How to Split a PDF File: Free Methods Online and Offline

Got a 50-page PDF but only need one chapter? Or need to email a document that's too large? Splitting a PDF is simple with the right tools — and most are free. Here are the best methods to separate PDF pages on any operating system.

Quick fix (TL;DR)

• Free online: go to iLovePDF and upload your file
• Mac: open with Preview, drag thumbnails out of the window
• Windows: use Chrome/Edge browser with "Print > Save as PDF"
• Free software: install PDFsam Basic (open source)
• Command line: use pdftk or qpdf

When you need to split a PDF

Common reasons to separate a PDF:

• Email attachment size limits (often 25 MB)
• Extracting specific pages or chapters from a long document
• Sharing only relevant sections with colleagues or clients
• Creating separate files from a multi-page scanned document

Step-by-step guide

Step 1 — Split PDF online with iLovePDF (simplest)

1. Go to ilovepdf.com/split_pdf
2. Click Select PDF file or drag and drop
3. Choose the mode:
   • Split by ranges: specify pages (e.g., 1-5, 6-10)
   • Extract all pages: creates one file per page
   • Split by fixed ranges: every N pages
4. Click Split PDF
5. Download the result (ZIP if multiple files)

Free limit: files up to 100 MB, a few operations per day.

Step 2 — Split PDF on Mac with Preview

No extra software needed:

1. Open the PDF with Preview (double-click)
2. Go to View > Thumbnails to show the sidebar
3. Select pages to extract (use Cmd + click for multiple)
4. Drag selected pages to the Desktop
5. A new PDF is created with only those pages

Repeat with different page groups to split into multiple parts.

Step 3 — Split PDF on Windows using the browser

Chrome, Edge, or Firefox work as an improvised splitter:

1. Open the PDF in your browser (drag it into the window)
2. Press Ctrl + P (Print)
3. Set destination to Save as PDF (or Microsoft Print to PDF)
4. Under "Pages" specify the range (e.g., 1-5)
5. Click Save and choose a filename
6. Repeat for other page ranges

Step 4 — PDFsam Basic (free open-source software)

For regular PDF splitting:

1. Download PDFsam Basic from pdfsam.org (Windows, Mac, Linux)
2. Open the program and select Split
3. Load your PDF
4. Choose the split mode:
   • Split after page N
   • Split every N pages
   • Split by bookmarks
   • Split by file size
5. Select the output folder
6. Click Run

Benefits: no online upload, no limits, guaranteed privacy.

Step 5 — Command line with pdftk or qpdf

For power users or automation:

With pdftk:

# Extract pages 1-5
pdftk input.pdf cat 1-5 output part1.pdf

# Extract pages 6 to end
pdftk input.pdf cat 6-end output part2.pdf

With qpdf:

# Extract specific pages
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1-5 -- part1.pdf

# Split every page
qpdf input.pdf --split-pages output_%d.pdf

Install: sudo apt install pdftk (Linux), brew install pdftk-java (Mac), or download from the official site (Windows).

Common mistakes to avoid

• ❌ Using unknown online services for confidential documents — files get uploaded to their servers
• ❌ Forgetting to verify the result — always open generated PDFs to check pages are correct
• ❌ Confusing "split" with "compress" — if the issue is file size, you might need compression, not splitting
• ❌ Not checking if the PDF is password-protected — some locked PDFs can't be split without the password

Alternatives for specific needs

• Adobe Acrobat (paid): most complete, with drag-and-drop reorganization
• PDF24 Tools (online/desktop): free, German-made, very reliable
• LibreOffice Draw: can open and export specific pages of a PDF

If you often work with large files on your PC, you might also be interested in how to free up disk space on Windows 11.