"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.

[Crocodile631]

Has been happening to me since I purchased in 2013.

[MCD-2012]

Is there anyone reading these posts who are going to fix the problem????? The only thing that works for me is when I duplicate the file then i can delete

one or two pages and the error comes up again. I keep having to duplicate file and put it in a new folder. This is not the answer. What are adobe doing about this, obviously nothing. Driving me crazy.

[Guest]

I ran into this problem.  I see it is a persistent problem.

I see it suggested it might be due to a defect in the pdf in question.

This pdf started as a fax.

I printed the pdf document as a pdf and saved.

This second new pdf looks the same as the old to me.  But now I can delete pages.

[Faintscrawl]

I have this issue too, today, June 27, 2016.

[Adorobat]

Hello ,

Please try to update Acrobat to the latest version.

Open Acrobat>Help>Check for Updates

Thank You!

[palenpointe]

I'm getting the problem today. I believe I'm using the latest version 2015.017.20053 Acrobat Pro DC.

This is very frustrating. I've tried saving as a different filename to no avail. I cannot delete pages all of a sudden.

I have no idea why the problem started, but I was not able to fix it until exiting and restarting the application.

This problem has apparently been around for about 4 years. Why isn't it fixed yet?

[JWStrongPSN]

Ran into the same problem on macos, version 2018.011.20058

Closing and reopening the file did not resolve the issue. Only quitting the whole application and reopening resolved the issue.

[Jasonology]

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

[Julian Berg5C90]

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.

[CAL ltd]

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!

[Jacob5C80]

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.

[defaultt6qfx29awljn]

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.

[mitchh95605776]

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!?!?  

[ozziet34197704]

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.

[default0nhtbiaj8u3p]

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)

[Sarah5782]

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. 

[scotw74004221]

This is still a bug in Acrobat. I'm using OS X Catalina and latest Acrobat DC as of 11-09-21

[OhioNT014]

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.

[Qael]

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. 

[Kas229901627mo7]

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

[scotw74004221]

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.

[jolyonralph]

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.

[Михаил235914224zd4]

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.

[TaylorMadeAmja]

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. 🙂

[RXTF]

Adobe, this is STILL happening. Get your s**t together and fix this. We should not have to put up with your incompetency.