Extract pages from a PDF

Many everyday tasks need just part of a PDF:

• sending only the signature page of a contract;
• uploading pages 3 and 4 of a bank statement as proof of address;
• sharing one chapter of a textbook or a manual with a colleague;
• pulling the invoice out of a long order confirmation;
• keeping the filled-in pages of a form and dropping the instructions.

Extracting creates a new, smaller PDF with only the pages you chose. The original stays on your disk exactly as it was, so you never lose anything.

Click the thumbnails. Each page is shown as a small preview, so you can recognise it by its content rather than guessing page numbers. Click a page to select it, click again to deselect. Hold Shift and click to select every page between the last one you clicked and this one.

Type the numbers. Enter single pages and ranges separated by commas: 1-3, 7, 10-12. The thumbnails update as you type, so you can check the selection before you save. An open range such as 5- means page 5 to the end.

Use the shortcuts. All, None, Odd and Even select whole groups in one click, which is handy for double-sided scans.

The new PDF contains the selected pages in the order shown on screen. To change it, drag a page by its handle, or use the arrow keys after focusing the handle. You can also rotate a selected page if it was scanned sideways.

Pages are copied, not re-rendered. Text stays selectable and searchable, images keep their original quality, and links on the page are kept. The file size of the result depends only on the pages you picked, so extracting three pages from a 200-page PDF gives you a small file that is easy to email.

• Extract pages (this tool) gives you one new PDF made from the pages you choose.
• Split PDF cuts a document into several files, for example every page on its own or a new file every ten pages.
• Delete PDF pages is the reverse view: you mark the pages to remove and keep the rest.
• Organize PDF lets you rearrange, rotate, duplicate and insert pages in one workspace.

If you want to keep most of the document, deleting a few pages is quicker. If you need a handful of pages from a long file, extracting is quicker.

The PDF is opened and rebuilt in your browser using pdf.js and pdf-lib. It is never uploaded, so you can safely extract pages from contracts, medical reports or financial statements. Password-protected PDFs need to be unlocked first with Unlock PDF, using the password you already know.