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MarkCLI
Participant
May 22, 2019
Answered

Acrobat DC error: Can't delete page. Error is "one or more pages are in use and could not be deleted."

  • May 22, 2019
  • 15 replies
  • 59319 views

When I try to delete certain pages, Acrobat DC won't let me, and I get this error notice: "One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted."

I have tried the following:

1.    Setting the setting "View documents in PDF/A mode: to "never" (from default "only for PDF/A documents")

2.    Repairing installation

Neither of those worked. I've searched the forums and this seems to have been a regular problem, but none of the recommended solutions work.

Help!

    Correct answer defaulta9l33930z5m5

    Just had the same problem. I used "Replace pages" rather than "Delete pages" and that worked fine.

    15 replies

    Show previous replies
    Miraud
    Miraud
    Participant
    May 18, 2021

    This has frustrated me for a long time, but I finally figured it out: You can't delete pages that Acrobat designates as "selected". You can tell which ones are selected, on a Mac anyway, by the thin cyan rule around the thumbnail and the tiny black square lower right. To delete any other pages but that one, drag a marquee selection around the other pages, click the Trash icon or Command-Shift-D (on a Mac), and Bob's your uncle. Then, if you want to delete the page with the cyan outline that Acrobat's selected, click on a different page to select it, then drag a marquee (don't click) to select the offending page, and delete.

     

    Why or for what purpose does Acrobat select pages in this way? Who knows! But that's the fix, at least for me.

    S
    SH Quickstep
    Participant
    May 18, 2021

    It's beyond pathetic that they won't fix this.  I've been using Bluebeam for awhile now and love it.  If Adobe cared about supporting clients at all this would have been resolved years ago.  

      S
      SH Quickstep
      Participant
      January 26, 2021

      Has same issue

      Says to myself "This happened a decade ago.  Surely Adobe has fixed this by now."

      *Reads thread of Admins telling me cheap workarounds for things a $$$$$ software should't have a problem with.*

      Open Bluebeam

      Delete Adobe.

       

        M
        maria_8700
        Participant
        August 15, 2024

        It's 2024 and they still haven't fixed this. Freaking disaster. And it's literally a crucial feauture sinse I mainly need it to insert signed scanned pages in documents and delete the old ones. You mean Bluebeam PDF Markups and Measurement Software, correct?

          L
          Lawrence39011353nh81
          Participant
          October 15, 2024

          I agree.  Between this and consistently crashing after I scan 30 pages (but before it allows me to save the file), it's a joke,.

            inca431
            inca431
            Inspiring
            November 1, 2020

            How annoying that Adobe hasn't fixed this.  I also got this error, thanks to the solution above, I was able to fix it, but this error has been reported as long ago as 2012 and still Adobe hasn't repaired it.

              K
              Kurt5EDD
              Participant
              September 26, 2023

              Well the fact that they refer to John Armour's work-around as a "fix" should tell you all that you need to know!

                J
                John Armour
                Participating Frequently
                November 19, 2019

                Found a fix for this, if you view the page fit to window before you go to delete it in organise pages it lets you delete without the error.

                  P
                  Paul_AQ-Studios
                  Participant
                  October 22, 2020

                  Thank you John_Armour, after 2 hours of trying things this worked!
                  On AC-DC 2020 - I don't have "fit to window", but the menu item: Zoom > Fit Visible worked as well.

                   

                    J
                    joec3915692
                    Participant
                    February 24, 2022

                    Menu item: Zoom > Fit Visible works for one or two pages and then it throws same can't delete BS error. Exting PDF or whole app doesnt seem to do it. So annoying Adobe!

                     

                    Anyone have any more recent ideas/success? Thanks.

                      AkanchhaS8194121
                      AkanchhaS8194121
                      Legend
                      May 24, 2019

                      Hi MarkCLI,

                      As mentioned, Acrobat DC won't let you delete the pages from a multi-page PDF document. Does it gives the error only with a specific document, or with all the files you have been trying to delete pages?

                      Have you started experiencing this issue recently after installing the latest patch? If not, then you may update your Adobe Acrobat to the latest version first. Open Adobe Acrobat>Help>Check for update

                      Here is quite an old document where similar issue has been addressed : One or more of these pages are in use and could not be deleted. refer to the troubleshooting steps suggested there and let us know the result.

                      Workaround: One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted (Installation & updates)

                      Thanks,

                      Akanchha

                      M
                      MarkCLIAuthor
                      Participant
                      May 24, 2019

                      Thanks for your help.

                      To answer your questions:

                      1.     I've tried check for update and the program is up to date.

                      2.     It only affects some documents.

                      3.     I've tried the other items in the link you provided and still have the problem.

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