the built-in Files app to open a PDF in iBooks or another app that supports editing, but the process is more limited than on a computer. On Android, apps like Adobe Acrobat Reader (paid features) and Xodo can delete pages. For most people, using a computer is faster and easier.
What if the PDF has hundreds of pages and I only want to keep a few?
Instead of deleting most of the pages, it is faster to extract the pages you want to keep. Most PDF tools have an "extract pages" option where you type in the page numbers you want, and the tool creates a new PDF with only those pages. This is quicker than selecting and deleting hundreds of pages one by one.
Does deleting pages from a PDF remove it from backups or cloud storage?
No. If you have the PDF backed up on cloud storage like Google Drive or OneDrive, deleting pages from your local copy does not affect the backup. You need to delete the file from the cloud storage separately, or the old version with all the pages will still be there. Check your cloud storage to see if you need to delete or update the backup file.