In illustrator, Is there a script to delete empty rectangular frames?

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
October 19, 2025
2 replies
214 views

This image was exported from Word to PDF. I need to rework it in Illustrator, but after releasing the clipping mask, numerous empty frames appear.

Sometimes there are dozens of them. Deleting them manually is slow, and I might accidentally delete frames with content.

If there's a script to remove these empty frames, that would be great.

Remove rectangles with no fill color and stroke width set to 0.

empty.pdf

Correct answer Kurt Gold

Based on your sample file, Select menu > Same > Appearance wouldn't work reliably since the text objects would get selected as well.

Instead you may use Select menu > Same > Fill and Stroke.

Or maybe better yet, Object menu > Path > Clean Up with the Unpainted Objects option turned on.

Kurt Gold

Correct answer

Community Expert

Based on your sample file, Select menu > Same > Appearance wouldn't work reliably since the text objects would get selected as well.

Instead you may use Select menu > Same > Fill and Stroke.

Or maybe better yet, Object menu > Path > Clean Up with the Unpainted Objects option turned on.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Select one of them, then Select > Same > Appearance.

Or consider the plugin VectorFirstAid to clean up your PDFs (not free)

B

Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

I'll second the recommendation of the Vector First Aid plugin. For anyone who has to import PDF files into Illustrator on a regular basis, such as customer provided art files, the Vector First Aid plugin is well worth the subscription cost. The plugin won't fix every problem, but it handles most of them pretty well. That translates into a lot of time saved.

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