Split PDF

How to split a PDF

1. Drop your PDF onto the box, or click to browse. The tool reports the filename and how many pages it loaded.
2. Type the pages you want in the range field, using commas and hyphens: 1-3, 7, 12-14.
3. Click Extract pages to download those pages as a single new PDF, or click One file per page to break the whole document into individual numbered files.

A worked example

You have a 40 page conference program named program.pdf and only want your own session, pages 12 through 14, plus the schedule on page 2. Load the file, type 2, 12-14, and click Extract pages. The download is program-pages.pdf with exactly four pages, in document order, and the status line confirms "Extracted 4 pages." Duplicate selections are removed automatically, so 2, 2-3 gives you pages 2 and 3 once each, and page numbers beyond the document length are quietly ignored rather than causing an error. The explode button on the same file would give you program-p1.pdf through program-p40.pdf, staggered a quarter second apart so your browser's download manager keeps up.

Under the hood

The splitting is done by the pdf-lib library running inside your browser. Your file is read into memory, a fresh empty PDF is created, and the selected pages are copied into it losslessly: no re-rendering, no compression, no quality change, and text stays selectable. The extracted file is assembled and saved entirely on your device, which is worth pausing on, because most online PDF splitters upload your document to their server first. For pay stubs, medical records, or contracts, pages you extract here are never seen by anyone, including this site. A side effect of local processing is that page extraction from even a large document takes about as long as the download dialog takes to appear.

Honest limitations

Password protected PDFs generally will not load; if the file will not open, remove the password in the program that created it first. One file per page really does trigger one browser download per page, which is why the tool asks for confirmation past 50 pages, and some browsers will ask you to allow multiple downloads; there is no ZIP option, so a 300 page explode is technically possible and practically a bad afternoon. Extraction copies pages whole, so it cannot crop, reorder, or pull half a page, and the output order always follows the original document regardless of the order you type the ranges. To reorder pages, extract them here and recombine in your preferred order with the PDF merge tool on this site.