A blank page appearing at the end of a PDF is one of the more common document annoyances, and it almost always originates in the source document rather than in the PDF export process itself. The good news is that it's easy to remove β either by fixing the source before exporting or by deleting the page from the finished PDF.
An Extra Paragraph Break in the Source Document
The most common cause: the Word or Google Docs source file has an extra paragraph mark or page break after the last line of content. When the document exports to PDF, that trailing empty paragraph pushes onto a new page, and the new page has nothing on it. The result is a blank final page in the PDF.
To fix it at the source, go to the end of the document in Word or Google Docs and enable the formatting marks display (in Word: Home β Show/Hide ΒΆ, shortcut Ctrl+Shift+8; in Google Docs: View β Show non-printing characters). You'll see paragraph marks and page break symbols. Delete any trailing paragraph marks or explicit page breaks after the last content. Re-export to PDF and the blank page is gone.
Section Breaks That Force a New Page
Word documents that use section breaks β particularly "Next Page" section breaks β sometimes have one at the very end of the document. Section breaks that force a page start generate a new page even if there's nothing to put on it. With formatting marks visible, section breaks appear as double dotted lines labeled "Section Break (Next Page)".
If the trailing blank page is caused by a section break, deleting just the break removes the blank page. Be cautious: section breaks sometimes carry formatting information (like page orientation or margin settings) for the section preceding them. Check that deleting the break doesn't change the formatting of the last content section before exporting.
Table Ending at the Bottom of a Page
Documents that end with a table in Word have a specific quirk: Word requires at least one paragraph mark after a table. If the table ends at the bottom of the last page, Word places that required paragraph mark on a new blank page. This can't be deleted directly β Word won't let you remove the last paragraph mark after a table.
The workarounds: make that required paragraph mark invisible by formatting it with a font size of 1pt (so small it occupies almost no space), or add a row to the table and put the content that would otherwise push the paragraph to a new page into the table instead. Either approach keeps the blank page from appearing in the exported PDF.
Removing the Blank Page From the PDF Directly
If you don't have access to the source document, or if re-exporting isn't practical, removing the blank page from the PDF itself is straightforward. Open the PDF in a browser-based PDF Editor or in Preview on Mac, navigate to the last blank page, select it, and delete it. Download the corrected version.
In Preview on Mac: View β Thumbnails to show the page panel, click the blank page to select it, press Delete, then File β Export as PDF. In a browser tool: open the page organizer, select the blank page, delete it, download. The process takes under a minute either way.
Blank Pages in the Middle of a Document
Blank pages that appear in the middle of a document rather than at the end usually indicate an intentional or accidental page break in the source. A manual page break (Ctrl+Enter in Word) forces content to the next page, leaving the current page blank if there's nothing after the break. Explicit section breaks between document sections also create blank transitional pages.
For books and formal documents, blank pages between chapters or sections are intentional β right-hand pages start new chapters, and the preceding left-hand page is intentionally blank. For business documents and reports, a blank page in the middle is almost always unintentional and should be removed either at the source or from the finished PDF.