How to Split a PDF Into Separate Pages (Free Methods That Actually Work)

I was helping my mom with her taxes last month when she handed me a PDF from her accountant. It was 47 pages long. She needed just the summary page and her W-2 forms — maybe 5 pages total. The rest was stuff I definitely didn't need to see.

"Can you just pull out the pages I need?" she asked.

Of course I said yes. Then I spent 20 minutes trying to remember which tool I used last time. Acrobat? Some random website? That one program that wanted me to create an account?

This is the problem with splitting PDFs. It should be simple. It is simple once you know how. But there are a million options, and half of them are traps designed to steal your email address or upload your private files to who-knows-where.

So here's the definitive guide. Every method I've actually used, ranked by how much I trust them with sensitive documents.

Why You Might Need to Split a PDF

Before we get into the how, let's talk about the why. Splitting PDFs comes up more often than you'd think:

• You scanned 20 documents at once and now need to separate them
• A client sent you a massive report but you only need your section
• You want to email just a few pages instead of a 50MB file
• You need to submit specific pages to different departments
• You're organizing personal records and want individual files for each document
• The PDF is too big for whatever upload limit you're dealing with

My personal most common use case? Bank statements. I download a year's worth at once, then split them into individual months for my records. Much easier to find "March 2025" when it's a separate file.

Method 1: Browser-Based Tools (My Go-To for Quick Jobs)

For most people, this is the fastest and easiest option. You open a website, drag your PDF in, select which pages you want to keep, and download the result. Takes under a minute.

The catch — and it's a big one — is privacy. When you use an online PDF tool, you're essentially handing your file to a stranger's server. For a grocery list? Whatever. For a tax document or contract? That's a problem.

That's why I built PeacefulPDF's split tool to work entirely in your browser. Your file never uploads anywhere. The splitting happens on your own computer using JavaScript. You can verify this by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads — it still works.

Here's how to split a PDF using a browser-based tool:

1. Go to the Split PDF tool
2. Upload your PDF (or drag and drop it)
3. Select which pages you want to extract — individually or in ranges
4. Choose whether to save them as one file or multiple separate files
5. Download your split PDF(s)

The whole process takes maybe 30 seconds. No software to install, no account to create, no "free trial" that secretly subscribes you to something.

Method 2: Preview on Mac (Built-In and Private)

Mac users, you already have a PDF splitter installed. Preview — yes, the same app you use to view images — can handle basic PDF manipulation, including splitting.

Here's the somewhat unintuitive process:

1. Open your PDF in Preview
2. Show the thumbnail sidebar (View → Thumbnails)
3. Command-click to select the pages you want to extract
4. Drag those pages to your desktop or a folder

Wait, that's it? Yep. Preview saves the dragged pages as a new PDF automatically. It's weird that there's no "Export Selected Pages" menu option, but the drag-and-drop method works fine once you know about it.

If you want to split into multiple individual files, you'll need to drag each page separately. A bit tedious for large jobs, but fine for a handful of pages.

The big advantage here is complete privacy. Your file never leaves your Mac. If I'm splitting something sensitive — legal documents, medical records, financial statements — this is usually my first choice.

Method 3: Adobe Acrobat (The Expensive Standard)

We have to talk about Acrobat because it's what most people think of when they hear "PDF editing." And yes, it works great for splitting PDFs. It's also $20+ per month, which is absurd for occasional use.

If you already have a subscription (maybe through work), here's how to split:

1. Open your PDF in Acrobat
2. Go to Tools → Organize Pages
3. Select the pages you want to extract
4. Click the Extract button
5. Choose whether to delete pages after extracting (or keep them)
6. Save the new file

Acrobat also has a "Split" tool that can automatically break a PDF into chunks — like every 5 pages, or by file size, or by bookmarks. That's genuinely useful for bulk processing. But again, only if you're already paying for it.

I cancelled my Acrobat subscription two years ago and haven't missed it for splitting PDFs. The free alternatives are good enough now.

Method 4: pdftk/qpdf Command Line (For Power Users)

Okay, this one's for the terminal crowd. But hear me out — if you ever need to split PDFs in bulk, command-line tools are life-changing.

I had a project last year where I needed to split 200 scanned documents, each containing 3-5 pages. Doing that through a GUI would have taken hours. With qpdf, it took about 10 minutes to write a script and run it.

Here's the basic qpdf command to extract specific pages:

qpdf input.pdf --pages input.pdf 1,3,5-7 -- output.pdf

That extracts pages 1, 3, and 5-7 into a new file. You can get much fancier — split every N pages, split on bookmarks, split by page ranges in a text file.

Install qpdf via Homebrew on Mac:

brew install qpdf

Or apt on Linux:

sudo apt install qpdf

Windows users can get it through Chocolatey or just download the binary.

Is this overkill for splitting one PDF once? Absolutely. But if you find yourself doing this regularly, learning the command line tools pays off fast.

Method 5: PDFtk (The Original Command-Line Tool)

Before qpdf, there was PDFtk. It's older, a bit clunkier, but still works everywhere. Here's the syntax to burst a PDF into separate single-page files:

pdftk input.pdf burst output page_%04d.pdf

That creates page_0001.pdf, page_0002.pdf, and so on. To extract specific pages:

pdftk input.pdf cat 1 3 5-7 output output.pdf

PDFtk is getting long in the tooth, and qpdf is generally faster and more reliable with modern PDFs. But PDFtk is available in more package managers and works on older systems. If qpdf gives you trouble, PDFtk is a solid fallback.

Common Mistakes When Splitting PDFs

Mistake 1: Using Random Online Tools for Sensitive Documents

I can't stress this enough. When you upload a PDF to a random "free PDF splitter" website, you don't know where that file goes. Many of these sites are data collection operations. Some explicitly say in their terms that they can use your uploaded files for "research purposes." Others are just sloppy with security.

If the document contains personal information, financial data, medical records, or anything confidential, either use a local tool or a browser-based one that processes client-side.

Mistake 2: Splitting Without Keeping a Backup

This one's bitten me before. You split a PDF, delete the original to save space, and later realize you extracted the wrong pages. Oops.

Always keep the original until you're sure the split worked correctly. PDF operations are generally safe, but mistakes happen. I usually keep originals for a week or so before cleaning them up.

Mistake 3: Forgetting About Metadata

Here's something most people don't know: PDFs contain metadata. Author name, creation date, editing software, sometimes even editing history. When you split a PDF, that metadata usually carries over to the new files.

If you're splitting a document for public distribution or to share with a client, you might want to clean that metadata first. Our metadata removal tool can strip out author info, creation dates, and other hidden data before you split.

Mistake 4: Not Checking the Page Order

When you split a PDF into multiple files, pay attention to how they're named. If you're extracting pages 5, 10, and 15, do you want them in a single file in that order? Or as three separate files?

Most tools default to keeping the original order within each output file, but the filename numbering might not match the original page numbers. Double-check before you send those files to anyone important.

Split vs. Extract: What's the Difference?

You'll see both terms used, and they're mostly interchangeable. But technically:

• Split usually means dividing a PDF into multiple parts, often sequentially (first 10 pages, next 10 pages, etc.)
• Extract usually means pulling specific pages out and saving them separately

Most tools can do both. When you "split" a PDF into individual pages, you're really extracting each page. When you "extract" pages 1-5 as a single file, you're really splitting off that section.

Don't worry too much about the terminology. Just look for a tool that lets you specify exactly which pages you want and how they should be organized in the output.

What About Merging After Splitting?

Sometimes you don't want to split a PDF into separate files — you want to rearrange it. Pull pages from the middle, move them to the end, delete a few pages in between.

For this workflow, you technically need both split and merge capabilities. Extract the pages you want, then recombine them in your preferred order.

Some tools (including ours) actually handle this as a single operation. You upload the PDF, rearrange the pages visually, delete the ones you don't want, and download the result. It's merging and splitting in one step.

The Bottom Line

Splitting PDFs is a basic operation that shouldn't require expensive software or risky uploads. For occasional use, a browser-based tool that processes locally is perfect. For regular work, learning qpdf or using Preview on Mac saves time and keeps your files private.

The key is matching the tool to the sensitivity of your document. Grocery list? Any online tool is fine. Tax return? Keep it local. Client contract? Definitely local. Your mom's tax documents? Local, always.

And please, keep backups until you're sure the split worked. It's a small habit that saves major headaches.