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34

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

Explorer ,
Dec 05, 2012 Dec 05, 2012

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  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.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Enthusiast , Apr 09, 2015 Apr 09, 2015

For me - using Acrobat Pro X on Windows 7 - this problem went away when I updated Acrobat Pro to the latest release (Help > Check for Updates).

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replies 107 Replies 107
Contributor ,
Dec 11, 2012 Dec 11, 2012

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I give up on Acrobat X. I do everything in Acrobat 9! The sad thing is that they haven't fix AX, and now they want me to pay for an Acrobat 11! What a joke.

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New Here ,
Jun 18, 2014 Jun 18, 2014

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I would just like the second the frustrations of this user. Maybe I'm naively optimistic about this, but I'm still hoping that this long-outstanding problem could be effectively addressed in the near future

Thanks

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 02, 2022 Feb 02, 2022

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And it’s still happening, eight years later. 🤯

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New Here ,
Feb 23, 2022 Feb 23, 2022

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It really is and it's so unfortunate. I have noticed that if you place the PDF on the Desktop, open it in Acrobat and try deleting the page it will most likely work. I find that sometimes when deleting pages from PDF that is sitting in DropBox won't work. Such an odd bug.

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New Here ,
Mar 02, 2022 Mar 02, 2022

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Yo! That actually worked for me. Thank you! 🙏🏻

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New Here ,
Mar 09, 2022 Mar 09, 2022

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Thanks Gary, this worked for me also. I was using Acrobat Pro DC as a free trial, needless to say I won't be taking them up on their offer long term! Never had any bother with Nitro.

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Participant ,
Apr 02, 2022 Apr 02, 2022

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Yes, in MaOSxx... placing the PDF in the desktop is perfect BUT if you ha Dropbox it must be unlinked.
Dropbox is the culprit here.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 04, 2022 Apr 04, 2022

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Thanks, I will give that a try. Right now I do have files on my desktop being backed up using Dropbox. I will turn that off and see if it helps. 

 

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New Here ,
Jun 08, 2022 Jun 08, 2022

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This worked! Crazy. 

 

Fix it ADOBE!!

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New Here ,
Jun 10, 2022 Jun 10, 2022

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Bless you! That worked for me!

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New Here ,
Aug 26, 2022 Aug 26, 2022

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Amazing! This worked for me too!

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New Here ,
Oct 03, 2022 Oct 03, 2022

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Afters years—YEARS—and countless projects encountering this anomaly, I gotta say this "move [the file] to desktop" solution just worked (on one of the Mac OS desktops at least). Brilliant! Thank you for sharing. I hope this "fix" wasn't just luck today, though. Cheers.

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New Here ,
Oct 03, 2022 Oct 03, 2022

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I guess it was luck. Error happened again 😞

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New Here ,
Oct 19, 2022 Oct 19, 2022

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THANK YOU!  Placing it on the desktop worked... WTH????????

 

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Explorer ,
Oct 25, 2022 Oct 25, 2022

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Oh my gosh, dragging to my Desktop fixed it as well. <slams head on desk> 
I have been crying for years over this, hah! Is it a Dropbox thing? It's always happened when I would Extract a chunk of pages and tick the box to have them delete from the document they were in. I've had to work around it for yeeeeeears and it works fine when I do it from my office PC. Not my Mac?

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New Here ,
Dec 14, 2022 Dec 14, 2022

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Brilliant! This "feature" has been with acrobat for WAAAAY too long. Thanks for sharing this workaround. Worked perfectly.

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New Here ,
Feb 23, 2023 Feb 23, 2023

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This worked for me as well!

 

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New Here ,
Feb 26, 2023 Feb 26, 2023

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I can't believe this actually worked. Days I've wasted going through settings!!!!DAYS

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New Here ,
Mar 24, 2023 Mar 24, 2023

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I did all of these things, and it still wouldn't work for me. I asked my boss if she had uploaded the document I was trying to delete from to Dropbox, and she said no, but she exited out, then it worked for me. So strange! 

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New Here ,
Apr 10, 2023 Apr 10, 2023

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this WORKS!!!

 

-downloaded pdf ( in downloads folder ) and it wouldnt let me delete the pages ..

-dragged and dropped the pdf onto the desktop , and it let me delete the pages with no problem .. 

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Explorer ,
Apr 10, 2023 Apr 10, 2023

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So I did that and it worked once for me… I thought it was solved, I may have even responded on this thread that it worked… however it didn’t ever work again. I could determine what made the one file work and not the others. I still deal with this darned error!

Sent from my iPhone

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New Here ,
Apr 10, 2023 Apr 10, 2023

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Do you have Preview Pane turned on in Windows Explorer? Preview Pane locks the file and prevents modifications to it. The reason moving it to your desktop works is because the desktop does not have preview pane. Turn off Preview Pane in Windows, it causes problems not only with Adobe but with every other program too. 

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New Here ,
Jul 14, 2023 Jul 14, 2023

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This is funny. I was editing from downloads folder and it worked. Saved it to Desktop and now it doesn't work lol.

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New Here ,
May 18, 2022 May 18, 2022

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Yup, happening to me as well... 8 freakin years smh

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