mozilla/pdf.js · error · Error

GetPageIndex: page has been removed.

Error message

GetPageIndex: page has been removed.

What it means

Thrown by PDFDocumentProxy.getPageIndex(ref) after the worker resolves the cross-reference index but pagesMapper.getPageNumber maps that index to 0. A 0 result means the page exists in the PDF structure tree but is not part of the currently active page set — i.e., it was deleted or excluded by an incremental update or by a page tree reorganization.

Source

Thrown at src/display/api.js:3067

        );
        this.#pageCache.set(pageIndex, page);
        return page;
      });
    this.#pagePromises.set(pageIndex, promise);
    return promise;
  }

  async getPageIndex(ref) {
    if (!isRefProxy(ref)) {
      throw new Error("Invalid pageIndex request.");
    }
    const index = await this.messageHandler.sendWithPromise("GetPageIndex", {
      num: ref.num,
      gen: ref.gen,
    });
    const pageNumber = this.pagesMapper.getPageNumber(index + 1);
    if (pageNumber === 0) {
      throw new Error("GetPageIndex: page has been removed.");
    }
    return pageNumber - 1;
  }

  getAnnotations(pageIndex, intent) {
    return this.messageHandler.sendWithPromise("GetAnnotations", {
      pageIndex: this.pagesMapper.getPageId(pageIndex + 1) - 1,
      intent,
    });
  }

  getFieldObjects() {
    return this.#cacheSimpleMethod("GetFieldObjects");
  }

  getSignatures() {
    return this.#cacheSimpleMethod("GetSignatures");
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 5903d58d58)

Solutions

1. Treat this as a soft error: catch and skip the destination, falling back to the next valid page.
2. Validate the destination is still reachable via pdfDocument.getPage(pageNumber) before resolving child refs.
3. Regenerate or repair the PDF (e.g., re-save via a PDF optimizer) to prune stale refs.

Example fix

// before
const idx = await pdfDocument.getPageIndex(ref);

// after
try {
  const idx = await pdfDocument.getPageIndex(ref);
  await pdfDocument.getPage(idx + 1);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'GetPageIndex: page has been removed.') {
    // destination is stale; skip or default to page 1
  } else throw e;
}

const idx = await pdf.getPageIndex(ref).catch(e => {
  if (e.message === 'GetPageIndex: page has been removed.') return -1;
  throw e;
});
if (idx < 0) { /* stale destination */ }

null

try {
  return await pdf.getPageIndex(ref);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'GetPageIndex: page has been removed.') return null;
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Resolving a ref that points to a page node removed via a later PDF revision; using a ref cached from an older copy of the document after it was reloaded; documents whose /Pages /Count or /Kids exclude nodes the ref points to.

Common situations: Incrementally updated PDFs that delete pages but leave dangling references in outlines/named destinations; annotated PDFs re-saved by tools that rewrite the page tree; opening a PDF whose /Pages tree is inconsistent with its /Count.

Related errors

• Catalog object is not a dictionary.
• Invalid top-level pages dictionary.
• Page count in top-level pages dictionary is not an integer.
• PageLabel is not a dictionary.
• Invalid type in PageLabel dictionary.

AI-assisted analysis of mozilla/pdf.js@5903d58d58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0fed2ae7739b059a. Report an issue: GitHub.