Open your PDF and select the pages to remove

To delete pages in Adobe Acrobat, open your PDF file and go to the Pages panel on the left side of the screen. If you don't see it, click View in the menu bar, then Show/Hide, then Navigation Panes, then Pages. The panel will display thumbnails of every page in your document.

Click on the page you want to delete. If you need to remove multiple pages that are next to each other, click the first one, hold Shift, and click the last one in the range. If the pages aren't next to each other, click the first page, then hold Ctrl (on Windows) or Command (on Mac) and click each additional page you want to remove.

Once you've selected the page or pages, right-click on any of the highlighted thumbnails. A menu will appear with the option to Delete Pages. Click it, and the pages will be removed from your document when ready.

Key Takeaways

  • The Pages panel on the left side of Acrobat shows thumbnails of every page and is where you select and delete pages.
  • You can delete a single page by right-clicking it, or select multiple pages using Shift for consecutive pages or Ctrl/Command for non-consecutive ones.
  • Deleted pages are removed from the document right away, but you can undo the deletion with Ctrl+Z or Command+Z if you change your mind.
  • After deleting pages, save your file to keep the changes; Acrobat will not save them automatically unless you have autosave turned on.

Undo a deletion if you remove the wrong pages

If you delete pages by mistake, undo the action when ready by pressing Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac. You can also go to Edit in the menu bar and click Undo Delete Pages. This will restore the pages to their original position in the document.

Undo works only if you haven't closed the file yet. Once you close and reopen the document, the deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed. For this reason, it's a good idea to save a backup copy of your PDF before making large deletions, especially if you're removing many pages at once.

Save your document after deleting pages

After you delete pages, the changes exist only in your computer's memory until you save the file. To save, press Ctrl+S on Windows or Command+S on Mac. You can also go to File and click Save.

If you want to keep the original file unchanged and save the version with deleted pages under a new name, use File > Save As instead. This creates a separate copy with a different filename, so you still have the original if you need it later.

Delete pages from the middle of a document without losing order

When you delete pages from the middle of a document, the remaining pages automatically shift up to fill the gap. Page numbers adjust automatically, so if you delete pages 5 and 6 from a 10-page document, what was page 7 becomes page 5. This happens without any extra steps on your part.

If you're working with a document that has bookmarks or links pointing to specific pages, those references may break after you delete pages. Acrobat does not automatically update bookmarks or internal links when page numbers change, so you may need to fix them manually by going to the Bookmarks panel and editing the destinations.

Delete pages in bulk using the Pages panel

For documents with many pages, selecting and deleting pages one at a time is slow. Instead, use the Pages panel to select a large range at once. Click the first page in the range you want to delete, hold Shift, and click the last page. All pages between them will be highlighted. Then right-click and choose Delete Pages.

You can also select non-consecutive pages by holding Ctrl or Command and clicking each page individually. This is useful if you want to keep certain pages and remove everything else. For example, if you want to keep only pages 2, 5, and 9 from a longer document, select those three pages, then delete all the others in one operation by selecting them together.

What happens to file size when you delete pages

Deleting pages reduces the file size of your PDF, but the reduction depends on what's on those pages. A page with only text takes up much less space than a page with high-resolution images or embedded fonts. If you delete 10 pages of mostly text, the file might shrink by a few hundred kilobytes. If you delete 10 pages of scanned images, it could shrink by several megabytes.

After you delete pages and save the file, the space those pages occupied is freed up. However, Acrobat does not compress the file automatically, so the reduction in file size is only as much as the deleted content took up. If you need to make the file even smaller, you can use Acrobat's compression tools under File > Reduce File Size.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete pages from a PDF that's password-protected?

If the PDF is protected with a password that restricts editing, you cannot delete pages without first removing the password protection. You'll need to enter the owner password in Acrobat's security settings. If you don't have the password, you cannot modify the document.

What if I delete pages and then realize I need them back?

If you haven't closed the file, press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z to undo. If you've already closed and saved the file, the pages are gone unless you have a backup copy. Always save a backup before deleting large sections of a document.

Do deleted pages affect page numbering in the rest of the document?

Yes, page numbers shift automatically after deletion. If you delete pages 3 and 4, what was page 5 becomes page 3. Bookmarks and links may need manual updating if they pointed to the deleted pages or pages that came after them.

Can I delete pages from a scanned PDF?

Yes, you can delete pages from any PDF, including scanned documents. The process is the same: select the pages in the Pages panel and delete them. Scanned PDFs are treated like any other PDF once they're created.

Is there a way to delete every other page or pages matching a pattern?

Acrobat doesn't have a built-in feature to delete pages by pattern. You have to select and delete them manually. For documents with hundreds of pages that need pattern-based deletion, you may want to use a command-line tool or a third-party PDF library designed for batch operations.