"One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted" - AGAIN.

[Dirk van Boxtel]

1. Open a PDF file.
2. Save it under a different name
3. Try to delete a page

You'll get this error:

"One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted"

I've had this billions of times now and the only solution that works 100% of the time is closing and re-opening the file. This leads me to believe it's something with "locking" the file while saving, but not unlocking it after done saving.

GET THIS FIXED PLEASE because it's annoying LOADS and LOADS of people.

As evident by the 7000+ search results for the exact phrase "One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted".

And that's just the part of the userbase that actually reports the problem.

There are several topics about this issue, some marked as "solved" erroneously.

Note, I'm a paying customer, use Photoshop/Illustrator/Dreamweaver/Fireworks and Bridge during my daily work, and have had this issue for months and months across several different computers (two different workplaces, and at home) and have ran into this time and again, when all I want to do is cut a PDF into several smaller PDFs.

Closing and re-opening your program because you're unable to fix this issue is NOT ACCEPTABLE. It's THE WORST kind of user experience, as this issue is the ONLY reason I use Acrobat at all, and it can't even do that.

Cheers,

- Dirk

Ps.: Sorry, I'm very frustrated running into this time and again, and then having to wade through thick mud (your site is a UX nightmare) to report this issue, which has been report oodles of times on this board before.

[anna24416169f5uc]

I called Adobe support because I run into this issue multiple times a week – we started a screen share and support had me close out of every single program besides Acrobat that I had open (not just Adobe but all programs), and eventually, I was able to delete the page I wanted gone. Support said the page I wanted to delete really was "in use" elsewhere, which I don't understand – I didn't have the PDF or any of its pieces/elements open in any other program. This also isn't a great solution ("close every program you have open every time you run into this issue!"), so any other quick solution to this would be super helpful. This wastes a lot of time and gets me frustrated as it happens so often. I only started experiencing this issue a year or two ago seemingly after an update (anybody else?).

[TaylorMadeAmja]

I was on a Adobe Support phone call a few months ago. They said they could not fix this exact trouble I was having (select a chunk of pages to Extract and tic the "Delete Pages After Extracting") -- but they were able to find a work-around which was to open the PDF in Acrobat and then from Acrobat, export it all over again. I can't remember exactly which export option we did, but the "new" PDF I was able to delete the chunk of pages and avoid the warning.

Lastly, I've said it a couple times previous to this response, but someone else shared that dragging the PDF to their Desktop allowed them to avoid the error. I tried a test document and I also got it to work as intended while on my Desktop. YAY! So, that's my plan for the forseeable future. 

ETA: my test file worked, the file that I actually needed to split for work today did NOT work. I saved to Desktop, I've tried exporting so many ways. Nope, nothing. <sob> I can't find a rhyme or reason why it's not working.

[Linus38]

You are perfectly right, moving the PDF file to the desktop makes the delete action again possible.

The error "One or more pages are in use and could not be deleted" is so old that it is unbelievable that Adobe never corrected it. May be they have fired all the good programmers they had to save money!

[Charlene28171236ukjo]

Unfortunetly, moving to the desktop has been hit or miss for me. 

[Dave27787276k3o4]

I have been dealing with this problem for at least 7 years now. IT NEVER GOES AWAY---PLEASE FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[phillipp78508477]

Extract pages you want to remove and check delete box

[TaylorMadeAmja]

Right, that's the goal but that is what throws the error message! We are unable to delete the pages. 😵‍

[Charlene28171236ukjo]

That does not always work...hence the reason for the aggrivation. It should be that simple but its not. I have individual PDF files sent to me that have to be combined into one file. Sometimes the client makes a changes, so I have to delete a page(s).  Then when I cant, I have to redo this combining of 20 files all over again. 

[TaylorMadeAmja]

Oh my gosh, how FRUSTRATING! 

I get large documents and need to split them apart. I'll grab 14

pages (sometimes in order but most often scattered here and there throughout the document) and want to pull them out AND also delete them so I don't have to weed through them again.... and I can pull them out fine and save as it's new little file. Then I go back to my monster file and have to try and remember if I already pulled this page or that. If it were gone, I'd be free and clear. The biggest aggravation is that it worked swimmingly for me for a while ... but maybe that was when I was on the PC? I'm strictly on a Mac now and get the bug. 
knowing how easy and quick it used to be versus how much longer the project takes is enough to make me cry. 😂🫠

[phillipp78508477]

Extract pages and check delete

[Artie61]

Does this work ? is it confirmed ? anybody ? I just had this again when I had 4 instances each with 3 tabs of acrobat opened had to shut them all down before it would unlock the page I wanted deleted it doesnt happen all the time but BAM it happened at the worst time , I was  frustrated I searched this board and found this small and inconspicious post  Thanks if it works

[Alain28354103d9ju]

Even if it works (I cannot test it right now) it is not normal to be forced to rely on such a workaround.

[Artie61]

IT DOES NOT WORK !

[hobbsian]

Here's my experience: I export a PDF from InDesign or Illustrator; open it in Acrobat and maybe notice that I exported some pages I didn't intend to. Without making any other edits to the PDF whatsoever, I select the page thumbnail (or range of page thumbnails) in the thumbnail panel that I want to delete. If that page, or any one of those selected pages is the currently visible page in the window (which, duh, of course it's gonna be, because I just selected it), I get the "one or more pages are in use and could not be deleted" error when I try to delete them. If I'm deleting a range of pages, they'll all delete except the one visible in the main window.

This happens about 99% of the time. Doesn't matter if the file is on my desktop, in a cloud folder, or twenty levels deep in my Documents folder. This has happened throughout multiple versions and updates of Acrobat; on at least two Macs that I can think of; and across multiple versions of macOS.

There is some good news (for me at least): If, after selecting the thumbnail(s) of the page(s) I want to delete and getting the error after deleting, all I have to do is hit delete again and it'll delete it (or the remaining one from the selected range).

Orrrrrr, if after selecting the thumbnail(s) of the page(s) I want to delete, I scroll my main window view up or down so that none of those pages is visible, delete works fine.

Still a stupid pain. And just one of the multiple things that annoy me about Acrobat.

[Tom29182836a17z]

Do you have the Preview pane turned on in Windows Explorer? Turn this off if you have it on. The preview pane causes a lot of problems because it locks files and prevents them from being deleted or modified by other programs.

[joes26459673]

Yes -  I agree.  This issue has wasted so much time for me.  There's no fix other than (sometimes) closing and reopening and then deleting the page 

[hobbsian]

Well, mine issue seems to be resolved. I checked the "Enable native OS mode for optimal performance" (which seems to be applicable solely to Apple's M processors) at the bottom of the General preferences pane (speaking of pain... oh how I hate the Acrobat preferences pane). I can't be certain this was the fix... and if I disable that pref and restart the issue does not return... but at least it's working. For now.

[TaylorMadeAmja]

Oh, that is an encouraging suggestion! I’ll give that a try! Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone

[tlmurray23]

But according to Adobe, there are some major limitations. See https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/apple-silicon-m1-processor-support.html 

[Jlep12]

I had success with deleting one page at a time only

[Margaret30146332zggh]

I got the same issue. What does "in use" mean? I have the file open, so all of it is "in use." What if you don't want the file on your desktop? I am on a Mac, BTW. I am not using Dropbox, either. I saved it to the Adobe Cloud and this happened. I saved the file to the my Documents folder and it happened.

I find it a bit concerning that nowhere in this thread is there an Adobe support person responding to this issue. Kind of a pricey subscription, so this makes me think hard about my choices in terms of software.

[Karma23807389o9sr]

More than 11 years later, this is still a problem and this was actually a solution that worked for me today!! 

Thank you!

[tlmurray23]

It's 2023, and the problem is still here. 

[TaylorMadeAmja]

Right?!
I thought with this latest update it was going to be solved.
I’m still stuck trudging through my large PDF files and being unable to extract and delete pages.
Ughhhh.

[tlmurray23]

I went with a third party. A LOT le$$ and it worked. C'm on Adobe. If the board knew of the issues....