Adobe Acrobat Reader is for viewing, printing, filling in and signing PDFs. Editing pages, such as deleting or reordering them, is only in “Organize Pages” in the paid Acrobat Pro.
So to delete pages for free, you need another app or tool.
Why the free Acrobat Reader can’t delete pages
Ways to delete PDF pages
| Method | Devices | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Mac Preview | Mac | Deleting a few pages on a Mac |
| iPhone Files app | iPhone and iPad | Deleting a page or two on a phone |
| Save only the pages you keep from a print dialog | Any | Keeping only a few pages |
| This site’s Delete PDF Pages | Any device (browser) | Choosing several pages from thumbnails and deleting them at once |
Deleting pages in Mac Preview
Open the PDF in Preview and choose View → Thumbnails. Select the pages to delete (Command-click to select several), press Delete, then save.
Deleting pages in the iPhone Files app
Open the PDF in the Files app and show the page thumbnails by swiping in from the left edge or long-pressing a page. Long-press the thumbnail of the page to delete and choose Delete. The change is saved to that file, so duplicate it first if you want to keep the original.
Saving only the pages you keep from a print dialog
Open the PDF in Chrome or Edge, set the print destination to “Save as PDF” and enter only the pages you want to keep. Phone print dialogs can do the same.
Links and bookmarks may be lost, and it doesn’t work on print-restricted PDFs. With many pages and scattered pages to remove, typing the page list gets tedious.
Deleting several pages at once in your browser (no upload)
This site’s Delete PDF Pages shows every page as a thumbnail, so you can see exactly what you’re deleting. It works on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, and your PDF is never uploaded.
- Open Delete PDF Pages and choose your PDF
- Tap the thumbnails of the pages to delete (they get a red ✕)
- Tap “Delete selected pages”
- Check the preview and download the PDF
Removing pages with personal information
When you remove a page such as a copy of your My Number card before sending a PDF, it matters that the page is really gone from the file. Hiding a page or covering it with a white box can leave the original content inside the PDF.
Delete PDF Pages builds a new PDF from only the pages you keep, so nothing from the deleted pages is in the file. Before sending, open the new PDF and check the pages are gone.
After deleting pages
To change the page order, use Reorder PDF Pages; to make the file smaller, use Compress PDF; to take pages out into a separate file, use Split PDF.