How to Split a PDF Online for Free: Separate Pages or Page Ranges

If you're not technical: use the free online tool

If you're not a technical person and you're looking for a free way to split a PDF, use my online PDF splitter. Choose your document, select individual pages or custom ranges, and download the separate files. No installation or account is needed.

For example, you can turn one large scan into three documents instead of sending every page to everyone.

If you're technical and want to automate the same task, I'll show a JavaScript example after the steps.

How to split a PDF into separate pages

1. Open Split PDF and choose your document.
2. Select One file per page.
3. Select Apply.
4. Download the individual PDFs or the offered ZIP bundles.

A 12-page source produces 12 PDFs, each containing one page. That works well when a scan contains separate receipts or individual forms.

It is less convenient when each document spans several pages. For that, use ranges.

If you're technical: how it works

If you're technical, splitting can use the same page-copying operation as merging, with a separate output document for each group.

This example uses pdf-lib. Install it with npm install pdf-lib, save the code as split.mjs, and run node split.mjs beside an unencrypted input.pdf containing at least six pages:

import { PDFDocument } from 'pdf-lib';
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const source = await PDFDocument.load(await readFile('input.pdf'));
const groups = [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5]];
for (const [index, indices] of groups.entries()) {
  const part = await PDFDocument.create();
  const pages = await part.copyPages(source, indices);
  pages.forEach(page => part.addPage(page));
  await writeFile(`part-${index + 1}.pdf`, await part.save());
}

Library page indices start at zero. This example saves pages 1–3 and 4–6 into two files; it does not include later pages. A user-facing range parser needs validation so a typo does not silently omit intended content.

How to split a PDF by page ranges

Choose Custom ranges and enter the pages belonging to each output. A semicolon starts a new file.

For example:

1-3; 4-6; 7

That creates three PDFs:

• The first contains pages 1 through 3.
• The second contains pages 4 through 6.
• The third contains page 7.

You can also combine separated pages within one output:

1, 4-6; 2-3

Here the first PDF contains page 1 followed by pages 4, 5 and 6. The second contains pages 2 and 3.

Use the page position, not the printed number

This is an easy mistake to make with reports and books.

A document might have a cover, an unnumbered contents page and then a page labeled “1.” In the PDF, that labeled page is actually the third page.

Use the positions shown under the tool's thumbnails when defining ranges. Check the first and last page of each downloaded part before sharing it.

Splitting versus extracting pages

Use splitting when you want several output files from one document.

If you only want one smaller PDF containing selected pages, Extract PDF pages is a more direct choice.

For example, saving only pages 8–10 of a report is an extraction job. Breaking the report into separate chapters is a splitting job.

Will the pages lose quality?

The splitter copies pages into new PDFs without rendering them as images. Text and graphics retain their existing quality.

However, the sizes of all the parts added together can exceed the original file size. Separate PDFs may each need their own copy of shared resources such as fonts. Splitting is about separating content; it does not guarantee a particular file size.

Processing takes place in your browser. Large documents still need enough device memory, and large sets of results may be offered in multiple ZIP bundles.

Before splitting, decide where each document begins and ends. A clear page plan saves more time than sorting through a folder of incorrectly divided files afterward.

Have you ever received one giant scan that should have been several documents?