How to delete pages from a PDF on a Mac
By Himanshu Ranjan · Updated 8 November 2026
In Preview, open the PDF, choose View › Thumbnails, select the pages, press Delete and save. In FileDial, select the PDF and run Organize › Delete pages… to type the pages to remove; the result is a new copy beside the original, so the full document stays safe.
Delete pages in Preview
Apple documents the steps: choose View › Thumbnails or View › Contact Sheet, select the page or pages, then press the Delete key or choose Edit › Delete. Command-click selects several pages that are not next to each other, and Shift-click selects a run.
Two things to know. Deleting a page also removes any annotations on that page, as Apple's guide notes. And Preview edits the document you opened, so save it under a new name with File › Duplicate or File › Export if you want to keep the original. If you save over it, you can still use File › Revert To › Browse All Versions to go back.
Delete pages with FileDial
FileDial's approach is to never edit the original. You type the pages and it saves a new copy.
- Select the PDF in Finder.
- Hold the right Option key to open the dial and choose the Organize category.
- Release on Organize › Delete pages…
- Enter the pages to remove, for example a single page or a range.
- Open the new PDF beside the original and check the page count.
Delete versus extract: pick the shorter list
Removing pages and keeping pages are two ways to reach the same result. If you want to drop three pages from a 60-page file, delete those three. If you want to keep three pages from a 60-page file, use Organize › Extract pages… and list the ones to keep. Picking the shorter list means fewer typing mistakes.
Page numbers in the tool are PDF page numbers, counting from the first page, not the printed numbers on the pages. A report with a cover and a contents page may print page 1 on PDF page 3. Check against the thumbnail position, which is what both tools use.
- Few pages to remove: Organize › Delete pages…
- Few pages to keep: Organize › Extract pages…
- Blank pages from a scanner: Organize › Remove blank pages.
Blank pages from a scanner
Double-sided scanning on a single-sided feeder, or a duplex scan of single-sided paper, leaves blank pages between real ones. Deleting them by eye is slow and risky. Organize › Remove blank pages finds and removes them in one pass. Look through the result because a page with only a faint mark can be judged blank.
If you want that as its own task, see our guide to removing blank pages from a PDF.
Deleting content is not the same as hiding it
Deleting a page removes it from the new file, but the same information might still live on other pages: a name in a footer, a contents page, or bookmarks pointing to the page you removed. Check bookmarks with Pages › Edit bookmarks…, which shows the table of contents in the sidebar.
If the aim is to hide sensitive text rather than drop a whole page, deletion is the wrong tool. Redaction is its own task; read why in our guide to redacting a PDF properly.
A worked example: trimming an application pack
Say you have a 48-page PDF of a rental application: forms, pay stubs, bank statements and an ID scan. The landlord only needs pages 1 to 6 and page 41. The long way is to delete 41 pages. The short way is Organize › Extract pages… with those pages listed, which writes a new file with only them.
Before you send it, open the result and check three things: that the page count is seven, that the first page is the one you expected, and that nothing sensitive from a neighboring page is visible in a margin or a header. Then, if the file is large because of the ID scan, run Compress › Compress PDF (light), which keeps images at 200 dpi, so the scan stays legible.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is counting printed page numbers instead of PDF page positions, which deletes the wrong page when a document has a cover. The second is overwriting the only copy. Preview can do that if you save in place, so duplicate first when the file matters. The third is forgetting that a deleted page may have had links or bookmarks pointing at it; check the sidebar afterwards.
A fourth, quieter one is deleting from a signed PDF. Any change to a digitally signed file shows the signature as broken, which is correct behavior but can surprise the recipient. Sign last, after the page set is final.
Send only the pages the recipient needs, and send them from a copy. Because FileDial writes beside the original and runs on your Mac, you can trim a contract or an application pack without sharing the full file through a web service.
Questions
Can I undo deleting pages in a PDF on a Mac?
In Preview, use Edit › Undo right after deleting, or File › Revert To › Browse All Versions later. In FileDial the original is never changed, because the result is a new copy, so you can simply keep using the original or remove the copy from the result card with Undo.
Why can't I delete pages in my PDF?
The PDF may be locked with permissions that forbid changes. If it opens without a password, run Sign & Lock › Remove restrictions first, then delete the pages. If it needs a password to open, remove that with Sign & Lock › Remove password… after you enter the password.
How do I delete several non-adjacent pages?
In Preview, Command-click each thumbnail then press Delete. In FileDial, enter all the page numbers in Organize › Delete pages… in one go. Either way, count the pages in the new file afterwards and flick through to make sure the right ones are gone.