SantoshTec PDF

Split a PDF into separate files

Break one PDF into single pages, into custom ranges, or into fixed-size chunks. Everything is generated in your browser and handed back as a ZIP.

Drop a PDF here, or click to browse

One file at a time. It stays on your device.

    How should it be split?

    One PDF per page Load a PDF to see how many files you will get.

    Nothing is uploaded. This page opens and rewrites your PDF using your own browser's memory, then shows you the finished pages so you can check them before you download.

    Using Split PDF, step by step

    1. Drop a single PDF onto the box above. The tool reads how many pages it contains straight away.
    2. Choose how to split it: one file per page, custom ranges such as 1-4, 5-9, or fixed chunks of a set size.
    3. Press Split PDF. Each resulting document is built in your browser and collected into a ZIP.
    4. Download the ZIP and unpack it. Your original PDF is unchanged.

    Choosing the right split

    Splitting sounds like one operation but it is really three, and picking the wrong one creates tidying-up work afterwards. Every page separately is for bulk material — a batch of scanned certificates, a stack of invoices that arrived as one file, anything where each page is an independent document that needs its own life. Custom ranges is for structured documents, where you know that chapter one is pages 1 to 12 and the appendices start at 40. Fixed chunks is for size problems: a portal that refuses anything over twenty pages does not care where your chapters fall.

    Why splitting is so often about upload limits

    A surprising share of splitting is done not for organisation but for compliance with someone else's form. Government portals in particular tend to impose two limits at once — a maximum file size and a maximum page count — and they enforce them after you have filled in everything else. Splitting into chunks that clear both limits, then uploading them in order, is usually faster than arguing with the form.

    When that is the situation, name the outputs so a human can reassemble them. This tool numbers each file automatically, and the numbering is zero-padded, so a folder listing stays in the right order rather than putting part 10 immediately after part 1. If you rename them, keep the padding.

    Splitting does not shrink pages

    A common surprise: split a 10 MB document into ten files and the parts total more than 10 MB. Nothing has gone wrong. A PDF embeds the fonts it uses, and every output document needs its own copy of every font that appears on its pages. Ten copies of the same font subset is ten times the overhead. The page content itself is copied byte for byte, so quality is untouched — it is purely structural duplication.

    If the parts still need to be smaller, run each through the compressor after splitting, not before. And if you only ever needed a handful of pages rather than a full set of documents, extract pages does it in one step with no ZIP to unpack.

    Frequently asked questions

    What do the range numbers mean exactly?

    Each comma-separated group becomes one output file. So 1-4, 5-9, 10 produces three PDFs: pages 1 to 4, pages 5 to 9, and page 10 on its own. Ranges are inclusive at both ends, and you can leave one side open — 12- means page 12 to the end of the document.

    Why do I get a ZIP instead of separate downloads?

    Browsers block a page that tries to trigger many downloads in a row, and rightly so. Bundling the results into a single ZIP is the only reliable way to hand you twenty files at once. The ZIP is assembled locally too, so it involves no server either.

    Do the split files keep their original quality?

    Yes. Splitting copies whole page objects into new documents without re-encoding anything, so text stays selectable and images keep their resolution. It is completely lossless.

    How large will the split files be?

    Usually smaller than a proportional share, but not always. Each output PDF must carry its own copy of any font used on its pages, so ten single-page files from a 1 MB document can add up to more than 1 MB. If size matters, compress the parts afterwards.

    Can I extract just a few pages instead of splitting the whole file?

    Yes, and that is usually what people actually want. Extract pages pulls a selection into one new PDF, and delete pages does the inverse. Use this splitter when you need several separate documents out of one.

    Related PDF tools

    Most jobs need two or three steps. These pair well with Split PDF.