Split PDF — Free Online Tool on Toolpile
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About Split PDF
Splitting a PDF is one of those operations everyone needs occasionally and nobody remembers how to do — "I just want pages 12-15" is a recurring problem in every office. Browser tools handle it well, but only if you understand the difference between extracting a range, splitting at every page, and using bookmarks as split points. Pick the wrong mode and you end up with 200 single-page files when you wanted three section files, or vice versa.
The word "split" gets used loosely. The three things people actually want: **extract a range** — pull pages 12-15 of a 100-page report into a new PDF, keeping the original intact (the most common case). **Split into chunks** — break a 200-page scan into 10 PDFs of 20 pages each, useful for email-size limits or chapter separation. **Burst** — output one PDF per page (one-page-per-file) — useful for pre-sorting before re-merging in a different order, or for individual-page approval workflows.
This tool offers all three. The default is extract-by-range because it's the most common — you specify `12-15` or `12,15,17,22` and get a single PDF containing those pages. Switch to chunk mode for fixed-size splits, or burst mode when you need every page as a separate file.
What none of these do: re-paginate, re-format, or change content. A split PDF preserves every page byte-for-byte, including fonts, images, annotations, hyperlinks. The output is the same content as the input, just with a different page-tree.
Almost every confusing split happens because of a mismatch between PDF page numbers (1-indexed, sequential, what the file knows) and document page numbers (what's printed on the page, often Roman numerals for front matter then Arabic for body, sometimes restarting at 1 in each section). When the title page says "page 1" but it's the 11th sheet of paper after a Roman-numeralled front matter, asking for "page 1" gets you the cover sheet, not the title page.
This tool always uses PDF page numbers — the absolute index of pages in the file, starting at 1 for the very first page (whatever's on it). If your document has front matter, count it: a 5-page front-matter (i, ii, iii, iv, v) means body "page 1" is PDF page 6. If you're not sure, open the PDF in any viewer and look at the page counter at the bottom — that's what to type here.
Range syntax: `1-5` = pages 1 through 5 inclusive (5 pages). `1,3,5` = pages 1, 3, and 5 only (3 pages). `1-3,7,10-12` = pages 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12 (7 pages). Spaces don't matter. Reverse ranges (`5-1`) error out — use `1-5` and reorder later if you need them out of sequence.
A clean split preserves more than just visible content. Things this tool keeps:
Why does the output have a different file size than I expected?
Splitting often produces sub-files smaller than (input size × pages-kept ÷ total-pages) because shared resources (fonts, embedded images repeated across pages) end up duplicated rather than shared between the splits. Conversely, when you extract a single page, the output keeps every font referenced by that page even if the page only uses two glyphs. Run through Compress PDF on the output if size matters.
Will it work on password-protected PDFs?
No — encrypted PDFs need decryption first. Run through PDF Unlock and then split the unlocked output. Both tools work in-browser; the source document never uploads.
What happens to bookmarks and the table of contents?
Bookmarks pointing at pages within the split range are preserved; bookmarks pointing at deleted pages are dropped (some tools keep them as broken targets, this one cleans them up). The top-level Table of Contents is rebuilt to match the new page count. If your source had a complex hierarchical TOC, expect simplification — the structure stays but indented levels can flatten.
Can I rearrange page order at the same time as splitting?
Yes — list pages in the order you want them. `5,3,1` produces a 3-page PDF with page 5 first, page 3 second, page 1 last. This is the cleanest way to extract-and-reorder in one step. For full reordering of an entire document, the Reorder PDF tool is purpose-built for that.
How big can the input PDF be?
Browser memory limits practical splitting to ~500 MB-1 GB. Past that, Chrome's per-tab budget pushes back. For massive scanned documents, use a desktop tool — split is one of the few PDF operations where the desktop options (qpdf, pdftk, Adobe Acrobat) are notably faster on huge files than browser-based approaches.