- Does my PDF actually stay on my computer?
- Yes. The split runs in your browser using pdf-lib, a JavaScript library that reads, copies pages, and writes new PDFs entirely client-side. Open your browser's network tab while you split a file and you'll see zero outbound requests. iLovePDF, Smallpdf, and PDF24 upload your file before they touch it — and tell you in their privacy policies. This tool can't upload it because no server is involved.
- What's the difference between the three split modes?
- "Single pages" gives you one output PDF per source page — a 30-page PDF becomes 30 files. "By ranges" splits according to ranges you type (e.g. "1-3, 5, 8-10" produces three PDFs: pages 1–3, page 5, and pages 8–10). "Every N pages" cuts the document into consecutive chunks — every 5 pages turns a 23-page PDF into 5 files of 5/5/5/5/3 pages. Pick the one that matches what you're trying to do.
- Why separate downloads and not one zip file?
- Two reasons. First, most browsers handle a list of download links cleanly — you click each one, or right-click to save them all. Second, building a zip in the browser would require shipping another library to every visitor who never uses the feature. Keeping the tool fast for the common case matters more than saving a click. If you want them in a folder, download all and drag them into one.
- What's the largest PDF the tool can handle?
- 100 MB. Most browsers can read a file that size into memory and process it. Above that, mobile browsers start running out of memory; desktop browsers can usually do 500 MB but it gets slow. If you have a huge PDF, split it once into halves with a desktop tool, then use this for the smaller pieces.
- Can it handle password-protected PDFs?
- No. pdf-lib refuses to open encrypted PDFs, and so does this tool. The fix is to unlock the PDF first using a desktop reader — macOS Preview, Adobe Acrobat, or any tool that can resave a PDF without encryption — then bring the unlocked copy back here.
- Do the output PDFs keep the original fonts, form fields, and links?
- Yes. pdf-lib's copyPages preserves page content exactly: embedded fonts, vector text, raster images, annotations on the page, hyperlinks within the page, and form field values. Document-level bookmarks (the outline panel) don't carry over because the page numbers change after splitting; everything that lives on the page itself does.
- Can I extract just one specific page?
- Yes — use "By ranges" and type just the page number. "7" extracts page 7 as its own one-page PDF. "7, 12, 20" gives you three one-page PDFs. If you want one PDF containing those three pages together rather than three separate files, use the Split PDF tool instead — it collapses the ranges into a single output.
- How does this compare to iLovePDF or Smallpdf?
- Same job, different shape. iLovePDF and Smallpdf upload your PDF to their servers, run the split there, and let you download the results — adding latency, the legal complication of "who has your document," and a paywall above a few uses per day. This tool does the split locally in your browser, never sees the file, runs as many times as you want, and shows you the source code if you ask. We're not faster at the actual splitting; we're faster at "clicking the button and getting a result" because there's no upload step.
