Split PDF

About this tool

Split PDF breaks one PDF into several smaller ones. There are three ways to say where the cuts go, and the right one depends on what you are trying to get out of the document. Download the pieces one at a time, or all of them together as a ZIP.

The splitting happens in your browser. The file is never uploaded, which is usually the point — people split bank statements, medical records and contracts, and those are not documents to hand to a stranger's server.

Things worth knowing before you start

• Page numbers mean the PDF's own pages, counted from 1 at the very first page. If your document has a cover and then a page printed "1", the printed numbers and the PDF numbers do not match. Go by position in the file, not by what is printed on the paper.
• Nothing is re-compressed. Pages are copied as they are, so text stays selectable and quality is identical to the original. The pieces added together come to roughly the size of the original.
• Your original is untouched. The tool produces new files and leaves the one on your disk alone.
• Take the ZIP when there are more than two or three pieces. Downloading fifteen files one by one is a chore, and browsers often start asking for permission halfway through.

How to use this tool

1. Select the PDF you want to split.
2. Choose how to split it — every N pages, at chosen page numbers, or by custom ranges.
3. Press Split PDF, then download the pieces individually or all together as a ZIP.

The three ways to split

Every N pages cuts at a fixed interval: every 1 page, every 2, every 10. Pick this when the document has a regular shape — a scanned batch where every record is two pages, a set of certificates one per page, a book you want in equal chunks. "Every 1 page" is the quickest way to turn a 50-page PDF into 50 single-page files.

At chosen page numbers lets you name the pages where a cut should happen, and the document breaks at each of them. Pick this when the sections are uneven and you know where they start — a report whose chapters begin on pages 5, 18 and 40.

Custom ranges is the most precise option, and the one worth learning. You type what you want as text:

1-3, 7, 10-12

That produces three files: pages 1 to 3, page 7 on its own, and pages 10 to 12. The rules are short:

• A hyphen makes a range: 4-9
• A comma starts a new piece: 1-3, 7
• A number on its own is a single page: 7
• Spaces are ignored, so 1-3,7 and 1-3, 7 are the same
• Pages you do not mention are simply left out

A few that come up often:

• 1-10 — just the first ten pages, one file
• 1, 2, 3 — the first three pages as three separate files
• 1-5, 11-15 — two sections, skipping the middle entirely
• 3 — page three on its own

How it works

Split, extract, or remove?

Three tools overlap here and picking the wrong one wastes time:

• Split PDF — one file in, several files out. Use it when you want the document broken into pieces.
• Extract Pages — one file in, one file out, containing only the pages you chose. Use it when you want pages 2, 5 and 9 together in a single new document.
• Remove Pages — one file in, one file out, with the pages you chose taken away. Use it when the document is right apart from a few pages that should not be there.

Short version: splitting gives you several documents, extracting gives you one smaller document, removing gives you the same document minus something.

What people use it for

• Scanned batches. Twenty forms fed through a scanner in one go, saved as one 40-page PDF. "Every 2 pages" gives you twenty files back.
• Sending one chapter of a long report to someone who should not see the rest.
• Bank statements split by month before filing them.
• Separating an appendix from the main document.
• Pulling the signed pages out of a long contract to send to a lawyer.