PRACTICAL GUIDE

How to Split a PDF and Extract Only the Pages You Need

A simple guide to extracting page ranges from PDF documents while keeping the original file intact.

Identify the page range

Use the visible PDF page numbers rather than printed page numbers inside the document, because cover pages and front matter can make them different.

Keep the source PDF

Extract pages into a new file rather than replacing the original document. This keeps a complete master available if you need a different range later.

Use ranges for smaller files

Extracting only the required pages is useful for email attachments, submissions and document sharing because it avoids sending unrelated content.

Recombine if needed

Separate extracted sections can later be merged into a new PDF in a custom order without changing the original documents.

Explore all pdf tools →