pdf tool

Extract pages from a PDF

Type the pages you want, such as 1, 3 to 5, or tap them on the thumbnails, and download a new PDF that holds only those pages. The original file is left as it was, and the pages come across untouched rather than redrawn.

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How it works

  1. 1

    Open the PDF

    Choose the file or drop it on the box. Every page is drawn as a small thumbnail with its number.

  2. 2

    Choose the pages

    Type a list into Pages to extract, such as 1, 3 to 5 or 8- for page 8 to the end, or tap pages on the thumbnails. The two stay in step, and a typo such as a page that does not exist is named straight away.

  3. 3

    Check the count

    The line under the box says how many pages are chosen and which, and the button reads Extract 4 pages, so you know what you will get before pressing it.

  4. 4

    Download

    Press the button to save a new PDF named after the original and the pages in it. The original is never changed.

Extracting is not splitting

Splitting cuts one PDF into several files along chosen points, so every page ends up somewhere. Extracting picks the pages you need and makes one new file of just those, leaving the rest behind. Use extract when a colleague needs only the signature page and the schedule from a fifty page agreement, when you want one chapter of a manual, or when a bank asks for the two pages of a statement that show the address. Use split when the whole document needs dividing, such as a scanned bundle of separate invoices.

How the page list works

Separate pages with commas. A run can be written as 3 to 5 or 3-5, and a run with no end, such as 8-, goes to the last page. Pages can be listed in any order and repeated without harm; the new file always holds each page once, in the order they appear in the original. Tapping a thumbnail adds or removes that page and rewrites the list, so you can start from a typed range and fine tune it by eye. A page number beyond the end of the file, or a run written backwards, is named in a plain message rather than silently ignored.

What comes across with the pages

The new file is built by taking the original and removing every page you did not choose, then clearing out anything only those pages used. The pages you keep are exactly the same objects: text stays selectable, images keep their resolution, and form fields on them stay fillable. The document properties, such as title and author, stay too. Bookmarks do not, because an outline for the whole document makes no sense for a handful of its pages. The PDF is read and rewritten in your browser; nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored, ever.

Sending only the pages that need signing

Signers usually need to see the whole agreement, so extract the signing pages only when the other side has already read and approved the full text, or when the extract is a standalone form. OneCraft e-signatures accept a PDF of up to 25 MB and refuse password protected files, so an extract of a large scanned contract is also a way to get under that cap.

Limits worth knowing

Encrypted files are refused with a message because pdf-lib cannot write them. A digital signature on the source does not survive into the extract. Links that pointed at pages you left behind do nothing in the new file. Very long documents take a moment to draw their thumbnails, but typing the list works before they finish.

Limits

  • Bookmarks and the outline are not carried into the new file, and custom page labels are dropped with them.
  • Links to pages you did not extract stop working, because their target is no longer in the file.
  • An encrypted PDF cannot be rewritten here, so it is refused with a message.

What it does not do

  • It does not cut a file into several parts. Split PDF does that.
  • It does not change the order of the pages it keeps. Reorder PDF pages does that.
  • It does not upload the file.

Questions people ask

How do I save just one page of a PDF?

Open the file, type that page number into Pages to extract, such as 7, or tap its thumbnail, and press Extract 1 page. The download is a one page PDF with the same text, images and quality as the original page. To save the page as a picture instead of a PDF, use the PDF to JPG tool.

Can I extract pages in a different order from the original?

No. The new file keeps the pages in the order they appear in the original, even if you type them as 5, 2. That keeps extraction predictable. To change the order, extract the pages first, then open the result in the reorder PDF pages tool and drag them where you want them.

Will the extracted pages be smaller in file size?

Usually, but not always in proportion. Anything only the removed pages used, such as their images, is cleared out. Fonts and images shared by every page stay, because the kept pages still need them, so three pages of a long report can still be a good share of the original size.

Do form fields still work in the extracted pages?

Yes. The fields on the pages you keep stay fillable and keep any answers already typed into them. Fields that sat only on pages you left out are removed along with those pages, so the new file's form lists just what is visible in it. Check a form with scripts carefully, since scripts can refer to fields that are now gone.

Can I extract pages from a password protected PDF?

Not here. An encrypted PDF, including one that opens freely but restricts printing or copying, cannot be rewritten by pdf-lib, and the tool says so. Open it in a reader with the password, save an unrestricted copy, and extract from that copy. Only do this with files you have the right to change.

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Built with pdf-lib (MIT), pdf.js (Apache-2.0).

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Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .