Method 1: Online — PDF24 or iLovePDF (Free, Any Device)

  1. 1

    Go to pdf24.org or ilovepdf.com/split_pdf

    Both are free with no account required. PDF24 has no daily limits; iLovePDF allows a generous number of free operations per day.

  2. 2

    Upload your PDF and choose split options

    Upload the file. Choose how to split: by page range (e.g. pages 1–5, 6–10), extract specific pages, split every page into individual files, or split after every N pages. Click Split PDF.

  3. 3

    Download the result

    Download the split files — delivered as a ZIP if multiple files were created.

Method 2: Mac — Preview (Built-In)

  1. 4

    Open the PDF in Preview with the sidebar showing

    Open the PDF in Preview. If the sidebar (thumbnail view) is not showing: View → Thumbnails.

  2. 5

    Drag pages out of the sidebar to the desktop

    Click a page thumbnail in the sidebar and drag it to your desktop. This creates a new PDF file containing just that page. Hold Shift or Cmd to select multiple pages and drag them together.

Method 3: Chrome Browser (Any Platform)

Open the PDF in Chrome. Press Ctrl+P (print). Select Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) or Save as PDF (Mac) as the printer. Click More Settings → Pages → enter the page range you want (e.g. 1–5). Print/Save. Repeat for each section. Simple and requires no additional software.

Frequently Asked Questions

Any of the methods above work. For a single page: Chrome browser method is fastest — open the PDF, Ctrl+P, set Pages to the specific page number (e.g. “7” for page 7), save as PDF. Or drag a single thumbnail out of Preview’s sidebar on Mac. Online tools also let you enter a single page number.
Only if you know the password. Enter the password when the PDF asks for it, then proceed with splitting as normal. If you do not have the password, you cannot split the file — the password protection intentionally prevents modification.