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Extract pages from a PDF: keep only the pages they ask for

The PDF Split tool builds one new PDF containing exactly the pages you type, for example 1-3,6. It does not create one file per page, and your original stays untouched.

When splitting beats sending the whole file

Portals and insurers rarely want the whole document. They ask for the signed pages of a contract, one chapter of a manual, the last three statements. Sending all 40 pages also sends the salary annex and the internal notes. Extract the four pages that were requested and the rest of the file stays your business.

Splitting also rescues oversized scans: pull the ten relevant pages out of a 200-page scan and the excerpt is small enough to email without any compression.

Steps

  1. Add one PDF and read its page count in the file card.
  2. Type the range: single pages and ranges mix freely, like 1-3,6,11-14. Leave the field empty to copy the whole document.
  3. Run it and compare the before/after page counts in the result panel.
  4. Open the download and check the first and last page against your list before you send it.

What catches people out

Printed page numbers are not PDF page numbers. The tool counts the PDF's own pages from 1. A scan whose cover sheet and title page sit in front of the content shifts everything: printed page 12 can be PDF page 14. Scroll to the page in your viewer and trust the viewer's counter, not the number printed in the footer.

Bookmarks mostly do not survive. Pages are copied, the outline is not rebuilt. Links inside the document that point to removed pages will jump nowhere in the excerpt. For a contract excerpt that rarely matters; for a manual, warn the reader.

Order is document order. Type 6,1-3 and the result still starts at page 1, because the pages are pulled in ascending order. If you need a different sequence, extract in two runs and reorder with PDF Merge.

Questions

Can it split into a separate file for every page? No. One run produces one file with the pages you selected. Two excerpts take two runs, which in practice is under a minute.

Does the excerpt shrink proportionally? Roughly, for scanned PDFs. Text PDFs share fonts and resources across pages, so a 3-page excerpt from a 30-page text file is bigger than a tenth of the original. That is normal PDF behaviour, not lost data.

Password-protected PDF? It cannot be opened here. Remove the password in the app that created it, then split.