Your duplex scan of a one-sided stack produced 100 pages — 50 real, 50 blank. Half your PDF is wasted bytes and a lot of scrolling.
Auto-detecting and removing blanks is the cleanup. Flint handles both detection and deletion.
Auto-detect with sensible defaults
Open delete PDF pages, drop the file, click 'detect blank pages'. Flint scans every page for content above a minimum threshold. Truly blank pages (white, nothing on them) flag. Pages with just scanner noise (specks, dust marks) also flag if the threshold is set right.
Tune sensitivity if defaults miss
Defaults work for most scans. If yours has lots of marginal noise on blank pages, increase tolerance (treat noisy blanks as blank). If yours has pages with just a page number you want to keep, decrease tolerance. The threshold is a slider, not a fixed setting.
Review flagged pages
Before deleting, Flint shows which pages it flagged. Scroll through — any pages flagged that shouldn't be? Deselect them. Any blanks Flint missed (subtle content)? Add them to the selection by clicking. Confirm, delete, save.
Prevent next time
Most scanners have a 'skip blank pages' setting. Enable it. The scanner detects blanks at capture time and doesn't include them in the output. Saves the cleanup step entirely for future scans.
FAQ
What counts as 'blank'?
Pages below the content threshold. White paper with no text, no images, optionally minor noise depending on tolerance.
Will auto-detect miss anything?
Sometimes. Pages with just a faint footer or watermark may not flag. Review and add manually if needed.
Can I see what triggered a 'not blank' decision?
Hover the page in the grid for a larger preview. Inspect the content visually.
Does this work for non-scanned PDFs?
Yes. Any PDF with blank or near-blank pages can be cleaned this way.
Auto-detect, review, delete. Remove scan blanks.