Why Does My PDF Have Blank Pages? (And Why It Prints Blank)

Blank pages in PDFs come from three different problems, and the fix depends on which one you have:

1. The PDF really contains blank pages. They're in the file, and every app shows them.
2. There's an extra blank page at the end of a PDF you created, usually from Word, Google Docs or a browser.
3. The PDF looks fine on screen but prints blank pages, or pages that should have content show as blank in one particular app.

Work out which one you have first. It saves trying fixes that can't work.

1. The PDF contains blank pages

How to tell: the blank pages show up everywhere, in every viewer, on every device.

Common causes:

• Double-sided scanning of one-sided documents, which adds a blank back after every page.
• Separator sheets scanned along with a stack of documents.
• Merging files that already had blank pages in them.
• Intentionally blank pages in books and manuals, which sometimes say "This page intentionally left blank".

Fix: remove them. Organize Pages spots blank pages automatically and removes them in one click. See how to delete blank pages from a PDF for the details.

2. An extra blank page at the end of a PDF you made

How to tell: you created the PDF yourself (Save as PDF, Export, or Print to PDF), and there's one blank page at the end, or after a table or section.

Common causes and fixes:

• Word: a table at the very end of the document. Word always puts a paragraph mark after a table. If the table fills the page, that mark spills onto a new, empty page. Fix: select the empty paragraph after the table and set its font size to 1 pt, or reduce the page's bottom margin slightly.
• Word or Google Docs: a manual page break or section break at the end. Turn on formatting marks (¶ in Word; View › Show non-printing characters in Google Docs) and delete the break.
• Browser "Save as PDF": content just overflows. A web page that's slightly taller than the paper prints a mostly-empty last page. In the print dialog, try Scale at 95%, or narrower Margins.
• Excel: the print area includes empty cells. Set the print area to the cells you need (Page Layout › Print Area) before exporting.

You can fix the source and export again, or just delete the empty last page from the PDF in Organize Pages.

3. The PDF prints blank pages, or shows blank pages in one app

How to tell: the pages look normal in one viewer but come out blank on paper, or show blank in a different app.

What's going on: the content is there, but the printer driver or viewer can't render it. That's often because of an unusual font, a transparency effect or a damaged image inside the PDF.

Fixes, easiest first:

1. Open it in a different viewer (a browser instead of a desktop app, or the reverse) and print from there. Browsers' built-in PDF viewers handle many awkward files well.
2. Print as an image. In Adobe Acrobat Reader's print dialog, Advanced › Print as image sends each page as a picture, which gets around most font and transparency problems.
3. Update or reinstall the printer driver, especially if every PDF prints blank, not just one.
4. Repair the file. If one PDF misbehaves everywhere, it may be damaged. Repair PDF rebuilds the file, re-drawing pages as images if it has to, which often brings missing content back.
5. Flatten it. Forms and annotations sometimes print blank when the fields aren't "baked in". Flatten PDF makes them a permanent part of the page.

Don't delete pages that only look blank in one app. If you think a page should have content, check it in another viewer first. A blank thumbnail can be a display problem, not an empty page.

Quick diagnosis table

What you see	Most likely cause	Fix
Blank pages everywhere, scattered through a scan	Double-sided scanning, separator sheets	Remove them automatically
One blank page at the end of a document you created	Table or page break at the end, overflow	Fix the source, or delete the page
Looks fine on screen, prints blank	Printer driver or rendering problem	Print as image, try another viewer, update the driver
Blank in one app, fine in another	That app can't render the content	Use another viewer; Repair PDF if it happens everywhere

FAQ

Why does my PDF have blank pages? If you scanned it, double-sided scanning or separator sheets are the usual cause. If you created it, a table or page break at the end of the document can push an empty page out. Delete them in Organize Pages, which finds blank pages automatically.

Why does my PDF print blank pages when it looks fine on screen? The printer can't render something in the file, often a font or transparency. Print it as an image (Adobe Reader: Advanced › Print as image), print from a different viewer, or update the printer driver.

Why is there an extra blank page at the end of my PDF? Usually a table or a page break at the very end of the original document. Fix it in the source file before exporting, or delete the page afterwards.

Is a blank-looking page always safe to delete? No. If it only looks blank in one app, the content may still be there. Check in another viewer, and try Repair PDF, before deleting anything you expected to have content.