How to Split a PDF Into Separate Pages

Someone sends you a 47-page PDF. You need three pages from it. Maybe it's a contract and you only want the signature page. Maybe it's a research paper and you just need the methodology section. Maybe it's a bank statement and you need to send one month to your accountant without sharing the other eleven.

Whatever the reason, you need to split a PDF. And you'd rather not install Acrobat, pay $20/month, or download sketchy software to do it.

Good news: it's genuinely easy in 2026. Let's walk through your options.

Why Splitting PDFs Is More Useful Than You Think

Most people think of PDF splitting as a niche task. But once you know how, you'll find yourself doing it constantly:

• Sending specific sections of a long document to colleagues
• Extracting invoices from a combined monthly statement
• Pulling out forms from a packet (like just the W-9 from a 30-page onboarding PDF)
• Breaking up scanned documents that were batched into one file
• Reducing file size by removing pages you don't need before emailing

It's one of those tools that feels unnecessary until you use it once. Then you wonder how you ever lived without it.

Method 1: Split a PDF Online (Fastest)

The quickest way to split a PDF is with an online tool. No downloads, no accounts (in most cases), and it works on any device with a browser.

Here's the general process:

1. Upload your PDF to an online PDF tool
2. Select which pages you want to extract (individual pages, ranges, or split into single pages)
3. Download the result — either as separate files or a new combined PDF with just your selected pages

The whole thing takes about 30 seconds for a typical document.

What to Look For in an Online PDF Splitter

Not all tools are created equal. Here's what matters:

• No forced signup — you shouldn't need to create an account to split a PDF
• Privacy — your files should be processed and deleted, not stored indefinitely
• No watermarks — some "free" tools slap their logo on your output
• Page selection flexibility — you want to pick individual pages, ranges (1-5, 8, 12-15), or split every page into its own file
• Speed — large PDFs shouldn't take forever

OnlyDocs handles all of this. Upload, select your pages, download. No watermarks on the output, no signup required for basic splits, and your files aren't stored on our servers after processing.

Method 2: Use Your Browser's Print Function

This is the "no tools needed" approach, and it works surprisingly well for simple splits.

Chrome, Edge, or Brave:

1. Open the PDF in your browser (drag it into a tab)
2. Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac)
3. Change the destination to "Save as PDF"
4. Under Pages, select "Custom"
5. Type the page range you want (e.g., 3-7 or 1, 4, 9)
6. Click Save

That's it. You've just created a new PDF with only the pages you specified.

Limitations:

• You can only extract one range at a time (no splitting into multiple files in one go)
• Some PDFs with complex formatting or interactive elements may not render perfectly
• Bookmarks and links won't carry over
• It's manual — if you need to split a 100-page doc into individual pages, this gets tedious fast

For one-off simple splits, though? This is hard to beat.

Method 3: Preview on Mac

If you're on a Mac, Preview (the built-in PDF viewer) can split PDFs natively.

1. Open the PDF in Preview
2. Go to View → Thumbnails to see all pages in the sidebar
3. Select the pages you want (click one, then Cmd+click others, or Shift+click for a range)
4. Drag the selected pages out of Preview onto your Desktop

Each page becomes its own PDF file. Or, if you want a combined PDF of just those pages:

1. Select your pages in the sidebar
2. Go to File → Print
3. Choose "Save as PDF" from the PDF dropdown

Preview is genuinely underrated for basic PDF tasks. No internet, no extra software, completely free.

Method 4: Command Line (For the Technical Crowd)

If you're comfortable with the terminal, there are powerful free tools for splitting PDFs.

Using pdftk (PDF Toolkit):

# Extract pages 1-5
pdftk input.pdf cat 1-5 output pages1-5.pdf

# Extract specific pages
pdftk input.pdf cat 1 3 5 7 output selected.pdf

# Split every page into its own file
pdftk input.pdf burst

Using qpdf:

# Extract pages 3-7
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 3-7 -- output.pdf

# Split into individual pages
qpdf input.pdf --split-pages output-%d.pdf

Using Python (PyPDF2):

from PyPDF2 import PdfReader, PdfWriter

reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter()

# Add pages 2-4 (0-indexed)
for page_num in range(1, 4):
    writer.add_page(reader.pages[page_num])

with open("output.pdf", "wb") as f:
    writer.write(f)

These are great for batch processing or scripting. If you need to split 500 PDFs the same way, a command-line approach beats clicking through a web UI every time.

Method 5: Mobile (iPhone & Android)

Need to split a PDF on your phone? Here's what works:

iPhone/iPad:

• Files app → Open PDF → Share → Print → pinch-to-zoom on the preview to create a new PDF (this is the same print-to-PDF trick as desktop)
• For more control, use an app like OnlyDocs in your mobile browser

Android:

• Google Drive → Upload PDF → Open → Print → Save as PDF with selected pages
• Or use any browser-based tool (same as desktop, just on your phone)

Mobile PDF splitting has gotten much better. You don't need a dedicated app anymore — browser-based tools work fine on phones.

Tips for Better PDF Splitting

A few things I've learned from splitting hundreds of PDFs:

Check your output. After splitting, open the result and make sure all pages came through correctly. Occasionally, PDFs with unusual page sizes or embedded fonts can cause issues.

Watch the file size. A 50MB PDF doesn't become 1MB just because you extracted one page. If that page has high-res images, it'll still be large. You might want to compress the result afterward.

Preserve the original. None of these methods modify the source PDF, but it's still good practice to keep the original intact. You might need those other pages later.

Page ranges are flexible. Most tools accept formats like: 1-5 (range), 1,3,5 (specific pages), 1-3,7,10-12 (mixed). Learn the syntax for your preferred tool and you'll be much faster.

Batch splitting is a thing. If you regularly receive combined PDFs that need splitting (like monthly statement bundles), look into tools that can automate this. Command-line tools or services with APIs can save hours over time.

When You Need More Than Just Splitting

Sometimes splitting is just step one. You might need to:

• Merge the split pages with pages from another document
• Reorder pages before sharing
• Add page numbers to the extracted section
• Annotate specific pages before sending

That's where a full-featured PDF editor comes in handy. Instead of using four different tools for four different tasks, you can handle everything in one place.

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✂️ Need to split a PDF right now? OnlyDocs lets you split, merge, and edit PDFs directly in your browser — no downloads, no watermarks, no account required. Just upload and go.

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The Bottom Line

Splitting a PDF is a solved problem in 2026. You don't need expensive software, and you definitely don't need to screenshot individual pages (yes, people still do this).

For quick, one-off splits: use the browser print trick or Preview on Mac. For anything more complex or frequent: use an online tool like OnlyDocs or go command-line if you're technical. Either way, it takes less than a minute.

Your 47-page PDF doesn't stand a chance.