How to delete pages from pdf on mac without using Preview?

Since you asked specifically about pdftk this time, let's dive into that. And hey, if you're wondering how to delete pages from PDF on Mac, pdftk is actually a killer command-line tool that gets the job done without any of that fancy GUI bloat.

Before we get into it, full disclosure: pdftk hasn't been updated for macOS in a while, so the official version might give you compatibility headaches on newer Macs. But don't worry—there's a community-maintained fork called pdftk-java that works perfectly. You can grab it via Homebrew with brew install pdftk-java.

Open your Terminal app and type something like this:

bash

pdftk input. pdf cat 1-3 5-10 12-end output output. pdf

If you're the type who likes to delete specific single pages (say, pages 3, 7, and 15), you'd do:

bash

pdftk input. pdf cat 1-2 4-6 8-14 16-end output output. pdf

If you're cool with the command line and want a free, lightweight tool that doesn't phone home or collect your data, pdftk is solid. It's fast, reliable, and works offline. Just install pdftk- java via Homebrew, practice on a copy of your PDF, and you'll be deleting pages like a pro in no time.

Honestly, pdftk is super powerful, but it's not the most beginner-friendly if you're not comfortable with Terminal. Also, if you're wondering how to delete pages from PDF on Mac and want something more visual, pdftk won't give you that—it's all text-based. And yeah, you'll need to remember the page numbers you want to keep rather than the ones you want to delete, which trips people up sometimes.