Split a PDF

Break one PDF into single pages, or pull out just the pages you need — in your browser, so the document never leaves your device.

Runs on your device. Your file is never uploaded.

How to split a PDF

1
Choose the PDF
Tap the picker and choose a PDF from your phone, tablet or computer. It is read straight into the page, so there is no upload and no progress bar to wait on. As soon as it is read, the tool shows how many pages the document has.
2
Pick how it should be split
Choose 'Every page separately' to turn a 12-page document into 12 one-page PDFs — up to 100 pages at a time — or 'Just these pages' to keep only the pages you name and get a single new PDF containing them. Longer documents still work in 'Just these pages', which has no page limit.
3
Type the pages you want to keep
If you picked 'Just these pages', type a range like 1-3, 7 to keep pages 1, 2, 3 and 7. Single pages, ranges and both together are all accepted, and the range is checked against the real page count as you type, so a page that does not exist is caught before anything runs.
4
Split and download
Press the button and the new files appear in a list, named after the original — report.pdf becomes report-page-1.pdf, report-page-2.pdf and so on. Download them one at a time, or use Download all when there is more than one. Extracting a range gives you a single file instead.
5
Send the result on, if you need to
Splitting often exists to make something small enough to send. If the result still needs to reach someone, turn it into a shareable link with a QR code instead of attaching it, so nobody has to download anything to read it.

Your file never leaves your device

Most online PDF splitters upload your document to a server, split it there, and hand back a download link. For a contract, a payslip or a medical scan that is a real difference: your file sat on somebody else’s machine, and you are trusting a retention policy you cannot check.

This tool works the other way round. The page loads a PDF library into your browser, and the file you pick is read into that tab’s memory and rewritten there. No request carries your document, nothing is written to storage, and closing the tab is all the cleanup there is. The practical test: load this page, go offline, and split a file anyway — it still works, which would be impossible if a server were doing the work.

The only thing that ever reaches us is the fact that a tool was used — never the file, its name or its contents.

What this tool can’t do

Running on your device buys privacy and speed, and it costs a few things. Worth knowing before you start:

40 MB per file. A parsed PDF takes several times its size in memory, and a phone browser kills the tab silently when it runs out. The cap exists so you get a clear message instead of a dead page.
100 files per “every page separately” run. Holding hundreds of finished PDFs in a phone’s memory is what actually kills the tab, and no browser will hand you 300 downloads at once. Pulling a range out of a long document has no page limit — that cap is only on the one-file-per-page mode.
Password-protected PDFs are refused. Unlock the document in your PDF reader, save an unlocked copy, and split that.
Splitting does not make a PDF smaller, page for page. Each piece carries the fonts and images its pages use, so five parts of a 30 MB file will not be 6 MB each. If size is the real problem, compressing is a different job.
It splits by page number, not by content. There is no splitting on bookmarks, chapter headings or every time an invoice number changes — you tell it which pages, and it does exactly that.
Bookmarks and form fields don’t come across. The page content itself is copied exactly, but a document’s outline (bookmarks), its interactive form fields and any links that pointed at another page don’t survive being lifted into a new file. For a normal document — text, images, tables, scans — there is nothing to lose.
A very old browser will struggle. The work happens on your processor, so a 39 MB document on a five-year-old phone can take a while. On a desktop it is usually a second or two.

Split PDF questions

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere when I split it?

No. The split runs in your browser using your device's own processor and memory, so the document's bytes never travel to a server. Nothing is stored, nothing is queued for processing, and there is no copy of your file to delete afterwards. You can confirm it by opening the page, switching your device to airplane mode, and splitting a file anyway — it still works, because the page is already loaded.

How do I pull out just a few pages, like 1 to 3 and page 7?

Choose 'Just these pages' and type 1-3, 7. You can mix single pages and ranges, separated by commas, and spaces are ignored. The pages come back in ascending page order in one new PDF, and a page listed twice is only included once. An open-ended range like 4- means 'page 4 to the end'.

Why is there a 40 MB limit?

Because the work happens on your device rather than on a server. A PDF takes several times its file size in memory once it is parsed, so a 40 MB document can already mean a few hundred megabytes of memory on a mid-range phone — beyond that the browser tab is killed with no message at all. The limit is there so an oversized file gets an honest error instead of a frozen tab.

Does splitting lower the quality or reflow the text?

No. The pages are copied from one document into another exactly as they are, not re-rendered or re-compressed. Text stays selectable and searchable, fonts stay embedded, images keep their original resolution, and vector graphics stay vector. A split page prints identically to the same page in the original. The one thing that does not travel is the document's furniture around the pages — bookmarks, interactive form fields and links pointing to other pages — since those belong to the old document rather than to the page.

Can I split a password-protected PDF?

Not directly. An encrypted PDF is refused rather than half-processed, because a tool that opens one and then writes a broken file is worse than one that says no. Open the document in your usual PDF reader with the password, save an unlocked copy, and split that copy instead.

Does this work on a phone, and do I need an account?

It works on any current mobile or desktop browser, and no account or sign-up is needed for the split itself. It is free, there is no watermark on the output, and there is no cap on how many files you split or how often. The only limits are the technical ones on your device: 40 MB per document, and 100 files from a single 'every page separately' run. You only need an account if you go on to turn the result into a shareable link.

Can I split a 300-page document?

Yes, with 'Just these pages' — pulling a range out of a long document is one output file and stays fast. What is capped is 'Every page separately', which stops at 100 pages, because 300 finished PDFs held in memory at once will kill a phone browser tab and no browser will let you download 300 files in one go anyway. For a document that long, extract the pages you actually need rather than every page — that is nearly always the real goal.

After the split

Most people split a PDF because something has to be sent. If the pieces are still too big for email, the options are laid out in how to send a large PDF that’s too big for email — including why zipping it barely helps. And if the split left you with five separate documents to send at once, sharing multiple PDFs as one link beats five attachments or a folder behind a permission wall.

More PDF tools

All free, all in your browser, none of them upload your file.

See every PDF tool — or turn any finished file into a clean link with a QR code from the home page.