How to insert a blank page in a PDF

In PDF by Zaweba, Pages > Insert a blank page adds an empty page to the document wherever you need one. The same menu can also insert pages from another PDF, so if the page you're adding already exists somewhere, you can bring it in rather than starting from nothing.

Blank pages have more uses than you might expect. A document for double-sided printing may need one so that each chapter starts on a right-hand page. A form may need a page for extra notes. And a report might want a page for a diagram you're about to add.

Adding a blank page

Choose the page next to where the new one should go, using the thumbnails panel (F4 shows it) or just by being on that page. Then choose Pages > Insert a blank page. The new page appears in the document, and the thumbnails update to show it.

Check where it landed and drag its thumbnail if it needs to move. Each insertion is a single undo step, so Ctrl+Z takes it away again.

Once it's there, you can put things on it. The comment tools can add a text box, a note or a shape, and Form > Fill and sign can add text, the date and marks to any page. If it's a divider, it can stay empty.

Inserting pages from somewhere else

Often the page you need isn't blank at all. It's in another file. Pages > Insert can take pages from another PDF and place them in your document. An even quicker way is to drag a PDF from your folder and drop it between two thumbnails: its pages go in exactly at that point.

PDF by Zaweba can also insert pages from the clipboard, made from a copied picture, copied text or copied files, and from a web page or HTML file. That's handy for adding a screenshot, a confirmation email saved as a web page, or a photo of a receipt to a bundle of paperwork.

To add a page you already have in the document, duplicate it rather than inserting a blank one and recreating it.

Getting page size and numbering right

A new page should match the pages round it, or the document looks uneven when printed. If something looks off after inserting from another file, Pages > Change page size can scale content to fit or centre it on a different size.

Adding pages also shifts the page numbers that follow. If the document uses page labels, such as roman numerals for the front matter, Pages > Page labels sets the numbering style for ranges of pages so the labels stay right.

Starting from blank instead

If what you really want is a new, empty PDF rather than an extra page in an existing one, File > New > Blank PDF (Ctrl+N) makes one, in A4, A5, A3, Letter, Legal or Tabloid, either way round, with as many pages as you ask for.

Some PDFs are set up so pages can't be added or changed. PDF by Zaweba tells you if that's the case, rather than leaving you to guess.

PDF by Zaweba is free software for Windows that works offline with no account, so the pages you add and the documents you add them to stay on your PC.