Split PDF files online

This tool offers two ways to split a PDF, so it works whether you want to keep a handful of pages or carve a whole document into pieces. Drop your file in once, then switch between modes with the toggle above the page thumbnails — your file stays loaded in the browser the whole time, and nothing is re-uploaded when you change your mind about how to split it.

1. Add your PDF. Drag and drop a single file onto the box above, or click to browse. Every page renders as a thumbnail a moment later, so you can see exactly what you're working with before you commit to a split.
2. Choose a mode. Use Extract pages to pull specific pages into one new PDF, or Split by range to cut the document into several separate PDFs at once. You can switch between the two as many times as you like — the source file and rendered thumbnails stay put.
3. Pick your pages. In extract mode, click thumbnails to select them, or type a range like 1-3, 5, 8-10 into the text box — the two stay in sync, so clicking updates the text and typing updates the selected thumbnails. In split-by-range mode, type each range separated by a comma, such as 1-3, 4-6, to define the boundaries of each output file.
4. Download. Extract mode gives you one combined PDF. Split-by-range mode gives you a separate download for every range, plus a single button to grab them all at once as a .zip file.

The whole process usually takes well under a minute, even for documents running to a hundred pages or more. Because thumbnails stream in as pdf.js finishes rendering each one, you don't have to wait for the entire document to load before you start clicking — you can begin selecting the first few pages while the rest of the file is still being processed in the background.

Extract mode is built for the common case of pulling a subset of pages out of a longer document. It's the mode you want when the output is a single file, not several.

1. Click any thumbnail to select it. Selected pages get a brand-colored ring around the thumbnail and a checkmark badge in the corner, so it's always obvious at a glance which pages are included.
2. Click a selected thumbnail again to deselect it. There's no limit to how many pages you can select, and you can select them in any order — the extracted PDF always keeps pages in their original document order regardless of the order you clicked them in.
3. Prefer typing over clicking? Use the range text box instead. Typing 1-3, 5, 8-10 instantly selects pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 10, and the matching thumbnails light up immediately.
4. Use Select all to check every page at once, then click off the few you don't want — often faster than clicking each page you do want, especially on long documents where you're only removing a handful of pages.
5. Use Select none to clear the selection and start over without reloading the file.
6. When you're happy with the selection, click Extract. The tool copies the selected pages into a brand-new PDF and gives you a download button.

Split-by-range mode is built for the opposite scenario: turning one PDF into several. It's the right choice whenever the end goal is more than one output file.

1. Type your ranges into the text box, separated by commas — for example 1-3, 4-6, 7-10 to split a ten-page document into three chunks.
2. As you type, the tool previews how many output files your ranges will produce and lists them, so you can double-check the split before generating anything.
3. Click Split into files. The tool builds one independent PDF per range using pdf-lib, each containing only the pages inside that range.
4. Every output shows its page range and page count — for example “Pages 1-3 (3 pages)” — so you can confirm each file has the pages you expect before downloading.
5. Download files one at a time with the individual download buttons, or click Download all as .zip to get every output bundled into a single archive in one click.

Ranges don't have to be contiguous across the whole document and they're allowed to overlap if you want the same page to appear in more than one output file — the tool doesn't enforce that ranges are mutually exclusive, since there are legitimate reasons to want a shared page in two different files.

The two modes solve slightly different problems, and picking the right one up front saves you an extra step later.

• Extract pages is for when you want one output file that contains only the pages you care about — for example, pulling pages 3, 7, and 12-15 out of a 40-page report into a single new PDF. Click any number of thumbnails, in any order, and they'll appear in the final file in page order.
• Split by range is for when you want to break a document apart into multiple files — for example, turning a 30-page scanned book into three 10-page chapters, or separating a bundle of signed contracts back into individual agreements. Each range you type becomes its own downloadable PDF.

A simple way to decide: if you can describe what you want in a single sentence starting with “I just need” and it ends in one file, use extract mode. If your sentence is closer to “I need to break this into” and involves more than one file, use split-by-range mode. Both modes read from the same rendered pages, so switching between them mid-task doesn't require re-uploading the file — your selections and any generated output simply reset for the new mode.

Most free “split PDF” websites work by uploading your document to a remote server, splitting it there, and sending the result back. That's an unnecessary risk when the file in question is a signed contract, a medical record, a tax document, or anything else you wouldn't want passing through a third party you don't control — you have no visibility into how long the file is retained, who can access it, or whether it's deleted afterward. This tool takes a different approach: every page render and every split happens locally on your device, using the open-source pdf.js and pdf-lib libraries running directly in your browser tab. Your PDF never leaves your computer.

• Private by design — nothing is uploaded, stored, or logged on any server, so there's nothing to leak, subpoena, or accidentally expose.
• No limits — split as many pages and files as your device's memory allows, with no daily cap and no paywall behind a handful of free uses.
• No watermark — every output PDF is clean, exactly like the source document, with no added branding or diagonal stamp across the page.
• Fast — thumbnails stream in as each page renders, so you don't wait for the whole document before you can start selecting pages.
• Works offline — once the tool has loaded, you can disconnect from the internet and it keeps working, which is handy on a flight or in a low-signal office.
• No account required — there's no sign-up wall, no email capture, and no plan to pick before you can use the tool.

Splitting comes up more often than people expect, mostly because so many PDFs arrive already bundled in a way that doesn't match what you actually need to do with them. Here are some of the most common situations where this tool saves real time.

• Contracts & agreements — pull out just the signature page, or separate a master agreement into individual exhibits so each party gets only the section relevant to them.
• Reports & books — break a long document into chapters or sections that are easier to share, review, or send to different stakeholders.
• Scanned documents — split a batch scan of several forms or receipts back into one file per document, which is common when a scanner or phone app combines everything into a single PDF by default.
• Invoices & statements — extract a single month or a single invoice out of a combined PDF your bank or vendor sends as one large annual file.
• Applications & submissions — trim a large PDF down to only the pages a form or portal asks for, when the portal enforces a strict page or file-size limit.
• Removing pages — select everything except the pages you don't want, and extract the rest into a clean copy, which is often quicker than deleting pages one by one in a heavier desktop editor.
• Legal discovery & case files — divide a large exhibit bundle into the individual documents it was assembled from, so each can be labeled and filed separately.
• Course materials & handouts — split a semester-long course pack into individual weekly readings for students.

Because it runs entirely client-side and needs nothing beyond a modern browser, this split PDF tool tends to get used by a wide range of people for very different reasons. Freelancers and small business owners use it to slice client-ready deliverables out of larger working documents without installing desktop software. Legal and HR teams use it to separate combined document bundles into individually filed records, often for compliance reasons that make uploading those files to an unknown third-party server a non-starter. Students and researchers use it to pull specific chapters or figures out of long PDFs for citation or study. Developers and technical writers use it to break up long specification documents into shareable sections. And plenty of people simply use it once, for a one-off task like getting a single page out of a scanned form, and never think about it again — which is exactly the kind of job a free, no-installation browser tool is best suited for.

Both modes use the same simple range syntax, so once you've typed a range in one place, it works everywhere else in the tool too.

• Single pages — list individual page numbers separated by commas, like 1, 4, 9.
• Page ranges — use a hyphen to select a run of consecutive pages, like 5-12.
• Mixed lists — combine both in one input, like 1-3, 5, 8-10, and the tool resolves them into the correct set of pages.
• Order doesn't matter for extraction — whatever you type or click, the extracted output always keeps pages in their original document order.
• Out-of-range numbers are ignored — if your PDF has 20 pages and you type 1-25, only pages 1 through 20 are used.

• Scroll through the thumbnails first to confirm the page count and orientation before you commit to a range — it's much easier to spot a miscounted page visually than by guessing from a page number alone.
• In extract mode, use Select all then click to deselect the few pages you don't want — it's often faster than clicking every page you do want, especially when you're removing only a small handful from a long document.
• If a range in split-by-range mode overlaps another, both output files will include the shared pages — that's expected, not a bug, and it's useful when a page like a cover sheet needs to appear in more than one output.
• If your file fails to load, it may be password-protected. Remove the password in a PDF reader first, save a copy, and try again — the tool can't read encrypted content without the password being removed beforehand.
• For a large batch of outputs from split-by-range mode, use the single .zip download instead of saving each file one at a time — it's faster and keeps your downloads folder tidy.
• Double-check the page count shown next to each output (like “3 pages”) before you rely on the file — a quick glance confirms the range you typed matches what you intended.
• If you only need to remove one or two pages from the start or end of a document, extract mode with Select all followed by a couple of deselects is usually quicker than typing out a long range.

Splitting and merging are two sides of the same problem: reshaping a PDF's pages into a better structure for whatever you need to do next. If you have several separate PDFs that you want combined into one document — say, a cover letter, a résumé, and a portfolio — use the merge PDF tool instead. If you need a PDF's pages as individual images, the PDF to JPG tool converts each page to a downloadable image rather than another PDF, which is handy for slides or thumbnails rather than documents.

You can also use these tools together as a small workflow: split a large document down to just the pages you need with this tool, then merge those extracted pages with other files to build a new combined PDF — for example, pulling the relevant chapter out of a long report and merging it with a cover page and a summary you drafted separately. Because both tools run entirely in the browser and produce standard PDF output, you can chain them freely without ever uploading a file to a server in between.