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PPDF123

Remove Blank Pages From a PDF

Remove Blanks sorts the pages of a PDF into blank and non-blank sets and returns them as separate PDFs in a ZIP. A page counts as blank when it has no extractable text and no embedded images.

Drag and drop files here, or click to choose

Accepts PDF · up to 500.0 MB per file · up to 20 files at once

You can also paste a file with Ctrl/Cmd+V, or from the clipboard menu.

Remove Blanks classifies each page as blank or not, then returns a ZIP of qpdf subsets. A page counts as blank when it has no extractable text and no embedded images, so a page with only vector rules counts as blank. The `threshold` field has no effect on pages that contain any text, and `whitePercent` is read and discarded.

If both classes exist you get `{base}_blank.pdf` and `{base}_nonblank.pdf`. All blank becomes `{base}_allBlankPages.pdf`. All non-blank becomes `nonblank.pdf`.

This is not a visual white-page detector and not OCR. A scanned form that is an image counts as non-blank because `page_has_images` is true. A page with only vector rules and no text may still look printed and classify as blank.

Password-protected files are unlocked for you on this page once you enter the password; API callers run Unlock first.

Features

  • Text + image heuristic; ZIP of blank and/or non-blank subsets
  • `whitePercent` ignored; `threshold` does not affect pages with text
  • Image-only scans are treated as non-blank
  • Anonymous API at /api/v1/misc/remove-blanks

When to use this tool

  • Pull text-empty separator pages out of a born-digital export
  • Keep image scans together even when they look white
  • Inspect both ZIP entries before deleting anything

How do I remove blank pages from a PDF?

  1. Upload a PDF.
  2. Leave threshold and whitePercent alone; neither changes which text or image pages are kept.
  3. Click Process and download `{name}_removeBlanks.zip`.
  4. Open both parts if present and confirm the image pages stayed in non-blank.

Limits and edge cases

  • Not visual whitespace detection
  • Not OCR
  • whitePercent unused
  • Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

Examples

  • A PDF of empty text pages and one image scan yields a blank file plus a one-page non-blank file
  • A fully imaged scan zip contains only nonblank.pdf

Privacy for this tool

Files are uploaded over HTTPS, processed in memory or a short-lived temporary directory on our servers, and deleted when your result is ready. We do not keep copies for later browsing, training, or advertising profiles. See the Privacy Policy for retention details and AdSense cookie disclosures.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my white scanned page still there?
It contains an image XObject. The classifier treats any page with images as non-blank.
Does whitePercent 99.9 do anything?
No. The code binds it and ignores it.
Is the output one PDF with blanks deleted?
No. It is a ZIP that may contain blank and non-blank files.
Can I OCR then remove blanks?
OCR returns Markdown, not a PDF you can send here.

Last updated:

Call this from code

Every tool on this site is a plain REST endpoint - no account or API key needed for anonymous use. Built for AI agents and developers as much as for browsers.

curl -X POST "https://pdf123.xyz/api/v1/misc/remove-blanks" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "threshold=10" \
  -F "whitePercent=99.9" \
  -o output.pdf

Also available as an MCP tool for agent clients that speak Model Context Protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0 over POST /mcp). Full API reference

Use it from an AI agent

Skill

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other AI agents can run Remove Blanks for you with this skill: /skills/pdf123-remove-blanks.md

All agent skills

Files are used only for this processing job and deleted automatically afterward.