Error when deleting pages in PDFs

Last updated on May 18, 2026

Learn what to do when you can't delete pages in Adobe Acrobat.

You may get the following error when attempting to delete one or more pages in Adobe Acrobat: 

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

The error may occur even when no tabs are open and may persist after reinstalling Acrobat. 

Assistive technology support is turned on 

The assistive technology support setting in Accessibility preferences can cause Acrobat to scan embedded images or documents within the PDF. The background scanning process stores the affected pages in memory, preventing them from being deleted.

You can turn off the setting using the steps below: 

Select Menu > Preferences  (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (macOS). 

Select Accessibility from the left panel. 

Deselect Enable assistive technology support

Select OK