Split a PDF into separate pages, 1 file per page, named in order

When 1 page should be 1 file

• A stack of invoices or receipts scanned in 1 go, where each page goes to a different supplier folder or a different line in the accounts.
• Upload portals that want every certificate, payslip or exhibit as its own file.
• Certificates or letters made by a mail merge into 1 long PDF, 1 person per page.
• Handing out pages of a worksheet or a schedule to different people.

If you want only some pages, or the pages in groups, the same tool does it with another setting; see further down.

Split every page, step by step

1. Drop the PDF on the tool above. The list shows its page count and size.
2. Under Cut it, keep Every page.
3. Click Split. The result says how many files it made, for example “Cut the file into 48 files”.
4. Download them in the way that suits you:
   • Download all (48) as zip saves 1 file, getpdf-files.zip. Open it and extract the PDFs.
   • Save to a folder (in Chrome and Edge on a computer) writes every PDF into a folder you pick. It never replaces a file that is already there.
   • Download on a single row saves just that page.

Every page is copied as it was, with its fonts and pictures; nothing is redrawn or compressed, so each page looks exactly as it did.

How the files are named

The name is the original’s, plus the page number, padded with zeros to the length of the page count:

Original	Pages	Files
report.pdf	48	report-01.pdf to report-48.pdf
scan.pdf	500	scan-001.pdf to scan-500.pdf
invoices.pdf	9	invoices-1.pdf to invoices-9.pdf

The zeros matter. Without them most file lists put report-10 before report-2; with them, Windows Explorer, Finder and every upload dialog show the pages in order. There is no field for a name pattern, so if you want invoice-01.pdf, rename the original to invoice.pdf before you split.

Not quite every page

The same tool cuts in 2 other ways under Cut it:

• Every N pages: type 2 in Pages per file for double-sided invoices, where each invoice is a front and a back. A 48-page file becomes 24 files named report-01-02.pdf to report-47-48.pdf.
• Ranges: type where each file starts and ends, as 1-3, 4-20, 21-. Each range becomes 1 file, named after the range: report-1-3.pdf, report-4-20.pdf, report-21-.pdf. An open end such as 21- means “to the last page”.

If you need only a few pages as 1 new file, Extract pages is the quicker tool: type 2, 5-7 and get 1 file with those 4 pages. To send part of a document, that is usually what you want.

Extract pagesSelected pages to a new file. Free, runs on your device.Open

Big files: 500 pages, 500 files

We split our 500-page test file into 500 single-page files in 0.7 seconds on a laptop. The files are made in your browser and held in its memory until you save them, so the limit is your device, not a quota. Two things help on a phone or an older computer:

• Save to a folder or the zip is easier than tapping 500 Download buttons.
• Split in ranges first if a very large scan struggles, for example 1-250, 251- with Ranges, then split each half into pages.

The honest part

The pages weigh more apart than together. A PDF stores a font or a logo once and lets every page use it. Split the file and every single page has to carry its own copy. We made a 48-page report with a 50 KB logo on every page: the report was 84 KB, but each single page came out at 42 KB, 2 MB for all 48. Merging those 48 files back together gave 2 MB again, because a merge keeps each file’s copy. So if you might want the whole document later, keep the original rather than rebuilding it from the pieces.

Each piece keeps only what belongs to its page. A bookmark to that page comes along, and so does a form field on it, still fillable; links to other pages are dropped, because those pages are now other files. Split sets no title or author in the pieces. For splitting scans and invoices that loses nothing.

Split cannot tell where 1 invoice ends and the next begins. Every page, every N pages or your ranges are the only rules. If your invoices are 1, 2 or 3 pages long in no fixed pattern, type the ranges by hand, or split every page and merge the multi-page ones back with Merge PDF. Splitting at bookmarks or by file size is not available yet. To cut a long document at its chapters, use Ranges with the chapter start pages.

More page jobs are in Organise PDF pages, and the jobs people do every week with PDFs are in Everyday PDF jobs.