Remove Blank Pages
Find blank pages in a scanned PDF from page thumbnails, review the suggestions, keep or delete any page and save a copy without them. Runs in your browser.
Upload PDF File
About This Tool
Remove Blank Pages renders every page of a PDF as a small greyscale image, scores how much variation each one contains and suggests the near-uniform pages as blank. You review the thumbnails, click any page to keep or delete it, then save a copy without the marked pages. The detection is a suggestion for you to check, not a guarantee.
The score is the Shannon entropy of the page's grey levels: a perfectly white page scores 0, and text, lines or images raise it. A page is suggested as blank when its score falls below a limit set by the Sensitivity Threshold slider, which runs from 90 to 100 and starts at 99. Moving the slider down raises the limit, so pages with scanner noise, bleed-through or a small stamp start to count as blank. Moving it towards 100 flags only pages that are almost perfectly uniform. A page in one flat colour, such as a coloured divider sheet, also scores close to 0.
Suggested blanks are greyed out with a red bar. Clicking a card forces that page to be kept or deleted, and buttons reset your changes or mark every page one way. The tool will not remove all pages. The saved copy, named with _no_blanks added, is a new document built from the kept pages, so bookmarks and document properties are not carried over.
In GMP and other controlled records, a page left blank on purpose is normally marked, for example struck through or labelled as intentionally blank, and kept, because a missing page breaks the page count of the record. Check your document control procedures before removing any page from such a file, and keep the original scan. Pages are analysed in your browser and the file is not uploaded. To remove pages you choose yourself, use Delete Pages.
How to Use
Upload the PDF
Drop one PDF on the upload area or click to browse. Every page is rendered and scored straight away, with a progress bar while it runs.
Set the threshold
Drag the Sensitivity Threshold slider. Lower values flag more pages as blank, values near 100 flag fewer. The deleted and retained counts update as you move it.
Review the thumbnails
Use the tabs to show all pages, only those marked for deletion, or only those kept. Click a card to override the suggestion for that page.
Apply and download
Click Apply & Remove Blank Pages, download the copy and check that its page count is what you expected.
Use Cases
Duplex scans of one-sided originals
Drop the empty backs that a duplex scanner captures when most sheets are printed on one side only.
Separator sheets
Take out the plain or coloured sheets used to divide batches in a scanner feeder, after checking each suggestion.
Exported reports
Remove empty pages that a word processor or reporting system adds at section breaks when exporting to PDF.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the tool decide that a page is blank?
It renders the page at a small size, converts it to grey and measures the Shannon entropy of the grey levels. Pages scoring under the limit set by the slider are suggested as blank. It does not read text, so a page saying it is intentionally left blank is treated like any other page with a small amount of content.
Which way should I move the slider?
Down to catch pages with scanner noise, faint bleed-through or a small mark, and up towards 100 to flag only pages that are almost perfectly uniform. The default of 99 is strict. Whatever the setting, check the thumbnails before applying.
Will a page with only a header, footer or page number be removed?
It depends on how much ink the page carries and on the slider. Such pages score low and can be flagged, especially at lower settings. Open the tab of pages marked for deletion and click any you want to keep.
Should I remove blank pages from GMP records?
Not without checking your procedures. In controlled records a page left blank on purpose is normally marked as such and kept so the page count stays complete. Keep the original file whatever you decide.
Is anything else in the file changed?
The kept pages are copied into a new PDF without re-compression. Bookmarks and document properties of the original are not carried over.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Rendering, scoring and saving all happen in your browser tab.