Split PDF
Pull out the pages you need, or cut a long document into pieces. Split by range, into equal chunks, or one file per page. It all happens in this browser tab, so the document is never uploaded — the same as the rest of the Switch Labs PDF tools.
Drop a PDF here
Splitting happens in this tab. Your document is never uploaded.
Three ways to split
By page range
The precise option. Each comma-separated entry becomes one file, so “1-3, 7, 10-” gives you three documents. Ranges may overlap if you want a page of context in two different sections. This is what you want when extracting a signed page from a contract, or splitting a report along its real chapter boundaries.
Every N pages
For documents with a regular structure: batches of invoices, statements, or scanned forms where each record is a fixed number of pages. A 60-page file at 3 pages per record becomes 20 files.
One file per page
The blunt option, and the right one when you are feeding pages into something else page by page. Everything arrives in a single ZIP.
Splitting is lossless. Compressing is not.
It is worth being clear about the difference, because people often reach for one when they need the other.
Splitting copies page objects from one document into another. Fonts, images, and vector artwork move across untouched, so a split page is identical to the page it came from. There is no quality setting because there is no quality decision to make.
Compressing removes information in exchange for bytes. If your problem is that a file is too large to email, splitting is often the better first move: send the ten pages someone actually needs rather than degrading all sixty. And the two combine well — split first, then compress only the part that is heavy.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The document is parsed and rewritten by pdf-lib running as JavaScript inside this browser tab, and the multi-file ZIP is built locally by JSZip. Nothing is transmitted at any point, so there is no server-side copy of your file.
How do I write page ranges?
Each comma-separated entry becomes one output file. Write 4 for a single page, 2-6 for a range, and 8- for page 8 through the end. So "1-3, 7, 10-" produces three files: pages 1 to 3, page 7 on its own, and page 10 to the last page.
Does splitting lose quality?
No. Pages are copied between documents as-is, keeping the original page objects, fonts, images, and vector content. Splitting is not a re-encode, so a split page is byte-for-byte as good as the page it came from.
Can pages appear in more than one output file?
Yes. Ranges are allowed to overlap, so "1-5, 3-8" gives you two files that share pages 3 to 5. That is useful when you are cutting a long document into sections that need a page of context on either side.
What happens to form fields, links, and bookmarks?
Page content, annotations, and links attached to the pages you keep come through. Document-level structure does not always survive a split cleanly: an outline entry that pointed at a page now in a different file has nothing to point at, and a form field wired to a script elsewhere in the document can lose its logic. If you are splitting an interactive form, check the outputs before you send them.
Why does this exist when there is already a file splitter?
Our file splitter divides CSV and Excel files by rows, which is a completely different job. Splitting a PDF means understanding page objects and the cross-reference table, not cutting a file into byte chunks. Chopping a PDF by bytes just produces two broken files.
The rest of the PDF toolkit
- Compress PDF — make the pieces smaller
- Merge PDF — the inverse operation
- Image to PDF — build a PDF from photos or scans
- PDF editor — reorder, rotate, and delete pages
- How this compares to iLovePDF
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