How to Split a PDF or Extract Pages

There are three different things people mean by “splitting” a PDF, and the editor does all of them: cut a document into one file per page, cut it into a few files by page range, or simply pull a handful of pages out into a new PDF while leaving the original alone. All three happen in your browser; the resulting files are saved to your downloads folder.

Extract a few pages into a new PDF

1. Open the PDF and show the pages panel. Toolbar → pages button. Thumbnails appear on the left.
2. Tick the pages you want. Each thumbnail has a check box in its corner. Tick as many as you need; the action buttons at the top of the panel now say how many pages are selected.
3. Click Extract. A new PDF containing only those pages, in their current order, is generated and downloaded straight away. The open document is not changed.

Split into separate files

1. Open the pages panel and click Split. A dialog offers two ways to split.
2. Every page as its own PDF. Choose this to get one file per page, numbered in order. The dialog tells you how many files that is.
3. Custom page ranges. Type ranges separated by commas, for example 1-3, 4-6, 7-12. Each range becomes one file. Single pages (such as 5) are fine too.
4. Click Split. The files are generated one after another and downloaded. Your browser may ask once whether to allow multiple downloads; say yes.

Tips

• Reorder first, then extract. Extracted pages come out in the order they have in the panel, so drag them into the order you want before clicking Extract.
• Annotations travel with their page. Text, drawings, signatures and images you have added are included in extracted and split files.
• Name the files. Split files are named after the document with the page range added. Rename the document (click its name in the toolbar) before splitting to control the prefix.
• Passwords. Split and extracted files are not password-protected, even if the original was. Open a piece afterwards and add a password if you need one; see password protection.

Frequently asked

Can I split a 200-page scan into chapters?

Yes, with custom ranges: 1-24, 25-61, 62-200 and so on. The editor handles any number of ranges.

Will the split files be smaller?

Usually, since each contains fewer pages. Shared resources such as embedded fonts are copied into every file that needs them, so the pieces together may be somewhat larger than the original.

Can I split a file and then merge the pieces with something else?

Yes. Open the pieces you need together on the home page (select several files at once) and they are merged; see merging PDFs.