How to extract pages from a PDF
- Drop your file on Drop a PDF here or click to choose, or press Enter on that box to browse. The tool reads the file and shows how many pages it has.
- Type the pages in Pages to extract, or tap First page, Last page, Odd pages or Even pages to fill it in.
- Read the line under the box. It lists the exact pages that will be copied, in order, or says what is wrong with the list.
- Click Extract pages and download. The new PDF is saved with your file name plus "-extracted". If your browser blocks the download, use Download again.
How the page list is read
Separate pages and ranges with commas: 1-3,5,7-9 means pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9. The word end stands for the last page, so 8-end takes everything from page 8. Pages come out in the order you type them: 3,1,2 puts page 3 first, and a backwards range such as 5-3 gives pages 5, 4 and 3. A page you list twice is copied twice. A page number the PDF does not have is reported as an error, never skipped quietly.
Each chosen page is copied, with its text, images and fonts, into a new document by pdf-lib. Links that jump to pages you did not choose are cut first. Otherwise those pages would ride along inside the new file as hidden data, which makes the file bigger and shares content you meant to leave out.
Worked example with the sample file
Click Try a sample 6-page PDF. The box fills with 1-3,5 and the line under it reads "Will extract 4 pages: 1, 2, 3, 5 (the file has 6)". Click Extract pages and download and you get a 4-page PDF whose pages read Sample page 1, 2, 3 and 5.
Limits and edge cases
- A PDF locked with a password or permission settings cannot be opened here. Remove the lock first with PDF Password Remover, then extract.
- The new file has no bookmarks, page labels or document properties such as the title and author. Add them back with the PDF Metadata Viewer.
- Links that jump to pages you left out are removed, and web links are kept. Comments and simple form fields on the pages you pick come along.
- A scanned PDF works like any other, because each page is copied whole. Very large files, in the hundreds of megabytes, can run out of memory in a browser tab.
Need every page as its own file instead? Use the PDF Splitter. To put several files together, use the PDF Merger.
PDF page extraction questions
How do I extract one page from a PDF?
Choose the PDF, type that page number in Pages to extract (for example 7), and click Extract pages and download. The new PDF holds only that page. The First page and Last page buttons fill the box for you.
How do I extract pages that are not next to each other?
List them with commas and ranges, for example 1-3,5,7-9. That copies pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 into one new PDF.
Can I change the page order while extracting?
Yes. Pages are copied in the order you type them, so 3,1,2 puts page 3 first. A backwards range such as 12-1 gives the pages in reverse.
Does the new PDF still contain the pages I left out?
No. Only the pages you list are copied, and links that jump to other pages are cut so none of their content comes along.
What is the difference between extracting and splitting a PDF?
Extracting makes one new PDF from the pages you choose. Splitting cuts a PDF into several files, so use the PDF Splitter when you want one file per page or per range.
Method reference: pdf-lib PDFDocument.copyPages.