Tips for Removing Blank Pages from a Scanned PDF
Key points
- Scan the thumbnails to find blank pages
- Zoom in to check for faint text or show-through
- Select them and delete
When a printer or scanner reads both sides, a page whose back is empty still becomes a page in the PDF.
Finding blank pages
- Open the PDF in "Extract or Delete PDF Pages" to see all pages as thumbnails.
- Look for pages that appear completely white.
- For pages that look faint, zoom in with another PDF viewer to be sure.
Cases to be careful with
- Pages where text on the back faintly shows through
- Intentionally blank pages used as separators
- If every even page is blank, the double-sided setting may be the cause
Removing them
- Tap the blank pages to select them.
- Under "Selected pages", choose "Delete".
- Save and check that the page count has dropped.
To avoid it next time
If your scanner has an option to skip blank pages, turn it on. Otherwise scan one side at a time.
Use "Extract or Delete PDF Pages" (free)Tools that go well with this
- Split PDF: Split a PDF into several files: one page each, every N pages, or by ranges.
- Rotate & Reorder PDF Pages: Fix sideways pages, change the page order, or remove pages.
- Compress PDF: Shrink a PDF to fit under a size you choose, for upload limits.