How do I extract one page from a PDF?

Open an online PDF splitter tool, upload your PDF, select the page you want to extract, and download the result. Alternatively, use Print → 'Save as PDF' in your browser and set the page range to just that page. On macOS, open the PDF in Preview, show thumbnails, select the page, and drag it to your desktop.

Can I split a PDF into individual pages?

Yes. Most PDF splitting tools offer a 'split every page' option that creates a separate PDF for each page. With pdftk on the command line, use: pdftk input.pdf burst. This creates one PDF per page.

Does splitting a PDF reduce quality?

No. PDF splitting copies the page data without re-encoding or recompressing anything. The extracted pages are identical in quality to the original.

Can I split a password-protected PDF?

You'll need to unlock the PDF first. Use qpdf --decrypt or an online PDF unlocker, then split the resulting file. Some tools like Adobe Acrobat can split encrypted PDFs directly if you provide the password.

What's the difference between splitting and extracting pages?

They're essentially the same operation. 'Splitting' typically refers to dividing a PDF into multiple parts (e.g., chapters), while 'extracting' usually means pulling out specific pages. Both operations create new PDFs from the pages of an existing document.

How to Split a PDF: Extract Pages from Any PDF File

PDF Tools 2026-04-09 By Risetop Team 10 min read

You've received a 200-page PDF and only need pages 45–60. Or you want to email just one chapter of a report without sending the entire file. Or you need to separate a scanned document into individual pages for processing. In all these cases, you need to split a PDF — and it's easier than you might think.

This guide walks you through every way to split PDFs: quick online tools, free desktop software, command-line utilities for batch processing, and programming libraries for automated workflows.

Common Scenarios for Splitting PDFs

Extract a single page — Share just your certificate from a multi-page training document
Split by chapter — Break a textbook into individual chapters for students
Separate forms — Extract individual tax forms from a combined filing
Email size limits — Split a large PDF into smaller chunks that fit email attachment limits
Process scanned documents — Split a multi-page scan into individual images or single-page PDFs for OCR processing
Remove sensitive pages — Extract the non-sensitive portion before sharing a document

Method 1: Online PDF Splitter (Easiest)

Online tools handle most splitting tasks in seconds with zero installation. Here's how to use one:

Step-by-Step: Splitting a PDF Online

Upload your PDF — Go to the PDF split tool and drag your file into the upload area
Choose your split method:
- Extract specific pages: Enter page numbers or ranges (e.g., "1, 3, 5-8")
- Split by ranges: Divide into chunks of N pages each
- Split every page: Create one PDF per page
Click "Split" — The tool processes your request instantly
Download the result — Save the extracted pages as a new PDF (or multiple PDFs)

💡 Pro tip: Browser-based PDF splitters that use JavaScript (like Risetop's tool) process your file locally. Your document never leaves your computer — ideal for confidential files like contracts, medical records, or financial statements.

Method 2: Desktop Software

macOS Preview

Preview on macOS makes splitting incredibly simple:

Open the PDF in Preview
Show the thumbnails sidebar (View → Thumbnails)
Select the pages you want to extract (click + Shift for range, or Cmd + click for non-contiguous)
Drag the selected thumbnails to your desktop — they become a new PDF

Adobe Acrobat

Open the PDF in Acrobat
Go to Tools → Organize Pages
Select the pages you want to extract
Click Extract and choose whether to delete the extracted pages from the original
Save the new file

PDF Arranger (Free, Cross-Platform)

PDF Arranger provides a visual interface for splitting, rotating, deleting, and rearranging PDF pages:

# Install
sudo apt install pdfarranger    # Linux
brew install --cask pdfarranger  # macOS

Split your PDF in seconds — no signup, no download, no watermark.

Split PDF Online →

Method 3: Command Line

pdftk

# Extract specific pages
pdftk input.pdf cat 1 3 5-8 output extracted.pdf

# Extract a range
pdftk input.pdf cat 10-25 output chapter2.pdf

# Split every single page into individual PDFs
pdftk input.pdf burst

# Split into chunks of 5 pages each
pdftk input.pdf cat 1-5 output part1.pdf
pdftk input.pdf cat 6-10 output part2.pdf

qpdf

# Extract pages 1-10
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1-10 -- output.pdf

# Extract pages 1, 3, 5
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1,3,5 -- output.pdf

# Split into individual pages
qpdf input.pdf --split-pages -- output_page_

Ghostscript

# Extract pages 5-10 with size optimization
gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -dFirstPage=5 -dLastPage=10 \
   -sOutputFile=extracted.pdf input.pdf

Method 4: Programming

Python — PyPDF2

from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

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

# Extract pages 10-25 (0-indexed: 9-24)
for page_num in range(9, 25):
    writer.add_page(reader.pages[page_num])

with open("chapter2.pdf", "wb") as f:
    writer.write(f)

Python — Split into individual pages

from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")

for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
    writer = PdfWriter()
    writer.add_page(page)
    with open(f"page_{i+1}.pdf", "wb") as f:
        writer.write(f)

JavaScript — pdf-lib

const { PDFDocument } = require('pdf-lib');
const fs = require('fs');

async function extractPages(inputFile, pageNumbers, outputFile) {
  const bytes = await fs.promises.readFile(inputFile);
  const pdf = await PDFDocument.load(bytes);
  const newPdf = await PDFDocument.create();

  const pages = await newPdf.copyPages(pdf,
    pageNumbers.map(n => n - 1) // convert to 0-indexed
  );
  pages.forEach(page => newPdf.addPage(page));

  const result = await newPdf.save();
  await fs.promises.writeFile(outputFile, result);
}

extractPages('report.pdf', [1, 2, 3], 'intro.pdf');

Advanced Splitting Techniques

Split by bookmarks

Many PDFs (especially reports and textbooks) have bookmarks that mark chapters or sections. You can split based on these bookmarks using pdftk:

# Dump bookmark info to see page numbers
pdftk input.pdf dump_data | grep BookmarkPageNumber

# Then extract based on the page numbers you find
pdftk input.pdf cat 1-15 output chapter1.pdf
pdftk input.pdf cat 16-30 output chapter2.pdf

Split by file size

When you need to meet email attachment limits, split by approximate file size:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
import os

input_pdf = "large_file.pdf"
max_size_mb = 20
max_size_bytes = max_size_mb * 1024 * 1024

reader = PdfReader(input_pdf)
current_writer = PdfWriter()
current_size = 0
part = 1

for page in reader.pages:
    test_writer = PdfWriter()
    test_writer.add_page(page)
    import io
    buf = io.BytesIO()
    test_writer.write(buf)
    page_size = buf.tell()

    if current_size + page_size > max_size_bytes and len(current_writer.pages) > 0:
        with open(f"part_{part}.pdf", "wb") as f:
            current_writer.write(f)
        part += 1
        current_writer = PdfWriter()
        current_size = 0

    current_writer.add_page(page)
    current_size += page_size

if len(current_writer.pages) > 0:
    with open(f"part_{part}.pdf", "wb") as f:
        current_writer.write(f)

Preserving Quality and Metadata

PDF splitting is a lossless operation — it copies page data without re-encoding. However, be aware of these details:

Fonts: If a page uses a subset-embedded font and you extract just that page, the font subset travels with it. No quality loss.
Bookmarks: Basic splitting often removes bookmarks. Use pdftk's dump_data/update_info to remap them, or PyMuPDF which preserves them better.
Form fields: Interactive form fields may lose their connection to the rest of the document. Test after splitting.
Links: Internal links between pages may break when pages are extracted separately.

Extract the pages you need — fast, free, and private.

Try PDF Splitter →

Conclusion

Splitting PDFs is straightforward once you know your options. For a quick extraction of a few pages, an online PDF splitter is the fastest route. For batch processing or automation, pdftk and qpdf on the command line are unbeatable. And for integration into applications, libraries like PyPDF2 and pdf-lib give you full programmatic control.

The most important consideration is privacy: when working with sensitive documents, always prefer tools that process files locally — either desktop software, command-line tools, or browser-based tools that use JavaScript without uploading to a server.