Split a PDF or extract pages online

Splitting a PDF means extracting a selection of pages — a chapter, an appendix, a single page from a form running to dozens — to turn them into one or more independent files. It's the reverse of merging, and it answers an equally common need: pulling out a contract's signature page to recirculate it, extracting an invoice from a monthly bank statement, or preparing to send a single chapter of a report without handing over the whole document.

Selecting pages: click or type

The tool shows a grid of thumbnails representing each page of the document, generated on the fly by pdf.js (Firefox's PDF rendering library, also used here for the preview). You can click individual pages to extract, or type a range like "1-3, 7, 10-12": a compact notation useful as soon as there's more than a handful of pages to select, where clicking one by one would get tedious. Both methods can be combined: clicking to fine-tune a selection already set by typing.

One file, or a systematic split

Two output modes are offered. The first extracts your selected pages into a single new PDF file, in the order they appear in the source document. The second, systematic splitting, produces a separate PDF file for each page (or for each group of pages, if you set fixed ranges), delivered together in a ZIP archive — handy for turning a batch of scanned forms in one PDF into individual files ready to be distributed separately.

How it works with no server

As with merging, page extraction is handled by pdf-lib directly in your browser: each selected page is copied, with its internal structure intact (text, images, fonts), into the new document or documents. Not a single byte of your file is sent to a server, which makes the operation instant and functional even offline once the page has loaded — a real advantage for documents containing sensitive information you'd rather never pass through a third party.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between splitting and organizing a PDF?
Splitting produces several separate PDF files from a single source document (for example, one file per chapter). Organizing edits a single document by reordering, deleting, or rotating its pages, but always produces one output file.
How do I select the pages to extract?
Two ways: click the thumbnails of the pages you want in the grid, or type a range list directly, for example "1-3, 7, 10-12" for pages 1 through 3, page 7, and pages 10 through 12.
Can I split a PDF into as many files as it has pages?
Yes: choosing "one page per file" mode, the tool generates a separate PDF for each page of the source document, then bundles them into a ZIP archive downloadable in one click.
Is the original document's page numbering kept?
Each page's visual content (including a page number printed in the text) is copied as-is. However, if you reopen an extract in a PDF reader, it counts the new file's pages starting from 1, regardless of the number shown on the page itself.
Can I split a password-protected PDF?
No: as with merging, an encrypted PDF must first be unlocked with its password via our dedicated tool before it can be split.
Is there a limit to the number of pages a PDF split here can have?
No artificial limit is imposed by the tool itself: the practical limit depends on your browser's memory, comfortably enough for documents running to several hundred pages.

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