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How to remove unwanted blank pages from EPUB

By EPUBTurn · Updated

Compare the surrounding paragraph and heading with the source before removing blank areas. A large illustration may also occupy a separate screen deliberately.

On this page
  1. Notice whether the blank area responds to settings
  2. Look for oversized objects
  3. Inspect the chapter boundary before deleting space
  4. Repair a copy without deleting content
  5. A worked reading example
  6. Keep a gap record
  7. Check the next real passage after the blank screen
  8. NASA source

Notice whether the blank area responds to settings

Open the same chapter at two text sizes. If the empty area changes substantially, spacing or page-break choices may be involved. A blank screen before a heading is different from an entire missing section. Compare the last paragraph before the gap and the first one after it with the source before removing anything.

Look for oversized objects

An illustration or a large block can consume its own screen. Check whether the apparently blank page contains white space around a picture or an object whose dimensions exceed the reader view. Inspect the contents in another reader if possible. That comparison can reveal a display issue, but it does not substitute for verifying the text against the PDF.

Inspect the chapter boundary before deleting space

Open the source and the affected EPUB chapter together. Determine whether the blank screen comes from an empty element, a page-break rule or the reader’s layout. Remove only the confirmed empty spacer from a copy. Reopen the book at another text size and check that the next heading and first paragraph remain. A blank screen before a chapter is different from an absent chapter.

These are targeted repair steps for your own file, not a newly executed before-and-after demonstration. Keep the unchanged original, an edit log and the exact reader version. Validate the saved copy and compare the full passage with the PDF before relying on the result.

Repair a copy without deleting content

Preserve the untouched EPUB, then change only the spacing or break responsible for the gap if you have editing tools and permission. Recheck the surrounding text and illustration afterward. Broadly removing all breaks can collapse intentional chapter openings or separate captions from their figures. Keep the original when the source itself contains blank pages that serve a printed purpose.

A worked reading example

Increase and decrease the text size. If the empty area changes, excessive spacing may be involved. If a whole source section is absent, the problem is missing content rather than a decorative page break.

Keep a gap record

Write the last visible phrase before the blank area and the first heading or phrase after it. Compare those anchors with the source. If intervening content exists in the PDF, search for it in the EPUB before assuming the blank area is only excessive spacing.

Record whether the gap changes at a different text size and whether another reader shows the same behaviour. Those observations help distinguish a styling issue from absent material. After an edit, return to the same anchors and check the full intervening passage. Do not remove a page break merely because the first view looked empty; an illustration or chapter structure may explain the separation.

Check the next real passage after the blank screen

The actual NASA sample EPUB supplies retained selected content under a generic Frontmatter label. Use the source to identify the next passage instead of assuming an empty screen means the chapter vanished. If reconversion is appropriate, submit the original PDF; EPUBTurn does not remove spacers from an existing EPUB. A local spacing repair may be the smaller job.

For a new conversion, inspect chapter openings at two font sizes before choosing the full book.

NASA source

D. Harold Shelton, Apollo experience report: Lunar module stabilization and control system, NASA, 1975. US government work; public use permitted. Original pages 3–8 extracted; sample selects excerpt pages 4–6.

Files used in this guide

Download the source files, conversion results or worksheets referenced here. Each label identifies the source document or the converter used.

EPUBTurn actual NASA sample: three selected pages

Sources and further reading

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