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- Open a PDF file.
- Save it under a different name
- 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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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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Yep this just happened to me for the first time.
Tech specs
Acrobat DC 2017.012.20098
Architecture: x86_64
Build: 17.12.20098.240878
AGM: 4.30.71
CoolType: 5.14.5
JP2K: 1.2.2.38798
macOS 10.13.6
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Gotta be honest, it's rather disappointing that 8 YEARS LATER I am still having the same issue. And yes, completely closing the program and starting over does seem to work. It's just frustarating that in order to delete a page I have to save, exit, reload, then try again.
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I have been having this problem way too often. Also a paying customer. I am currently working on a pdf document, where I inserted another pdf, and now I'm trying to delete those pages. Of the three pages I inserted, the first two got deleted but the third one is refusing to go, with this famous error message.
Closing and reopening doesn't even work for me. What I have to do is move the offending page to the end, then select all the other pages and "Extract" and save as a new pdf. This could be a solution if it happens once or twice, but not almost daily!
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We are also having this issue. Turning off and on adobe fixes it for about two hours and then it fails again. It is not incredibly disruptive but after three months of this every day, we are looking at quite a bit of time wasted.
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Your original comments are exactly on point and not in appropriate in the lead. I give them a big AMEN! I have encountered this problem as well. Today, I discovered a new work-around for the problem. Extract the pages from the larger PDF document rather than deleting the pages. I don't know how frequently this will work, but it worked for me today.
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It's April 6, 2021 and I have the most up-to-date version of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC available and I am STILL experiencing this exact problem! None of the stated solutions are working. WTF!?!?
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I was able to solve this issue without updating my application. If you are on Mac, go to finder and find the file. Duplicate the file. Open the new file and pages can be deleted. Not sure how to do this on PC but I assume it is a similar solution? I hope this works for others.
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I was able to delete the page by saving the PDF then closing Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (32-bit) then closing Adobe Creative Cloud that was running in the background. Then I re-opened the PDF in Pro and deleted the page. I also set Creative Cloud to no longer open at start up. Hopefully this works going forward. I never had this issue till recently when I updated windows. (The update also corruopted my Outlook PST file which I fixed by running ScanPST.exe)
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I am having the same problem with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (32-bit). It has been updated and this annoying issue shows up sporadically and nothing I've tried fixes it. I have to download the correspondence for our law firm from a government entity. I have downloaded and resaved it to no avail. I've tried using different Adobe methods from selecting the pages and trying to extract and clicking on Organize Pages and trying to extract the pages, which sometime works and sometimes does not. I then have to separate the correspondence and distribute it to the attorneys and admins. When I have over 300 pages of mail in pdf and cannot extract the pages accordingly it causes me a lot of stress and annoyance. I don't know if the problem exists in the downloading process or not. There just seems to be no end in sight to correctly resolve this problem.
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This is still a bug in Acrobat. I'm using OS X Catalina and latest Acrobat DC as of 11-09-21
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Dec 2021 and I am expriencing this issue. I'm guessing its not a concern for Adobe to fix or address since the original post from 2012! I created the PDF from InDesign. Acrobat X, using a OS X El Capitan. If I open it on a PC, I can delete the page, but not my MAC. Frustrating.
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All I do is jump from issue to issue not actually being able to get any work done. Actually fix your programs instead of forcing us to exist in your capitalist hellscape Adobe.
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Such a bummer to read this thread. I've been a paying customer for the last 7 years and operate on a mac. This issue started about 6 months ago. Like everyone the experience is frustrating and disruptive to the workflow. Has anyone found a good alternative to Acrobat? I am ready to ditch this platform, especially since they are not making an effort to resolve this. I operate on Catalina 10.15.7 and have the following acrobat specs
Architecture: x86_64
Processor: Intel
Build: 21.11.20039.0
AGM: 4.30.115
CoolType: 6.0.3
JP2K: 2.0.4.50016
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I tried "the best alternative" PDF Expert for the Mac but ran into compatibility issues with the Workproof ProofHQ website we use with our clients. Same goes for OS X Preview – compatibility problems when using the resulting PDFs with the proofing site, and Acrobat on Windows (others in the office have no issues with Acrobat). But if all you need is to hand off the PDF itself, try PDF Expert.
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Feb 2022 and this problem still hasn't been fixed.
It can't be that difficult to track down, can it? Or at least explain to us why sometimes pages are locked and prevented from being deleted, and how we can deal with it. Because it's extremely annoying to say the least.
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March 15 2022 Problem actual
it gets even worse when you select pages and click extract - delete after extraction. A deletion error appears, parts of the pages are deleted, but not extracted.
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Yes, my exact same problem as well.
I was on the phone with Adobe Support months ago and they suggested that I take my open PDF and export the file out of Acrobat. (I cannot remember exaclty which export option we did) We did it over the phone and I was able to then delete chunks of pages and avoid the error. So, that is something to consider.
What I've just been made aware of —and worked in my test document so fingers crossed it works from here on out—is to drag the PDF to your Desktop, open, and then do what you are trying to do. I see it helped a lot of other people as well. 🙂
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Adobe, this is STILL happening. Get your s**t together and fix this. We should not have to put up with your incompetency.
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Ten years on and this still isn't fixed.
Please, Adobe. Make your software that we pay a monthly fee for useable.
Having a major bug like this unfixed for TEN YEARS is not acceptable.
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I am still having this issue now with Acrobat DC Pro DC.
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Same problem in June 2022 in Acrobat DC! Closing and reopening document did not help. Hoping quit and restart does.
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Seems to work to close, move the file to the desktop, and then reopen. Unless your desktop is in Dropbox.
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A combination of solutions from people in the comments below:
It happens when you try to delete pages from a redacted document. And yes, it's still happening in 2022, 10 years after the first post, at least on MacOS.
It seems to mostly work to close, move the document to the desktop, and reopen, as long as your desktop isn't being backed up in Dropbox.
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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?).
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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.