How to Delete Pages from a PDF by Thumbnail or Page Number
Deleting a page here takes one press, and so does bringing it back: pages leave the grid the moment you press Delete, the rest keep their original numbers, and nothing is final until you save. Here is how to pick pages on the grid or by typing their numbers, check a page up close, undo a mistake, and save the pages you keep as a new PDF.
Tools used in this guide
1. Open your PDF
Delete PDF Pages opens on a drop area. Drag a PDF onto it, or use Choose PDF at marker 1.
- Choose PDF. Pick one PDF from your device, or drop it anywhere on this panel. PDFs of up to 1,500 pages open here.
- Try a sample PDF. Loads the seven-page PDF used in every screenshot here, so you can follow the steps without a file of your own.
The tool works on one PDF at a time; if you drop several, it opens the first and says so. PDFs of up to 1,500 pages open here; a longer one is turned away with a link to Split PDF, which can cut it into parts that fit. A PDF with a single page is turned away too, since the last page always stays. A password-protected PDF can’t be opened here: the message links to Unlock PDF, which removes the password when you know it.
Everything happens in the tab you already have open: the PDF never leaves your device. To follow along without a file of your own, Don’t have a PDF? Try a sample PDF at marker 2 loads the seven-page PDF used in every screenshot below. Its page 2 is an invoice draft and page 4 a set of meeting minutes — the two pages this walkthrough removes before the rest goes out.
Once the PDF is open, every page appears as a card in a grid, labelled with its page number, and nothing is selected yet. The bar above the grid shows the file’s name and how many pages are kept: 7 of 7, for now.
2. Select pages on the grid
Click or tap a page’s thumbnail to select it.
- Selected page. Click or tap a page's thumbnail to select it, and again to deselect it. A selected page has a filled check and a red border; nothing is deleted yet.
- Delete this page. With a mouse, pointing at a page shows its own Delete, which removes that page alone, selected or not. On a touch screen, select the page and use Delete below.
- Open. Shows the page large, where you can read it, step through the others and delete the one on screen.
- Selection count. How many pages are selected, out of the pages still in the PDF. The × beside it deselects them all.
- Delete. Deletes every selected page in one step. On a wide screen it names the count, such as Delete 2 pages.
The thumbnail is a checkbox: a selected page takes a filled check in its corner and a red border, as page 2 does at marker 1, and a second click deselects it. Selecting deletes nothing; here pages 2 and 4 are selected. With a mouse, Shift-click selects every page from the last one you clicked to this one — or deselects them all, when this page was already selected.
Pointing at a page with a mouse shows two buttons on its card, as on page 7. Delete at marker 2 removes that page alone, whether it is selected or not. Open at marker 3 shows the page large (step 5), and so does a double-click on the thumbnail. On a touch screen, Open is always there and the card has no Delete of its own: select the page and use the Delete under the grid.
Under the grid, a bar keeps count. 2/7 selected at marker 4 means two of the seven pages still in the PDF, and the × beside it deselects them all. Delete at marker 5 deletes every selected page at once, which is step 4.
From the keyboard, Tab reaches the grid, the arrow keys move between pages, Space selects or deselects the page with focus, Ctrl+A (⌘+A on a Mac) selects every page, and Escape deselects them. Keyboard shortcuts, under More actions (⋯), lists them all.
3. Or type their page numbers
When you know the numbers, typing them is quicker than finding the pages.
- Page numbers. Type pages and ranges, such as 2, 4 or 5-9, to select them; Enter or a short pause applies them. Select all and Deselect all act on every page left.
- Delete. The same Delete as the one under the grid, repeated at the end of this row on a tablet or a computer, so what you typed can go straight away.
Type the pages into Page numbers, at marker 1: single pages and ranges, separated by commas, such as 2, 4 or 2-5, 9. A range can stay open at one end: 12- or 12-end runs to the last page, and -3 starts from page 1. Order and repeats don’t matter. The pages are selected after a short pause, or as soon as you press Enter or leave the field — an open range such as 12- waits for one of those. What you type replaces the selection, and the cards show it at once.
The field works the other way round too: while you are not typing in it, it shows the pages selected on the grid, so clicking pages 2 and 4 writes 2, 4 there.
The numbers are always the ones under the thumbnails: the page numbers of the PDF you opened, even after other pages have been deleted (step 4). A page that is already gone is skipped, with a note under the field naming it, and the rest of what you typed is still selected. Anything the field can’t read — a word, or a page the PDF doesn’t have — is explained under it when you press Enter or leave it, and Enter selects the part to fix. Escape puts back the current selection. Enter only ever selects; it never deletes.
Select all and Deselect all beside the field act on every page still in the PDF, and each is faded while it would change nothing. Delete at marker 2 is the Delete from under the grid, repeated at the end of this row on a tablet or a computer, so the pages you typed can go without a trip to the bottom of the screen. On a phone, use the one under the grid.
4. Delete the pages, and undo if you need to
Press Delete, under the grid or at the end of the page-number row, or the Delete key on your keyboard. There is no confirmation: the pages leave the grid at once.
- Pages kept. How many pages the new PDF will have, out of the pages you opened. It changes with every delete, undo and redo.
- Undo. Steps back one change at a time, up to your last 50; Redo beside it steps forward again. Ctrl+Z or ⌘+Z does the same.
- Original page number. Every page keeps the number it had in the PDF you opened: page 3 is still Page 3 with pages 2 and 4 gone. Typed page numbers use these numbers too.
- Undo in the message. Brings back the pages this delete removed. The message goes after about six seconds, but waits while you point at it.
- Create my PDF. Builds the new PDF from the pages left. It stays faded until a page has been deleted, and while any page is still selected.
The count at marker 1 now reads 5 of 7 pages kept. The other pages close up, and each keeps its original number: page 3, at marker 3, is still Page 3, and page 5 is still Page 5. That is what lets a typed number keep meaning the same page, however many pages you delete.
A message at the foot of the grid confirms Deleted 2 pages, with its own Undo at marker 4. It goes after about six seconds, but waits while you point at it. Undo in the top bar, at marker 2, works at any time: it steps back one change at a time, up to your last 50, and Redo beside it steps forward again. Ctrl+Z or ⌘+Z undoes, and Ctrl+Y or Shift+⌘+Z redoes. Pages that come back return to their place, unselected and briefly highlighted. Restore all pages, under More actions (⋯), brings every page back in one step, which Undo can reverse.
The Delete key works on the selection or, when nothing is selected, on the page whose card has focus. The last page always stays: with every remaining page selected, Delete is faded, and pressing it says that one page has to stay.
Create my PDF, at marker 5, comes alive once a page has gone. It stays faded while any page is still selected, so pages you picked but didn’t delete can’t slip into the new file unnoticed, and pressing it then says what is in the way.
5. Check a page up close
Thumbnails are small. To read a page before you decide, use Open on its card, or double-click it with a mouse.
- Which page. The page's original number out of the pages you opened, then how many pages are still in the PDF.
- Delete page. Deletes the page on screen and moves on to the next page you are keeping. Undo and Redo beside it work here too.
- Pages and zoom. Step to the previous or next page, zoom out or in, or fit the page to the width. The arrow keys, + and − and 0 do the same.
The preview shows the pages you are keeping, one under another. The heading at marker 1 gives the page’s original number out of the pages you opened, Page 3 of 7, and how many are kept. Delete page at marker 2 deletes the page on screen and moves on to the next page you are keeping, with its own message and Undo; Undo and Redo sit beside it. The controls at marker 3 step to the previous or next page, zoom out and in, and fit the page to the width.
From the keyboard, the left and right arrows move between pages, Delete deletes the page on screen, +, − and 0 zoom, and Escape closes the preview and takes you back to that page’s card.
6. Create your PDF and download it
Press Create my PDF. The button turns into a progress ring with Cancel beside it, and the grid waits until the file is ready; cancelling keeps every page as you left it.
- Summary. The new PDF's name as it will be saved, its page count and its real size.
- Pages deleted. The pages left out, by the numbers they had in the PDF you opened.
- File name. Starts as the PDF's own name with -deleted added. Type another before you download; the .pdf is added for you.
The summary at marker 1 gives the new file’s name, its page count and its real size — pdf-head-sample-deleted.pdf · 5 pages · 7 KB for the sample — and the line at marker 2 lists the pages deleted by their original numbers, 2, 4. The name at marker 3 starts as the PDF’s own name with -deleted added; change it before you download if you like, and the .pdf is added for you.
Under the name, the preview shows every page of the new PDF, numbered as it now is: scrolled to the end, as below, the last page reads 5, though it was page 7 of the PDF you opened. Zoom with −, + and the fit button above it, with Ctrl or ⌘ and the mouse wheel, or with a pinch on a trackpad or touch screen.
- Back to editing. Returns to the grid exactly as you left it, and Undo can still bring pages back. Nothing is lost.
- Download PDF. Saves the new PDF to your device. The PDF you opened is never changed.
Download PDF at marker 5 saves the file, and a Saved to your device line appears once it has. The pages you keep are copied as they are, and the deleted ones are left out of the file rather than hidden in it. The PDF you opened is never changed.
Back to editing at marker 4, or your browser’s Back button, returns to the grid with every delete in place, and Undo still works. If you then change nothing, Create my PDF opens the same file again without building it twice; change anything and the bar under the grid says the PDF needs creating again. Start over, under More actions (⋯), closes the PDF, and asks first if your deletions haven’t been downloaded.
Which way to pick pages
| You want to delete… | Do this |
|---|---|
| One page you can see | Point at its card and press its own Delete, or select it and press Delete |
| A few pages here and there | Click each thumbnail, or type them: 2, 4, 9 |
| A run of pages | Type 5-12, or click the first and Shift-click the last |
| Everything from one page to the end | Type 12- and press Enter |
| Most of the pages | Select all, click the pages to keep so they drop out, then Delete |
| A page you need to read first | Open it, then Delete page in the preview |
Access and technical limits
You can try Delete PDF Pages with the bundled sample, all the way to the download. Pro ($9.99/month) is required for your own PDF and includes unlimited exports. Technical limits such as browser memory still apply, along with the 1,500-page limit above.
Which tool you want
- Remove some pages and keep the rest in their order → Delete PDF Pages, as above.
- Keep only a few pages, as a file of their own → Extract PDF Pages: you pick what stays instead of what goes.
- Reorder or duplicate pages as well as delete them, or combine several PDFs → Organize PDF; How to organize a PDF walks through it.
- Turn pages that are sideways or upside down → Rotate PDF; How to rotate a PDF walks through it.
- Cut one PDF into several files → Split PDF; How to split a PDF covers the options.
- Trim a page’s margins rather than remove the page → Crop PDF.
Common questions
Why is Create my PDF still faded after I deleted pages?
Because some pages are still selected. Create my PDF waits until nothing is, so pages you picked but never deleted can't end up in the new file by mistake. Press Delete to remove them too, or Deselect all to keep them, and the button comes alive. Before your first delete it is faded for another reason — there is nothing to save yet — and pressing it says which of the two it is.
Why do the page numbers skip after I delete pages?
On purpose. Every card keeps the number it had in the PDF you opened, so after deleting pages 2 and 4 the grid reads 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, and typing 5 still means the page you saw as Page 5. The new file is numbered from 1 as usual: its preview shows the five pages as 1 to 5, and the line above it lists what went by the old numbers.
I typed a page number and the field says it was skipped. What happened?
That page is already deleted. Typed numbers always refer to the PDF you opened, so a page you removed earlier still has its number, and the note under the field names it as already deleted. Every other page you typed is still selected. To bring the page back, use Undo, or Restore all pages under More actions (⋯).
A page I hadn't selected disappeared when I pressed the Delete key. Why?
With nothing selected, the Delete and Backspace keys remove the page whose card has focus, such as the last one you clicked. Press Ctrl+Z, or ⌘+Z on a Mac, to bring it back. While you type in the page-number field, the keys only edit the text.
Can I still change things after I create or download the PDF?
Yes. Back to editing returns to the grid with every delete in place, and Undo still works. If you change nothing, Create my PDF opens the same file again without building it twice; change anything and it builds a new one, which you download again. A file you already saved stays as it was, and so does the PDF you opened.