Quick answer: split a PDF in 3 steps
- Open the Split PDF tool and upload your file.
- Type the pages you want (like "1-3, 7") and click Extract Pages, or click Split All Pages to get every page as its own PDF.
- Your new file (or a ZIP of files) downloads to your device.
Two different things people mean by "split a PDF"
- Extracting specific pages: pulling out, say, pages 4–7 from a larger document to send on their own.
- Separating every page: turning a 100-page file into 100 single-page files, often to sort a batch scan into individual documents.
Decide which one you need before you start. It saves you from re-doing the job.
Common reasons to split a PDF
- Sharing only the relevant pages of a contract or report, without sending the whole document.
- Breaking a large scanned book or manual into chapter-sized files.
- Separating a multi-invoice PDF (like a batch scan) into one file per invoice.
- Getting under an upload size limit by sending a large document in smaller pieces.
Check your page numbers first
Page numbers printed on the page don't always match the PDF's real page count. A cover page or blank pages can shift things by one or more. Open the file, look at which page position you actually need, and use that number in the range box.
Does splitting affect quality?
No. Splitting copies the selected pages into new files without re-rendering or recompressing them, so the pages look identical to the original.
What if splitting isn't what you need?
- To throw pages away instead of keeping them, see how to remove pages from a PDF.
- To change the page order after splitting, see how to reorder PDF pages.
- If the file is too big to email, read how to reduce PDF file size for email.
- If the PDF asks for a password, follow how to unlock a PDF first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I split a PDF for free?
Yes. The PDFGuy Split PDF tool is free, needs no account, and runs inside your browser, so your file is never uploaded.
Can I split one page into two halves?
Splitting works on whole pages. To trim the visible area of a page, use the Crop PDF tool instead.
How do I put the pages back together?
Use Merge PDF to combine the split files into one document again.
Split your file now
The PDFGuy Split PDF tool lets you extract a page range or split every page, processed entirely in your browser.