Split PDF

Extract keeps your page order, which makes it a reordering tool too

This is the thing worth knowing, and no other splitter does it.

When you type page numbers into Extract, they come out in the order you typed them. Ask for 4,1-2 and you get page 4 first, then pages 1 and 2. Ask for 3,1,3 and page 3 appears twice. The list is not sorted and duplicates are not removed.

Most tools quietly sort your input and strip repeats, so 4,1-2 comes back as 1, 2, 4 and there is nothing you can do about it. Here the sequence is yours, which means you can reorder a document while extracting from it — move an appendix to the front, put a signature page after the cover, repeat a reference sheet between sections — all in one step, without a separate rearranging tool.

Ranges work the way you would expect: 1,3,5-8 gives you pages 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Ask for a page that does not exist and you get told so, along with how many pages the document actually has, rather than a silent failure or an empty file.

Which of the three modes you want

Extract pages is the default and the one most people need. You name the pages, and you get one PDF containing exactly those pages. Use it to pull a single contract out of a scanned bundle, to keep the six pages of a report that matter, or to drop the blank pages a scanner inserted.

The thing to be clear about: Extract produces one combined document, not one file per page. If you want every page as its own separate file, use the next mode with N set to 1.

Split every N pages cuts the document into equal chunks and gives you a ZIP. Set N to 1 and every page becomes its own PDF. Set it to 10 and a 100-page document becomes ten files. This is the mode for breaking up something too large to email, or for splitting a batch scan where each document is a known number of pages.

One quirk to expect: the files inside the ZIP are named page-1.pdf, page-2.pdf and so on, numbered by chunk rather than by page. So with N set to 3, the file called page-2.pdf actually holds pages 4 to 6. Harmless once you know, confusing if you do not.

Split in half is the quick one — two files, no input needed. On an odd number of pages the extra page goes to the second half, so an 11-page document splits 5 and 6. Useful for a double-sided scan, or for splitting a long document between two people.

What comes out

Extract gives you a single file called extracted-pages.pdf. The other two modes give you split-pages.zip. The names are fixed rather than built from your original filename, so rename the download if you are splitting several documents in a row — otherwise your downloads folder fills up with files you cannot tell apart.

Nothing else about the pages changes. Splitting copies the original page objects, so the text stays selectable, any form fields and links survive, images are untouched, and the file is not re-rendered or re-compressed at any point.

Password-protected PDFs need unlocking first

If your PDF has an open password, splitting will fail with an error from the underlying library. That is deliberate rather than a gap — a tool that could read through a password would not be respecting it.

Remove the password first with Unlock PDF, which needs the password you already know, then split the result.

Why the document not leaving your browser matters here

Think about what people actually split. A scanned bundle from a solicitor. A bank statement where one page needs to go to an accountant. A medical file. A passport scan mixed in with an application. A commercial contract where the recipient should see the schedule and not the pricing.

Every mainstream splitter uploads that document to a server, processes it there and promises to delete it later. This one does the work on your own machine, so there is no upload, no copy on someone else's disk, and no deletion policy to take on trust. There is also no page limit, no file size cap and no daily quota, because there is no server cost to ration.

Related tools

Merge PDF is the reverse — combine several PDFs into one. Crop PDF trims the margins rather than removing pages, and Add Page Numbers to PDF is worth running after a split, since your new document starts at page 1 again.