Split a PDF

Two ways to split

Extract page ranges gives you exactly the pages you ask for, grouped as you wrote them. Each range becomes a separate PDF:

One PDF per page turns a 12-page document into 12 single-page PDFs — handy for separating scanned invoices, payslips or forms that were scanned in one batch.

Common reasons to split a PDF

• Send only what is needed. Share the signature page of a contract, or the chapter a colleague asked for, without the rest.
• Get under an upload limit. Online portals often cap uploads at a few megabytes; splitting a scanned file into parts gets each one under the limit.
• Separate a batch scan. A scanner that produced one long PDF of different documents can be cut back into individual files.
• Rebuild a document. Extract the pages you want to keep, then reassemble them with Merge PDF.

Tips

• Check the page numbers in your viewer first. Ranges refer to the physical page order (1 = first page of the file), not to numbers printed on the pages, which may start after a cover or roman-numbered pages.
• Want to delete or reorder pages instead? Organize PDF shows thumbnails of every page so you can drag, rotate and remove them visually.
• Need images of the pages? Use PDF to JPG to save pages as pictures.

Because the split happens in your browser, it is suitable for confidential files: your PDF is never sent to a server.

Common problems and fixes

The page range is rejected. Check that the page numbers exist in the file — asking for pages 20–25 of a 12-page PDF can’t work. Use numbers, commas and hyphens only, like 1-3, 7.

I wanted one file, not several. Each comma-separated range creates its own PDF. To get pages 1–3 and 7 in a single document, split them out, then join the parts with Merge PDF — or simply delete the other pages in Organize PDF.

The split files are almost as big as the original. Pages that share images or fonts may each carry a copy of those resources. Compress the parts if size matters.

I need every page as an image, not a PDF. Use PDF to JPG instead; it renders each page as a picture.

My PDF has 300 pages and I only need a chapter. Look up the chapter’s first and last page in your viewer (the page counter, not the printed number), then type that single range.