How to Extract Pages from a PDF
Extracting is the safe half of splitting: you take what you need and leave the original untouched. It is almost always better than deleting the ninety pages you did not want.
Extract versus split
Splitting produces several files from one. Extracting produces one file from a part of one. If you only need pages 12 to 18, extract — do not split the document into twenty pieces and delete nineteen.
Extract a range
- Open Split PDF and add your file.
- Choose the custom range mode.
- Enter the pages you want, for example 12-18, or a list such as 3, 7, 12-15.
- Split. A new file is created containing only those pages; the original is unchanged.
- Rename the extract meaningfully — "contract-schedule" beats "document-pages-12-18".
Counting correctly
Page numbers printed on the page rarely match the file position. Covers, blank pages and front matter are usually unnumbered, which shifts everything.
Always locate the target by the reader's page counter, not the number printed on the paper. Then check the first extracted page before sending.
Privacy
Extracting a page does not remove it from the original file. If the pages around it were confidential, the original still contains them — and so does any copy you keep.