How to Insert Blank Pages Into a PDF
Adding nothing to a document sounds like a strange thing to want, but blank pages do real work. They give someone room to write, separate one section from the next, and make a double-sided print come out the way you intended. The Insert Blank Pages into PDF tool puts them wherever you need them.
The double-sided printing problem
This is the reason most people end up here. Print a document on both sides of the paper and every new section starts wherever the previous one happened to finish - sometimes on the back of the page before it. The fix is a blank page at the end of any section with an odd page count, which pushes the next section onto a fresh sheet.
It's worth doing before you print rather than after. Discovering it on the hundredth copy is an expensive way to learn.
Other reasons to add space
Workbooks and handouts need room for notes, and a blank page after each exercise is easier to write on than a margin. Blank pages also act as dividers in a long compiled document, giving a visual break between parts that came from different sources.
How to insert them
Open the tool and choose your PDF. Pick where the blank pages go and how many to add, then download the updated document.
Count carefully, and count in the document you have now rather than the one you're imagining. Inserting a page shifts everything after it, so if you're adding pages at several points, work from the back forwards - that way the positions you noted don't move under you.
After inserting
Adding pages changes the numbering. If your document is already numbered, the printed numbers will now disagree with the actual pages. Renumber the finished document with the Add Page Numbers to PDF tool and the two will match again.
Working out where the blanks go
For double-sided printing the rule is simple once you see it: any section that ends on an odd page needs one blank after it, so the next section starts on a fresh sheet. Odd pages are the fronts.
Count the sections rather than the whole document. A handbook with five chapters of 7, 12, 9, 4 and 11 pages needs a blank after the first, third and fifth - the ones with odd counts. Doing it that way is far quicker than counting to the end and trying to work backwards.
If the document is already numbered, remember the blanks will throw that numbering out. Check the result and renumber with the Add Page Numbers to PDF tool if the printed numbers need to match.
Common questions
Can I add a page at the very start or end?
Yes, both. A blank first page is a common way to make a document start on a right-hand sheet when bound.
Will the blank pages print?
Yes - they're real pages. That's the point when you're fixing double-sided output.
Will a blank page show up as blank, or as a missing page?
As a real, blank page - which is the point. A printer treats it as a sheet to leave empty.
Can I add several blanks in different places at once?
Insert them in one pass where the tool allows it, or work from the back of the document forwards so earlier positions do not shift.
Need room in a document?