Split PDF
Initializing... drag & drop files here
Supports: PDF
Advanced Options - Our defaults are optimized for the best results. We recommend you keeping the defaults unless you have a specific need.
Reset to defaults
Need help?Split a PDF Online — Free, No Watermark
To split a PDF, upload your file to our servers, choose a split mode — page by page, a single page range, or several ranges at once — then click Split. xconvert lifts the pages you asked for into new PDFs without re-rendering, downloading a single PDF or a ZIP of multiple files.
Real result: a 200-page report becomes the exact appendix a colleague needs, with fonts, vectors, and hyperlinks intact — no sign-up, no watermark. Need the opposite? Merge PDF recombines them later.
How to Split a PDF Online
- Upload Your PDF: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select a PDF. Batch upload is supported — every file you add will follow the same split rule.
- Pick a Split Mode: Choose Page by page (one PDF per page), Pages by range (a single contiguous range like 5-12), or Pages by multi-range (multiple non-contiguous selections such as
1, 10-15, 30, 40-60, which produces four separate PDFs in one pass). - Enter Page Numbers (Optional): For "Pages by range" fill in Start page and End page. For "Pages by multi-range" type the ranges comma-separated. Page numbers are 1-indexed and inclusive.
- Split and Download: Click Split. Single-output jobs download as a PDF; multi-output jobs are bundled into a ZIP. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermarks.
Why Split a PDF?
A 300-page board deck, a scanned book, or an exported bank statement is rarely useful as one monolithic file. Splitting lets you isolate exactly the section a reader needs without re-rendering, re-OCRing, or losing the original PDF's fonts, vectors, hyperlinks, or form fields — all of which a re-export from Word or a screenshot pipeline would destroy. The PDF page tree (defined in the ISO 32000-1 specification) is structured so individual page objects can be lifted out and rewritten into new documents with their original content streams intact.
- Email-size attachments — Gmail and Outlook cap attachments at 25 MB; splitting a 60 MB report into chapters lets each part attach cleanly without a Google Drive or OneDrive link.
- Send only the relevant section — A 200-page tender document where the supplier only needs Appendix C, pages 142-168. Splitting beats highlighting in the source PDF.
- Print selected pages — Some printers and shared kiosk machines refuse "print range 50-75" but happily print a 26-page PDF cover to cover.
- Archive by chapter or month — Year-end bank statements arrive as one 200-page PDF; splitting every month gives 12 files that match your accounting folder structure.
- Redaction prep — Pull out the pages that need redacting into a separate file, redact them with a PDF editor, then re-merge with Merge PDF when done.
- Train an LLM or build a RAG index — Many tools chunk by file; splitting into single-page or per-section PDFs gives downstream pipelines a natural unit of retrieval.
Split Mode Decision Matrix
| You want to... | Pick this mode | Example input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burst every page into its own file | Page by page | (no input) | N PDFs in a ZIP |
| Lift one contiguous section | Pages by range | Start 5, End 12 | One PDF of pages 5-12 |
| Extract several non-contiguous sections at once | Pages by multi-range | 1, 10-15, 30, 40-60 |
Four PDFs in a ZIP |
| Split at every Nth page (e.g. every 10) | Pages by multi-range | 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, ... |
One PDF per chunk in a ZIP |
| Drop the last few pages | Pages by range | Start 1, End (last-3) | One PDF without the tail |
xconvert's multi-range mode covers the same outcomes most other tools spread across separate "split every N pages", "split by ranges", and "extract pages" buttons — you describe what you want and the splitter does the rest in one job.
Split vs Extract vs Delete Pages — What's the Difference?
| Operation | What it produces | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Split | Two or more PDFs from one source; the original page count is preserved across the outputs | You need both halves (or all parts), not just one section |
| Extract pages | A single new PDF containing only the chosen pages | You only want one slice and don't care about the rest |
| Delete pages | One PDF with the chosen pages removed | You want everything except a few pages — appendices, blanks, ads |
xconvert's Pages by range mode covers the "extract" case (single output) and Pages by multi-range covers true splitting (multiple outputs). If you only need one slice, Extract PDF Pages is the more direct tool; to keep everything except a few pages in one file, use Delete PDF Pages.
What Gets Preserved (and What Doesn't)
| Element | Preserved in split outputs? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Text, fonts, images, vectors | Yes | Content streams are copied byte-for-byte; no re-rasterization |
| Internal hyperlinks | Yes, if both ends are in the same output file | A link from page 3 to page 50 breaks if page 50 ends up in a different output |
| External hyperlinks (URLs) | Yes | Annotations on each page travel with the page |
| Bookmarks / outline tree | Trimmed | Bookmarks pointing at pages that aren't in a given output are dropped |
| Form fields and signatures | Preserved on the pages they live on | Signatures over the whole document become invalid in any split output — this is by design under PAdES |
| Document metadata (title, author) | Copied to each output | You may want to rename per output for accuracy |
| Encryption / passwords | Removed from outputs once you've unlocked the source | Re-encrypt downstream if needed |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I split a PDF into separate pages?
Upload the PDF, choose Page by page, and click Split — xconvert bursts every page into its own one-page PDF and bundles them into a ZIP. In our testing, a 50-page report split this way produced 50 individual PDFs in a single download, each opening identically to its source page. To split into chunks instead of single pages, use Pages by multi-range.
How do I split a PDF into multiple files in one go without uploading it three times?
Use Pages by multi-range and enter every range you want, comma-separated — e.g. 1-10, 25, 50-75. xconvert produces one output PDF per range (three files in that example) and packages them into a single ZIP. You don't need to re-upload the source for each range.
Can I split a PDF every 10 pages (or every N pages) automatically?
There isn't a dedicated "split every N" button, but multi-range covers it: for a 100-page PDF split every 10, enter 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90, 91-100. The output is ten PDFs zipped together. Sejda offers a one-field shortcut for this, but the resulting files are identical.
Will splitting change the PDF's visual quality or layout?
No. xconvert copies the original page content streams as-is, so text stays selectable, fonts render the same, vector graphics stay sharp, and images are not recompressed. A page that looked identical in Acrobat before will look identical after.
Why is my signed PDF flagged as "signature invalid" after splitting?
Digital signatures hash the entire document at the time of signing. Removing or re-arranging pages necessarily changes that hash, so any signed split output is reported as modified-since-signing — that's a property of the signature standard (PAdES, published by ETSI as EN 319 142), not a bug in the splitter. If signature validity matters, work on a copy and ask the signer to re-sign each split part.
Can I split a password-protected PDF?
PDFs with an open password must be unlocked first — xconvert will prompt for the password before processing. PDFs that have only an owner/permissions password (no open password required to view) split normally; the resulting files inherit the same permission flags.
Does the page numbering reset in each output file?
The physical page indices in each output file always start at 1, but xconvert preserves the page contents (including any printed page numbers, headers, or footers from the original). If your original had "Page 47 of 100" printed in the footer, that footer stays on what is now page 1 of the output. To re-number, use a dedicated page-numbering tool after splitting.
What's the largest PDF I can split?
There's no hard page-count limit; xconvert has been used to split PDFs with several thousand pages. Practical limits come from your network — a 500 MB upload over a slow connection will take longer than the processing itself. For very large multi-range jobs, expect the ZIP packaging step to add a few extra seconds.
Can I split scanned PDFs (images, not text)?
Yes. Splitting works at the PDF page level, not the text-content level, so a 200-page scanned book splits just as cleanly as a born-digital report. The output stays as image-based PDFs — splitting won't OCR the pages or shrink them. To make the scans searchable or smaller, run Compress PDF on the outputs afterwards.
Is xconvert free, and what happens to my file after splitting?
Yes — free, no account, no watermark. Files are uploaded over TLS, processed, and removed automatically after a short retention window. xconvert never sells uploads to third parties and never trains models on user files.