In a recent tutorial, we extracted pages from a PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Today, we’re going to split a PDF into multiple PDFs in Adobe Acrobat.
You may be wondering…
What Is the Difference between Splitting PDFs and Extracting Pages?
The split option lets you create new PDFs according to the number of pages, file size, or top-level bookmarks in the original PDF. This option is best for segmenting long documents, such as saving chapters as individual files.
The extract pages option lets you save individual pages, page ranges, even or odd pages, or landscape or portrait pages as separate PDFs. This option is best when you need to separate a small number of specific pages from a longer document.
This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than 150 other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.
The images below are from Adobe Acrobat DC. These steps also apply to Adobe Acrobat 2020 and Adobe Acrobat 2017. In addition, these steps are similar for PC and Mac users. The few differences between the two systems are explained within the individual steps.
Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader, doesn’t offer a way to split PDFs.
How to Split a PDF into Multiple PDFs
- Open the PDF that you want to split.
- Select the Tools tab.
- Select Organize Pages in the Tools Center.
- Select Split in the Organize Pages toolbar.
- Select an option from the Split by menu:
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- Number of pages
- File Size
- Top-level bookmarks
- If you selected Number of pages or File Size, enter the number of pages or megabytes into the secondary menu.
- Select Output Options.
- Select the folder where you want to save your new PDFs in the Output Options dialog box:
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- The Same Folder Selected at Start is the location of the PDF you are splitting.
- A Folder on My Computer lets you select another folder or accessible cloud storage such as OneDrive.
- (Optional) If you selected A Folder on My Computer, select the Browse button on a PC (figure 8) or the Choose button on a Mac (figure 9).
- (Optional) Find and select the folder in the Select Folder for Output Files dialog box, and then select the Select Folder button on a PC (figure 10) or the Choose button on a Mac (figure 11).
- Select your file labeling options.
The default option will place an underscore followed by the label “Part” and the part number after the original file name, such as MyOriginalPDF_Part1.pdf.
- (Important Step!) Ensure that Do not overwrite existing files is checked to prevent accidentally deleting the original PDF.
- Select the OK button.
- Select the blue Split button in the Organize Pages toolbar.
- Select the OK button in the dialog box stating that your PDF was successfully split.
Your new PDFs should now appear in the folder you selected during step 8.
Related Resources
How to Use the Split View in Adobe Acrobat
How to Create a PDF Portfolio in Adobe Acrobat
How to Combine Files into One PDF in Adobe Acrobat
Updated May 27, 2022