How do I delete a page from a PDF on my iPhone or Android phone?

You are on your phone, someone needs a PDF by the end of the day, and it has one page too many: a blank page at the end, a cover sheet they did not ask for, or a page with details they should not see.

Phones are good at opening PDFs and inconsistent at editing them. Some built-in file apps can remove a page in some versions, many cannot, and the option moves between updates. A browser tool works the same way on every phone.

Before you start: find the file

On an iPhone, PDFs you have saved live in the Files app, usually under Downloads or iCloud Drive. A PDF that is only an email attachment needs saving to Files first: open it, tap the share button and choose Save to Files.

On Android, downloaded PDFs are usually in the Downloads folder of your file manager, or in Google Drive if they arrived there.

Deleting pages, step by step

1. In Safari, Chrome or any other browser, open Delete Pages from PDF.
2. Tap Choose File and pick the PDF from your files.
3. The document opens. Tap Delete pages at the bottom of the screen to open the panel.
4. Choose Current Page to remove the page you are looking at (use the page arrows to get to it first), or Custom Pages to type exactly which pages go, such as 3, or 2-5, or 2,5,7, or 10-18, 22.
5. The panel spells out what will happen, for example "This will remove pages 2–5 and 9." Check it.
6. Tap Delete this page or Delete selected pages, then Confirm Delete.
7. Tap Save, then Download PDF.

On an iPhone the download goes to the Downloads folder in Files unless you have changed Safari's download location. On Android it goes to Downloads. The new file keeps the original name with _edited added, so your original is still there, untouched.

Changed your mind?

Until you save, nothing has happened to any file. After a deletion, Restore deleted pages brings back what the most recent deletion removed. Once you tap Save, the removal is written into the new copy. The original on your phone is never changed, so you can always start again from it.

Typing page numbers on a phone keyboard

Two things trip people up:

• The number is the page's position in the file, not the number printed on it. A document whose cover and contents pages carry no numbers may print "1" on what is actually its third page. Check with the page arrows.
• Separate pages with commas, not spaces. A dash or an en dash both work for ranges.

The tool will not let you delete every page. A PDF needs at least one, so if your list covers the whole document it asks you to leave a page out.

What happens to the rest of the document

The pages you keep are copied into the new file as they were, in the same order and the same way up.

• Printed page numbers do not renumber. They are part of the page's drawing. If the sequence needs to be continuous again, run Add Page Numbers on the result.
• Bookmarks and form fields may not come across. The new file is built from the pages alone. If the PDF is a fillable form or depends on its bookmarks, check the result before you send it, and keep the original.

If the file will not open

A PDF that needs a password to open, or that is protected against changes, cannot be edited until the protection is removed. If it is your document and you know the password, Unlock PDF removes it; then delete the pages from the unlocked copy.

When deleting is not quite the job

• Keeping two pages out of forty is easier the other way round: Split PDF extracts just the pages you want.
• Sending one page as a picture, for a message or a chat app, is a job for PDF to Image.

Where the work happens

The pages are drawn on your phone as you work, and nothing is sent anywhere while you choose. When you tap Save, the document is sent to our server to build the trimmed copy, which comes straight back as your download.