How to split a PDF
Breaking one document into several, when splitting is the right answer rather than extracting, and what each part keeps.
In short
Split produces several documents that together contain everything in the original. Use it for chapters or to get under a size limit; use Extract Pages instead when you only want a few pages.
Splitting divides one PDF into several files. Like merging, it copies page objects rather than re-rendering them, so nothing is lost.
Split or extract?
They sound similar and answer different questions. Split gives you several files that together still contain the whole document. Extract gives you one new file containing only the pages you picked, and leaves the rest behind.
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Chapters as separate files | Split |
| Several files each under a size limit | Split |
| Just pages 12–14 to send someone | Extract Pages |
| Everything except the blank pages | Delete Pages |
Splitting to beat a size limit
This is the honest alternative to compressing a text document. Compression would rasterise the pages and cost you the searchable text; splitting keeps every page exactly as it was and simply sends it in two emails.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Splitting when you only need a few pages — extracting is one step and one file.
- Splitting a document with internal links and expecting them to still work.
- Splitting evenly by page count when the natural boundaries are chapters.
Tools used in this guide
Related guides
How to extract pages from a PDF
Pulling out the pages you need, why it is often better than compressing, and the privacy point people miss.
1 min readpdfHow to merge PDF files
Combining documents into one, why the order matters more than people expect, and what survives the merge.
1 min readpdfHow to prepare a PDF for email
The real attachment limits, and the order of operations that gets a document under them without destroying what makes it useful.
1 min read