How to split a PDF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

Splitting a PDF — pulling out a few pages, or cutting one file into several — is one of those tasks that feels like it should be built into every computer. It mostly isn't. Macs have a good built-in option, Windows and phones rely on a "print to PDF" workaround, and everything else needs an app or an online tool. Here's how each method works and what it does to your document.

The same method on every device: an online splitter

A browser-based tool works identically on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPhone and Android, which makes it the easiest method to remember. With the S-PDF split PDF tool:

1. Open the page and tap Choose PDF file, or drag the PDF onto the box.
2. Wait a moment for the page thumbnails, then click the pages you want — or type ranges like 1-3, 8.
3. Pick a mode: Extract pages (one new PDF), Split every page, Split every N pages or Delete pages.
4. Click the button and download the PDF, or the ZIP with all the parts.

Pages are copied rather than printed, so text, links and image quality stay exactly as they were. The file is uploaded to do the work and deleted automatically after an hour.

Windows 10 and 11: "Microsoft Print to PDF"

Windows has no split button, but it can print selected pages to a new PDF:

1. Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge (the default PDF viewer) or Chrome.
2. Press Ctrl+P and choose Microsoft Print to PDF (in Chrome: Save as PDF) as the printer.
3. Under Pages, enter the pages you want, for example 3-7.
4. Click Print or Save and choose a file name.

This works for a quick extract, but it is a re-print of the page, not a copy. Links, bookmarks and fillable form fields are lost, and the result can be larger or slightly different from the original. You also have to repeat the whole process for every part you want, so splitting a file into ten pieces means printing ten times.

Mac: Preview

Preview, the PDF viewer built into macOS, can extract pages properly:

1. Open the PDF in Preview and choose View → Thumbnails.
2. Select the pages you want in the sidebar (Command-click for several, Shift-click for a run).
3. Drag the selected thumbnails onto your desktop or into a Finder window. Preview creates a new PDF containing just those pages.

To remove pages instead, select their thumbnails, press Delete, then use File → Export as PDF to save a copy without them. Preview is fast and free; the downside is that splitting a long file into many parts is still manual work, one drag at a time.

iPhone and iPad: the print-preview trick

iOS has no split command either, but the print dialog can create a PDF of selected pages:

1. Open the PDF (in Files, Mail or Safari) and tap the Share button.
2. Tap Print, then set Range to the pages you want.
3. Spread two fingers on the page preview to open it as a full PDF.
4. Tap Share again and choose Save to Files.

The exact wording moves around between iOS versions, and like the Windows method it re-prints the pages. If the trick isn't working on your version, an online splitter in Safari does the same job in fewer taps.

Android: print to PDF

1. Open the PDF in Google Drive or your PDF viewer and choose Print from the menu.
2. Select Save as PDF as the printer.
3. Tap the arrow to expand the options, change Pages from "All" to the range you need.
4. Tap the PDF download button and choose where to save the file.

Again: quick for one extract, slow for many parts, and links and form fields don't survive.

Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat Pro has a proper split feature (Organize Pages → Split) that can cut by page count, file size or top-level bookmarks. It's excellent if your organisation already pays for it; for occasional use, the subscription is hard to justify. The free Acrobat Reader cannot split files.

Which method should you use?

For a single extract on a Mac, Preview is hard to beat. For everything else — especially splitting a file into many parts, or working on a phone — an online splitter is the quickest way to get clean results. If you only need to drop a few pages, see how to remove pages from a PDF.

Published 13 October 2026 · Last updated 13 October 2026