How to split a PDF
- Drop your PDF Every page shows up as a thumbnail as soon as it loads.
- Choose a mode. “Pick pages to keep” pulls a subset into one PDF. “Split into files” breaks the document into several: every N pages, into equal parts, or at the pages you pick.
- Click the action, then Download. Extract hands back a single PDF. Splitting hands back a numbered ZIP.
Two ways to split a PDF
"Split" covers two different jobs. Sometimes you want a handful of pages out of a big document. Sometimes you want the big document turned into twenty smaller ones: a 200-page scan cut into chapters, a year of combined statements broken back into months. Both live in the two modes above, and nothing is re-encoded on the way through.
Where each mode earns its keep
Pick pages to keep is for the surgical jobs: the signature page out of a sixty-page contract, the one chapter a colleague needs, or your own pages out of a combined scan before the rest goes to someone who shouldn't see it. It hands back a single PDF, because a subset is usually destined for one recipient.
Split into files is for the batch jobs. Every N pages fits documents with a fixed rhythm: two-page invoices, four-page reports, anything a copier digitised as one endless file. Equal parts is the blunt instrument for getting under a per-file upload cap. Splitting at picked pages is for documents with real internal boundaries, chapters and exhibits and monthly sections, where you can see the divide in the thumbnails and put the cut exactly there.
Why the parts can outweigh the whole
Split a 10 MB file into five parts and the parts may add up to more than 10 MB. The cause is how PDFs share resources. A font embedded once serves every page that uses it; cut the document five ways and each part that uses the font must carry its own copy. The effect is mild for scans, where each page owns its image outright, and strongest for text-heavy documents with several typefaces. If a part still needs to be smaller, compression is the next step, and if what you're really doing is removing a few unwanted pages rather than dividing a document, deleting pages gets there quicker.
Common uses for splitting PDFs
- Split a scan into chapters: break a long scanned book into per-chapter PDFs in one pass.
- Separate a combined statement: one merged bank or card statement, back into monthly files.
- Extract one section: pull a single contract clause out of a document nobody wants to read in full.
- Burst into single pages: every page as its own PDF, for handling one at a time.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract just a few pages from a PDF?
Stay in the “Pick pages to keep” mode, click the pages you want, and hit Extract. There's a Select all if you're keeping more than you're dropping. One PDF comes back with just those pages in it.
How do I split one PDF into several separate files?
Switch to “Split into files” and choose how: every N pages, into a set number of equal parts, or at the specific pages you click. All the pieces are produced in one pass and bundled into a ZIP. A 100-page scan becomes ten 10-page PDFs in a single step.
Is the output re-compressed or watermarked?
Neither. Pages are copied out of your original untouched, so the parts look exactly like what you started with.
Why do the split files come as a ZIP?
Because a ten-way split would otherwise fire off ten separate downloads. The ZIP keeps the parts together and numbered in order. Unzip it and each one is an ordinary PDF.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
It isn't. Your browser reads the document, cuts it apart, and hands back the pieces. Nothing is transmitted at any point, which is what makes this workable for records you're not allowed to hand to a random website.