Split PDF
Break one PDF into several: one file per page, every few pages, or wherever you choose to cut.
or drop files anywhere on this page
Your files stay in this browser. Nothing is uploaded.
About Split by pages
Split PDF turns one file into several in your browser: cut after every page, every X pages, every even page, or at points you mark yourself on the page grid. The file is cut apart by code running in this tab and is never sent to a server. Reach for it when a scan holds unrelated sections that need to go out separately, or a form has to travel one page per person.
It only cuts along page boundaries and never edits page content. It does not read bookmarks or chapter titles for you. Add several files and each is split by the same rule (in Visually select pages, each file gets its own split points), with all the results returned in one ZIP.
How it works
- Add a PDF (or several).
- Choose how to split: Every page as its own PDF, Visually select pages, Split every X pages or Split every even page, then click Continue.
- For Split every X pages, enter how many pages each document should contain in the Split every box. The last document takes whatever is left over.
- For Visually select pages, click Split here under any page to cut right after it. Each colour in the grid is one output document.
- Check the line above the options, such as "3 documents will be produced.", then click Split.
- Download the results as a ZIP, or as a single file when the split makes only one document. Open Result file names to change how they are named.
How each way of splitting cuts the file
All four choices cut on page boundaries only.
- Every page as its own PDF: a 12-page file becomes 12 documents.
- Visually select pages: you decide. A cut goes after each page you mark, so marking pages 6 and 13 in a 20-page file gives pages 1-6, 7-13 and 14-20. A file's last page has no Split here button because nothing follows it. With no cut marked you get one document holding every page.
- Split every X pages: X starts at 2 and cannot go below 1. The final document holds the remainder, so 12 pages with X set to 5 gives 5, 5 and 2 pages.
- Split every even page: a new document begins after each even-numbered page, so 6 pages give three 2-page documents and 7 pages give those three plus a last one holding only page 7.
Naming and packaging the results
Result file names holds a pattern, [BASENAME]_[FILENUMBER] by default. Click a token to insert it: [BASENAME] is the source name without its extension, [FILENUMBER] counts documents in this run, [CURRENTPAGE] is the page a document starts on and [TIMESTAMP] is the date and time. The .pdf ending is added for you and characters unsafe in file names, such as slashes and colons, become hyphens. With [BASENAME]_from-page-[CURRENTPAGE], a 20-page scan.pdf cut after pages 6 and 13 gives scan_from-page-1.pdf, scan_from-page-7.pdf and scan_from-page-14.pdf.
The count in [FILENUMBER] does not restart for each source file, so a second file's first part continues the numbering. Two or more results are packed into a ZIP, named after the source file when you added one (scan.zip) and split-pdf-result.zip when you added several. The result screen also lists each document with its own download button.
What the parts do not inherit
Each part is a new document built from copies of its pages, so title and author are not copied, fillable form fields stop working as fields, and a part has no password even if the source had one. Bookmarks are the exception: unless you tick Discard bookmarks, an entry is kept in a part when the page it points to is in that part, and renumbered to that page's new position. An entry pointing into another part is left out, though a nested entry that does point into this part is kept. Bookmarks that use a named destination instead of a page are left out everywhere.
When to use another tool
Split cannot cut by typed page ranges, by file size or by bookmark. To pull one set of pages, such as 3-9 and 14, into a single new file, use Extract Pages. To remove pages instead, use Delete Pages. To put pieces back together or in a new order, use Merge or Organize.
Frequently asked questions
Not automatically. Split PDF works from page boundaries you choose (every page, every X pages, every even page) rather than reading the bookmark tree. To split at chapter starts, choose Visually select pages and click each page after which a chapter ends.
By default [BASENAME]_[FILENUMBER], for example report_1.pdf, report_2.pdf. Open Result file names to change the pattern; besides those two tokens you can insert [CURRENTPAGE], the page a document starts on, and [TIMESTAMP].
Yes. The same rule applies to every file you add, and in Visually select pages you mark cut points on each file's own pages. All the resulting documents come back together in one ZIP.
Bookmarks that point at a page kept in a given output file are carried over and repointed to that page's new number; bookmarks pointing at pages that ended up elsewhere are dropped from that file. Check Discard bookmarks if you would rather drop the outline everywhere.
No, there is no size-based split here. Split every X pages is the closest equivalent: pick a page count that keeps typical output files under the size you need.
No. The PDF is read and cut by code in your browser tab, using pdf.js for thumbnails and pdf-lib for the split, and it is never sent to a server. The browser does keep a Recent files list with a copy of each file under 5 MB until you clear it on the Recent files page.
Yes, with Visually select pages: the grid tints each page by which output document it will land in as you mark split points, so you can check the groupings before you click Split.
No. Pages are copied as they are into each new document; nothing is redrawn or recompressed.
Add the file, choose Every page as its own PDF, click Continue, then Split. A 30-page file makes 30 one-page PDFs, delivered as one ZIP.
Yes. Type its password into the field on the file's row and wait for Password OK, then choose how to split. The parts are saved without a password.
Related tools
This tool ran entirely in your browser and nothing was uploaded. Your Recent files list keeps a copy of local files under 5 MB until you clear it. How your files are handled.