You have a 90-page PDF and need pages 12–14 as their own file — for an email, a filing, a share link. Here are the three ways to do it, and when each one is the right call.
Method 1: Visual page picking (best for scattered pages)
When the pages you need aren't consecutive — say the signature page, one exhibit, and the cover — picking by eye beats typing ranges.
- Drop the file on the PDF splitter.
- Wait a moment for thumbnails; they render locally, in your browser.
- Click each page you want. Selected pages get an orange frame and the counter updates.
- Split & download produces one new PDF containing exactly those pages, in document order.
Visual picking is also the safest method for scanned documents, where "page 47" in the footer may not be the 47th page of the file.
Method 2: Range syntax (best when you know the numbers)
If you already know you need pages 1–3 and 8–10, ranges are faster than clicking. In the splitter's ranges mode, type:
1-3, 8-10
Each comma-separated range becomes its own PDF — the example produces two files. Single pages work too: 5 extracts page 5 alone. This mirrors the syntax print dialogs use, so if you've ever printed "pages 2-4", you already know it. More patterns in our range syntax guide.
Method 3: Print to PDF (built-in, but lossy)
Every OS can "print" a page selection to a new PDF: open the file, print, choose Save as PDF, set the page range. It works with zero extra tools — but it re-renders the document. Text may be rasterized, links and bookmarks are stripped, file size often balloons, and accessibility tags are lost.
Use print-to-PDF when the content is disposable. Use real page extraction when the output needs to stay a first-class document — extraction copies the original page objects, so fonts, vectors, links, and quality are untouched.
Quality and size expectations
Extracted pages are byte-faithful copies, but the new file also carries any resources those pages reference (fonts, images). A 3-page extract from a 10 MB deck is usually far smaller than the source — unless those three pages contain the heavy images. If your goal is a smaller file rather than specific pages, see shrinking a PDF by splitting it.
Privacy note
Page extraction is a common task for exactly the documents you least want on a stranger's server — contracts, statements, records. The split.tools PDF splitter parses and rebuilds the PDF entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded, ever. Verify it yourself with DevTools open.