Split PDF Portable Document Format Free Online Secure
Cut one PDF into several. Every page on its own, or the ranges you choose. They arrive together in one archive.
Work on your PDF
Drop a PDF here, or choose one.
Your file never leaves this device. Everything runs in your browser.
Nothing uploaded
Why pages can be moved at all
Inside a PDF, the pages are not a continuous stream. Each one is a separate object, and a catalogue at the front lists them in order, the way a card index lists the cards in a drawer. Rearranging, adding or removing pages therefore means editing the catalogue and the objects it points to, not re-rendering the document. That is why merging two files takes an instant while converting one to Word takes a while, and it is why a page keeps exactly the appearance it had — nothing about it is recalculated. The structure dates from the format's first version in 1993 and has survived every revision since.
Where you need it
Putting a scanned signature page back with the contract it belongs to; splitting a two-hundred-page report so that each department receives its own section; taking the appendix out of a submission because the portal has a size limit; removing the blank pages a scanner inserted; numbering the pages of a document assembled out of several. Most of this is paperwork that would once have meant a photocopier and a stapler.
Questions people ask
Do links and bookmarks survive?
Links within a document — a table of contents pointing to a chapter — survive if the pages they point to are still there, and break if those pages were removed, exactly as a reference to a torn-out page would. Links to web addresses are unaffected. Bookmarks are usually carried over when merging and are the first thing to check afterwards, since they are also the first thing a reader will use.
Why is the merged file bigger than the two originals added together?
Usually fonts. Each document carries its own copy of the fonts it uses, and a simple merge keeps both copies even when they are the same font, so a little weight is added at every join. The effect is noticeable when merging many small files, and barely visible when merging two large ones. If size matters, compressing the merged file afterwards generally recovers most of it.
Does the file lose quality?
It depends on what the two formats can hold. Converting between formats that store the same thing — a PNG to a BMP, a WAV to a FLAC — loses nothing. Converting into a format that throws information away to save space, such as JPEG or MP3, loses a little every time, and converting back does not bring it back. Where a choice exists, this page errs towards keeping the original quality rather than making the smallest file.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion happens inside your browser, on your own machine; the file never leaves it and there is no server here that could receive it. That is why a large file is limited by your own memory rather than by an upload, and why nothing you convert can appear in anybody's logs — including ours. The audio and video tools do fetch their conversion engine from this site the first time you use them, some thirty megabytes once; after that the work still happens entirely on your machine.
Why people split PDF files
Sometimes a PDF is simply too much in one piece. A scanned bundle of twenty letters arrives as a single file, but each letter belongs to a different person. A report has to go out in sections, with each department receiving only its own chapter. A form accepts uploads of ten pages at most, and your document has forty. An e-book needs its chapters separated. A contract and its annexes were combined for convenience but now have to be filed apart. In all of these cases the job is the same: you need to split PDF files into smaller, more useful ones.
Splitting is also a privacy tool. If you need to share only the page of a bank statement that proves your address, or the signature page of a contract, you can split PDF pages out and send just those, rather than exposing everything else in the file. The recipient gets what they need and nothing more.
This page splits PDFs entirely on your device. The file is not uploaded to a server, which matters for contracts, medical papers, payslips and anything else you would rather keep private. Below you will find the two ways to split, how the pieces are delivered, what is not carried over, and how to avoid the common mistakes.
Two ways to split a PDF
Every page on its own
The simplest option is to cut the document into single pages. A twelve-page PDF becomes twelve one-page PDFs, in order. This is what you want when each page is an independent item: a batch of scanned receipts, a stack of single-page letters, a set of certificates, or a collection of forms. Once each page is its own file, you can name, send and file them one by one.
The ranges you choose
The other option is to name the ranges you want. You might ask for pages 1 to 4, then 5 to 9, then 10 to the end. Each range becomes its own PDF. This is the right choice when the document has natural sections, such as chapters, parts or separate documents bound together. You decide where the cuts fall, and the converter makes one file per range.
How to describe a range
Ranges are written the way people usually write page ranges: a dash between the first and last page, as in 3-7, and commas between ranges. If you enter 1-3, 4-6, 7-10, you get three files of three, three and four pages. Check the range against the page numbers you see in your PDF reader, remembering that a printed page number inside the document may differ from the position of the page in the file.
What the split keeps
Each piece keeps its quality
When you split PDF files here, every page keeps its original size, its rotation and its quality. The pages are copied into the new files rather than redrawn, so nothing is blurred, resampled or re-compressed. Text stays selectable, images stay sharp, and a landscape page stays landscape. Each piece looks exactly like the corresponding pages did in the original.
Why copying matters
Some tools "print" the pages they want into a new file, which re-renders them and can turn selectable text into a picture. Copying pages preserves them precisely. The pieces you get behave like the original: you can search them, select text from them and zoom in without loss.
How the pieces are delivered
One ZIP archive
The pieces arrive together in a single ZIP archive. The reason is practical: a browser can hand over one file at a time, but not a whole folder. A ZIP packs all the pieces into one download, which you then open to reach the individual PDFs. Most computers and phones can open a ZIP with a tap or double-click.
What to do with the ZIP
Open it to extract the files. On a computer, you usually right-click and choose to extract all. On a phone, tap the archive and the files appear. The pieces are named in order, so they sort in the sequence of the original document. You can then rename, send or file each one as you like.
What is not carried over
Bookmarks and form fields
The page content is carried over; some of the extras attached to the original are not. Bookmarks, the outline in a PDF reader's side panel, do not come across to the pieces, and neither do interactive form fields. A filled-in form split out of a larger file will look the same, but its fields will no longer be fillable. If you need either, recreate them in a PDF editor afterwards.
Signed documents
A digital signature is bound to the exact contents of the file it was applied to. Once you split a signed PDF, the pieces are different files, and the signature no longer applies to them. If a document has to stay signed, do not split it; send it whole and point the reader to the pages that matter.
What a PDF is, and what it means to split PDF pages
A PDF is a document made of pages, each recording exactly where every letter and picture sits. That fixed record is why it looks the same on every device. To split PDF files, a program takes selected pages out of the original and writes them into new files, keeping the fixed record of each page intact. Done properly, nothing about a page changes: only the grouping does. The original remains whole and the new files contain exact copies of the pages you chose.
That is how this page works. It reads your PDF in the browser, copies the pages of each range into a new PDF and packs them into a ZIP. Because it copies instead of redrawing, you can split PDF documents of any kind, scanned or typed, large or small, and every page keeps its own text, images and dimensions.
Splitting versus extracting versus removing
Three related jobs are easy to confuse. To split PDF files means to produce several files from one. To extract pages means to produce one new file containing only the pages you name. To remove pages means to produce the same document minus some pages. Choose the one that matches your goal: if you want many files, split PDF; if you want one file of selected pages, extract; if you want everything except a few pages, remove.
Planning where to cut
Before you split PDF pages, look at the document and decide where the natural boundaries are. In a scanned bundle, each letter or form starts at a clear page. In a report, chapters usually start on a new page. In a contract with annexes, the main text ends and each annex begins afresh. Write down the first and last page of each part, using the page counter in your PDF reader.
If the document has a cover or a contents page, remember that the printed page numbers may not match the position of pages in the file. The page labelled 1 in the text may be the third page of the file. The ranges you give when you split PDF files refer to positions in the file, so always use the reader's counter.
One page per file or sections?
One page per file is best for batches of independent items. Sections are best when pages belong together. If you are unsure, split PDF pages one by one first; it is easy to merge the ones that belong together afterwards using the merge tool, whereas undoing a bad cut means starting again.
Privacy: sharing only what is needed
One of the best uses of splitting is data protection. When someone asks for proof of address, you rarely need to send the whole of a long statement; one page will do. When a client needs the signature page of a contract, they do not need the commercial terms. By choosing to split PDF files and send only the relevant pages, you share the minimum necessary, which is both courteous and safer.
Check the pages you send before you attach them. A single page can still contain more than you intended, such as account numbers, addresses or other people's names. Because you work on your own device, you can split PDF pages, look at the result and still decide not to send it, without anything having been uploaded.
Redacting is a different job
Splitting removes whole pages from the piece you send; it does not black out details on a page that stays. If a page you need to send contains information you must hide, you need a redaction tool rather than a split. Keep that distinction in mind, so you do not assume a page is clean just because it came from a split.
How to split PDF files here
Add your PDF
Drop the PDF onto the page, or pick it from your device. It is read inside your browser and is not uploaded.
Choose how to split
Decide whether you want every page on its own or specific ranges. If you want ranges, type them in. Take a moment to check them against the actual number of pages in the file.
Split and open the archive
Press the button and download the ZIP. Open it, and check that the number of files is what you expected and that each one starts and ends on the right page.
Tips for a clean split
Look at the page numbers first
Open the PDF and note where each section starts, using the reader's own page counter. Printed numbers in the document can be offset by a cover or a contents page, so the page you call "page 5" may be the sixth in the file.
Fix orientation first
If some pages are the wrong way up, rotate them before you split, so every piece reads correctly.
Keep the original
Splitting never changes your original file, but keep it anyway. If you later discover a cut in the wrong place, you can split the original again.
Questions people ask before splitting
Is the quality affected?
No. Pages are copied with their original size, rotation and quality. Nothing is redrawn.
Why do the pieces come as a ZIP?
Because a browser can deliver one file at a time, not a folder. A ZIP gathers all the pieces into a single download.
Can I extract just a few pages instead?
Yes. If you only want certain pages in one new file, use extract pages from PDF, which keeps the pages you name. To go the other way and drop pages, use remove pages from PDF.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The split runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device.
Who needs to split PDF files
Offices and administrators
A scanner often produces one long PDF for a whole batch. Splitting it into single pages, or into one file per document, makes filing practical.
Anyone sharing part of a document
You can split PDF pages out and share only the part the other person needs, which is safer than sending a whole file full of unrelated details.
Students and authors
Long documents become separate chapters, or are cut to fit an upload limit. If a piece is still too large afterwards, compress it.
Common mistakes
Wrong page ranges
The most frequent slip is miscounting pages. Check each range against the reader's counter, not against printed page numbers.
Splitting a signed document
Doing so breaks the signature. Keep signed files whole.
Expecting bookmarks to survive
Bookmarks and form fields are not carried over. Plan to recreate them if you need them.
Related tools
Splitting has natural partners. Merge PDF does the opposite and joins several files into one. If your pieces need numbering, add page numbers to each, and if any should be protected, add a password. To turn pages into pictures, convert PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG, and to sign a finished piece, use sign PDF.
When to split PDF files, and when not to
Splitting is right when the parts have different destinations or need different treatment. It is the wrong move when the document is a single story that people need to read as a whole, or when it is signed and must stay intact. If you only need a few pages from a long file, extracting them into one new PDF is simpler than splitting the whole thing into many. And if the problem is only file size, compressing a PDF may be a better answer than cutting it up.
For the common cases, such as a batch of scans, a report in sections, a form with an upload limit or a bundle that needs to be filed apart, it is quick, private and exact to split PDF files in the browser. Your original is never changed, so you can come back and split PDF pages differently whenever you like.
Naming the pieces
The pieces come out in order, but their names will be generic. Rename them as soon as you open the ZIP, using a pattern that tells you what each contains, such as the person, the date and the document type. A few seconds spent renaming right after you split PDF files saves a lot of confusion later, especially when there are dozens of pieces.
Splitting very large files
Everything runs on your own device, so very large PDFs depend on its memory. A hundred pages is no trouble. A thousand-page scan may be slow on an older phone. If a huge file struggles, split PDF pages in two stages: first cut it into a few large parts, then split each part further.
What if a piece is still too big?
If a piece exceeds an upload limit, compress the PDF or split it again into smaller ranges. Scanned pages and photographs are the usual cause of heavy files. Splitting into smaller sets of pages is a reliable way to get under a limit when compression alone is not enough.
Your file stays on your device
The split happens locally. Your PDF is read by your own browser, cut there and handed back as a ZIP. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no copy on a server and no one else who could see the contents. For contracts, financial documents and personal papers, that is the safe way to split PDF files.
A worked example
Say you have a scanned bundle of fifteen pages containing three documents: a five-page contract, a three-page invoice and a seven-page report. You drop the file here and ask for the ranges 1-5, 6-8 and 9-15. You press split and download a ZIP with three PDFs. You open it: the first has five pages, the second three, the third seven, each starting where it should. You rename them, and you can now send the invoice to accounts without the contract.
A short checklist before you split PDF files
Open the PDF and note where each part begins. Check orientation. Decide between single pages and ranges. Then split PDF files with one click, open the ZIP, and count the pieces. If you ever need a different cut, split PDF pages again from the original, because nothing about it has changed.
Before you close the page
Check that you downloaded the ZIP, that the pieces start and end on the right pages, and that you kept the original. If all three are true, the job of splitting the PDF is done.
Summary
To split PDF files here, drop the file, choose every page or your own ranges, and download the ZIP. Each piece keeps the original page size, rotation and quality, because pages are copied rather than redrawn. The pieces arrive as a ZIP, because a browser cannot hand over a folder. Bookmarks and form fields are not carried over. Nothing leaves your device.