How to Split a PDF by Custom Page Selections in Google Colab

With Python, PyMuPDF, and Google Colab, you can easily extract specific pages from a PDF and save them as a new PDF. This is useful when you need to extract individual chapters, sections, or selected pages.

1. Install PyMuPDF

Run this cell first:

%pip install -q -U pymupdf

2. Upload your PDF

Import Google Colab's file upload tool and select your PDF:

from google.colab import files
uploaded = files.upload()

if not uploaded:
  raise ValueError("No PDF was uploaded.")

input_pdf = next(iter(uploaded))

3. Open the PDF

Import PyMuPDF and open the uploaded file:

import pymupdf
doc = pymupdf.open(input_pdf)

Note: PyMuPDF uses zero-based page indexing.
Page 1 = index 0
Page 2 = index 1
Page 3 = index 2

4. Select the pages to extract

Specify the pages you want to extract.
For example, this selects pages 1, 3, and 5:

pages = [0, 2, 4]

5. Create a new PDF

Create a new PDF and copy the selected pages into it:

output = pymupdf.open()

for page_number in pages:
  output.insert_pdf(
      doc,
      from_page=page_number,
      to_page=page_number

)

output.save("selected_pages.pdf")

output.close()

doc.close()

6. Download the new PDF

Once the PDF has been created, download it to your computer:

files.download("selected_pages.pdf")

Complete Example

%pip install -q -U pymupdf

from google.colab import files
uploaded = files.upload()

if not uploaded:
  raise ValueError("No PDF was uploaded.")

input_pdf = next(iter(uploaded))

import pymupdf
doc = pymupdf.open(input_pdf)

pages = [0, 2, 4]

output = pymupdf.open()

for page_number in pages:
  output.insert_pdf(
      doc,
      from_page=page_number,
      to_page=page_number

)

output.save("selected_pages.pdf")

output.close()

doc.close()

files.download("selected_pages.pdf")

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Open the notebook

Open the Google Colab notebook for this PDF mini-guide and run the code as you follow along.

[Open in Google Colab]

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This mini-guide was originally published on PDF Python Hub, where you can find more in-depth Python resources for working with PDFs.

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More PDF Python Resources

Want to learn how to Split a PDF into Separate PDF Pages in Google Colab?

Check out this mini-guide: How to Split a PDF into Separate PDF Pages in Google Colab.