OmniDocHow to deal with the page becoming blank after PDF merging
Blank pages appear after PDF merging, mostly due to the source files, scanned documents, fonts or page settings. This article provides a comparison table to first determine the cause, then troubleshoot it one by one from easy to difficult, and explains how to re-merge.
Key points of this article
- First check the number of pages before and after merging to confirm that each source file is completely included in the result
- Turn to the corresponding page number in the source file to confirm whether the blank space originally exists
- The same result can be opened with two readers to distinguish between display problems and file problems.
- When Chinese characters cannot be selected from the scanned document, perform OCR first and then merge it.
- The text not displayed is mostly related to the font not being embedded. Return to the original file and re-export the PDF.
After merging several PDFs into one, when you open it, you will find that there are several blank pages in the middle, or the entire document is only white. This situation often makes people think that the merge tool is malfunctioning, so they try again and again, but the result is still the same.
In fact, the merge itself is generally just splicing pages together in order. Blank pages usually indicate that the content of a source file was not imported correctly, or that the results are not displayed correctly in a certain reader. Once you find out which part of the problem is the problem, your practice will be clear. This article is for readers who encounter this problem after putting together a 30-page paper, a 12-page contract, or several scans.
Let’s first use a table to determine what type of problem it is, and then troubleshoot it step by step. After reading this, you should know where the whitespace comes from and how to get a complete merge result again.
A blank page appears. Do you want to redo the entire page? One sentence conclusion
In most cases, there is no need to redo the whole thing: first find out which source file or step caused the problem, replace only that part, and then merge it again. Only when it is confirmed that the source file itself is damaged, it is necessary to return to the original source to obtain the file again.
| your situation | Recommended practices | reason |
|---|---|---|
| Only some pages are blank, other pages are normal | Find the source file corresponding to the blank page and check the same page of the file | Usually there are blank pages in the source file itself, or a file is not completely added. |
| The entire merged result is white or only contains a few lines of text. | Open it in a different reader first, and then check whether the source file can be displayed normally. | It may be a display problem, or a source file cannot be read. |
| Scans disappeared after merging | Perform OCR on scanned documents and re-merge them | The scans are pictures. If the pictures are not included when merging, the page will be blank. |
| There is a cursor on the page but no text can be seen | Go back to the original document and re-export the PDF with fonts embedded during export | When the font is not embedded, some readers will display the text as blank |
| There are fewer pages than expected and a certain document is missing | Add source files one by one, checking the page count each time you add one. | A file may be encrypted, corrupted, or skipped during merging |
First determine what kind of problem it is
Before taking action, use the table below to compare the phenomenon. Many times, just taking a look at what a blank page looks like can help you narrow it down.
| symptoms | Common causes | How to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| A blank page appears neatly at the beginning or end of a file | The source file itself has a blank page, such as a back cover or segmented page | Open the source file, turn to the corresponding page number, and see if it is also blank. |
| All the scanned pages are blank, and the digital pages are normal. | The scanned piece is a picture, and the picture is not brought into the merge result | Try to select a paragraph of text in the source file. If it is not selected, it will be scanned. |
| The page looks blank, but you can select something when you click. | Text exists, but font or display settings cause invisibility | Open the results with the PDF editor and click on the page to see if there are any text objects |
| The same result is normal in one reader and blank in the other. | Reader compatibility issues, or the file contains special layers and form settings | Open the two readers separately and compare the results. |
| The number of pages is less than the sum of the pages of each source file. | A source file is encrypted, corrupted, or left out during the merge process | Open the source files one by one to check the number of pages, and then compare the merger results. |
# item-by-item troubleshooting and repair
It is recommended to operate in the following order, starting with the links that are easy to check, excluding one item and then moving on to the next.
- check the number of pages. * make a note of the number of pages in each source file, add up to the expected total number of pages, and compare it with the number of pages in the merge result. If the merge result has fewer pages, it means that a file has not been fully added, and then focus on checking the file.
- check whether the source file is blank. Open the source files one by one and turn to the corresponding location of the pages that appear blank in the merge result. If this page in the source file is blank, the merge result will naturally be blank, so just delete the page before merging, or confirm that the blank page is a separator page that needs to be retained.
- change the reader to open the merge result. Open the same file with a browser, a preview tool that comes with the system, and a PDF editor. If it is blank in only one kind of reader, the problem is mostly the display compatibility, which can be confirmed by another reader.
- process encrypted files. if the source file has an open password or editing restrictions, the merged content sometimes does not display properly. Please obtain the correct password from the file provider or ask the other party to provide an unencrypted version. Do not try to bypass such protective measures.
- deal with the scanned parts separately. try to select a paragraph of text in the source file. If it is not selected, the page is a picture. You can use the PDF editor of the OmniDoc desktop client to OCR the scanned piece, generate the text layer, and then add it to the merge. OCR results need to be checked, especially numbers, people's names and technical terms.
- deal with the problem that the text is not displayed. if the page can select text but cannot see the content, it is mostly related to the fact that the font is not embedded. Go back to the original document (such as the Word file), re-export the PDF, and select the embedded font when exporting. The PDF generated in this way can display text properly in different readers.
- re-merge. * Delete the problematic source file or the blank pages in it, and rejoin it in order. OmniDoc's PDF editor supports inserting, deleting, rotating, reordering, merging, and splitting pages, which can be used to reorder pages and remove excess blank pages. Each time you add a document, check the number of pages and display results.
- make comparisons if necessary. * if there is little difference between the pages before and after the merger, but you suspect that some content is missing, you can use the PDF comparison function to compare the two files to find out the inconsistencies.
# how to avoid the next occurrence
- check each source file before merging. Open one by one to make sure that the number of pages, content and display are normal, and then proceed to the merge step. - merge in batches. add only two or three documents at a time, and check them once at a time. If something goes wrong, you can quickly locate the specific documents. - Unified export settings. when exporting PDF from documents such as Word, be careful to choose embedded fonts to avoid text not being displayed on other people's computers. - OCR the scanned parts as soon as possible. if you need to search, copy or merge again later, it is recommended to generate a text layer immediately after scanning and save a processed copy. - keep the original file. merging and deleting pages will change the content of the file. It is recommended to keep the original version that has not been processed at all times to facilitate backtracking at any time.
# frequently asked questions (FAQ)
1. Can the merged blank pages be deleted directly?
Yes, but first make sure that it is a blank page that you already need to keep in the source file, such as a blank page used for section in double-sided printing. After confirming that it is correct, delete it with the PDF editor.
2. Why does my scan show white after merging, but the file size is normal?
The normal size of the file indicates that the picture data may still be there, but the reader does not display it correctly. First open a different reader, if it is still blank, then OCR the scanned part and merge it again.
3. The text of the merger result is normal on one computer and blank on the other. What should I do?
This is usually related to the fact that the font is not embedded, and the fonts installed on the two computers are different. Go back to the original document and re-export the PDF and make sure that the embedded font is selected.
4. The files processed by machine translation or OCR appear blank after merging. What should we pay attention to?
Such files may result in additional pages or text layers during processing. Please check the content page by page before merging, especially the numbers, tables and formulas. Check the important contents manually and do not only rely on the results of automatic processing.
# Summary
Blank pages appear after the PDF merge, mostly because of the source file, scanner, font, or reader display, rather than a malfunction of the merge itself. The cause can usually be quickly found by checking the number of pages, checking the source files, opening the reader, processing the scanned pieces and fonts separately, and then recombining them in batches. Getting into the habit of checking source files and merging in batches before merging can reduce the chances of experiencing the same problems in the future.
