Open Split PDF, drop the file, and pick a mode. By range takes a line like 1-3,5,8-10 and gives you one new PDF containing exactly those pages, in that order. Every page gives you a zip with one PDF per page.
Pages are copied rather than re-rendered, so nothing about the output is softer, larger or differently coloured than the original.
A forty page report where the team needs pages twelve to twenty. A signed contract where only the execution pages matter. A scanned batch of six invoices that has to become six files because the accounting system accepts one document per claim. Splitting is the other half of merging, and it comes up just as often.
Two modes, and when each one is right
Almost every splitting task is one of two shapes, and tools that offer twelve options are usually dressing up the same two.
You know which pages you want
- Produces a single PDF containing your selection
- Accepts non-consecutive pages in one go
- Keeps the pages in the order you typed them
- Right for excerpts, signature pages, single sections
- One file out, however many ranges you asked for
You need each page separately
- Produces one PDF per page, delivered as a zip
- No typing, no page numbers to get wrong
- Filenames follow the original page numbering
- Right for filing portals that want one page per upload
- A 200 page document becomes 200 files, so check first
The range syntax, properly explained
The range field looks simple and hides a lot of usefulness. It accepts three things, and they combine freely in one line.
- A single page
7 - A continuous run
4-9 - Several of either, comma separated
1,3,7-9 - Out of order, kept as typed
9,1,4 - The whole thing in one field
1-3,5,8-10
The detail people miss is that order is preserved as written. Typing 3,1,2 does not politely sort itself into 1,2,3. It gives you those pages in that sequence, which turns the range field into a quiet reordering tool when you need one.
Why splitting never costs quality
This worries people more than it should, usually because compression has taught them that every operation on a PDF degrades it a little. Splitting does not work that way.
When a page is extracted, its content stream is copied across byte for byte, along with the fonts, images and colour data it references. Nothing is decoded and nothing is re-encoded. A 300 DPI scan is still a 300 DPI scan on the other side, and the text is still selectable vector text rather than a picture of text.
Images carry across in their original encoding. A scan stays exactly as sharp as it was.
Fonts and glyph positions are copied, so text stays selectable and searchable.
Roughly the share of the file those pages occupied, plus a small structural overhead.
Size is the one thing that surprises people. Pull three pages out of a hundred page document and the result is not automatically three percent of the original. If those three pages carry the only photographs in the file, they may account for most of its weight. If they are plain text in a document full of images, the output will be tiny.
Splitting, extracting and deleting
Three words for operations that overlap enough to cause confusion, and the distinction is mostly about what you keep.
Extracting keeps a selection
You name the pages you want and receive them as a new file. The original is untouched. This is the by-range mode, and it covers most real tasks.
Splitting divides the whole
Every page ends up somewhere, usually as separate files. Nothing is discarded, the document is simply distributed across more files than it started in.
Deleting keeps the remainder
You name the pages you do not want. Practically this is the same operation with the selection inverted: work out which pages remain and extract those instead.
1-4,7-10. Once that clicks, one range field handles every variation of the task and you stop hunting for the right button.Splitting files you cannot open normally
An encrypted PDF cannot be split while it is still encrypted, for the obvious reason. The tool has to read the page objects to copy them, and encryption exists precisely to stop that from happening without the password.
If you have the password, remove it from your copy first, split the unlocked version, and re-protect the outputs if they need it. If you do not have the password, no splitting tool will help, and anything claiming otherwise is either guessing passwords or lying about what it does.
Getting it right in practice
Splitting is low risk, since the original is never modified. The mistakes that do happen are all about aim rather than damage.
Open the original first. Confirm the page positions you are about to type, especially in documents with cover pages or roman numeral front matter.
Open the output too. One glance tells you whether you caught the right range. It is much cheaper than finding out after you have sent it.
Think before every page. A 400 page document becomes 400 files and a zip your machine has to build. If you only need six of them, a range is faster and tidier.
Split a PDF in your browser
By range or every page at once. Nothing uploaded, nothing stored, no sign-up.
Common questions
What comes up once you start splitting regularly.
01What page range syntax does the tool accept?
Single pages, continuous ranges, and any combination of the two separated by commas. So 7, 4-9, and 1,3,7-9 are all valid. Order is preserved exactly as typed, so 9,1,4 gives you those three pages in that sequence rather than sorting them.
02Does splitting reduce quality?
No. Pages are copied at the object level rather than re-rendered, so images keep their original resolution and encoding and text stays selectable. There is no difference in quality between a page in the source and the same page in the output.
03Can I split a password-protected PDF?
Not while it is encrypted. Remove the password from a document you own first, then split the unlocked copy. Encryption exists to prevent exactly the kind of object-level reading that splitting requires.
04How do I delete pages instead of extracting them?
Invert the selection. To remove pages 5 and 6 from a ten page file, extract 1-4,7-10. The result is the document without those pages, which is what deleting would have given you.
05Why is my extracted page almost as big as the whole document?
Because file size follows content, not page count. If that one page holds a full-page photograph or a high resolution scan and the rest of the document is text, it genuinely was most of the file's weight all along.
06Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. The work happens in the browser, so any reasonably current mobile browser can do it. Very large documents are limited by available memory, which is tighter on a phone than a laptop, so a several hundred megabyte file may be happier on a desktop.