Split PDF files

Splitting copies pages — it never re-prints them

A PDF is a container of page objects, each pointing at its own text runs, embedded fonts, and image or vector content. When you split here, the tool copies the page objects you selected — together with the resources they reference — into a brand-new document. It does not rasterize anything or re-encode the streams, so the output is byte-for-byte as crisp as the source: text stays selectable and searchable, fonts stay embedded, and a 600-DPI scan loses none of its detail. That is the key difference from "printing to PDF" or screenshotting a page, both of which flatten everything to pixels. The whole operation runs locally with a bundled copy of pdf-lib, so a confidential contract or medical record is never uploaded.

Two ways to split: extract a range, or burst every page

Extract pulls a subset into a single new PDF. The range box takes comma-separated pages and ranges like 1-3, 5, 8-10, and it honours the order you type — so 5, 1, 2 produces a file with page 5 first. That makes it handy for lifting one chapter out of a report or isolating the signed page of an agreement. One PDF per page bursts the document apart instead, saving each page as its own numbered single-page file — ideal for breaking a scanned stack into one file per invoice or per form. Because each page downloads separately in burst mode, your browser may ask permission to save multiple files at once; allow it, and every page lands in your downloads folder.

Split, merge, organize — and a note on encryption

Splitting is about taking pages out. To put files together, the merge PDF tool joins several documents into one; to shuffle, rotate, or drop pages within a single file, the PDF organizer rebuilds it visually; and to turn pages into images, try PDF to JPG. One limitation to know: a password-protected PDF cannot be read in the browser at all. Open it in a viewer, re-save it without the password, and then split the unprotected copy.