Splitting a PDF usually means one of two things: pulling a few pages out into a new file, or dividing a long document into several parts — chapters, sections, or one file per recipient. PDF Arranger handles both in the same way: you select pages visually and export just those pages, as many times as you need.
Because the app works locally and the original file is never modified, splitting is low-risk. You can carve a 200-page report into pieces, check each exported file, and start over if a page landed in the wrong part.
Before you start
You need PDF Arranger 1.14.0 (or a recent version) installed. If it is not on your computer yet, download PDF Arranger first — it is free, open source (GPL-3.0), and works entirely offline, so your files never leave your computer.
Nothing you do in PDF Arranger changes the original file on disk. Every edit only takes effect when you export the result to a new PDF, which makes experimenting safe: if the output is not what you wanted, adjust the arrangement and export again.
Step by step: export part of a PDF as its own file
- Open the PDF in PDF Arranger so all pages show as thumbnails.
- Select the pages for the first part. Click a page, then extend the selection with the keyboard, or use the page selection tools to pick a range, all odd pages, or all even pages.
- Export the selection. Use the Export command and choose to export the selected pages to a new PDF. Give the file a clear name, such as report-chapter-1.pdf.
- Repeat for the remaining parts. Change the selection to the next group of pages and export again. Each export creates one separate file, so a document split into four parts takes four exports.
- Open each exported file and confirm it starts and ends on the pages you intended.
Splitting by deleting instead
For a simple two-way split, the selection method above is fastest. An alternative is to delete the pages you do not want from the arrangement and export everything that remains. That works, but the selection workflow is easier to repeat accurately when you need several parts, and it avoids accidentally exporting a page set you trimmed for a previous part.
Tips
- Name parts consistently as you export them — sorting part-01, part-02 alphabetically saves confusion later.
- Odd/even selection is handy for splitting scans from a single-sided scanner: export the odd pages, then the even pages, and recombine them in the right order afterwards.
- PDF Arranger splits at page boundaries only. It cannot split inside a page, and it does not reduce file size — a split file keeps the content of its pages as-is.
A worked example
Imagine a 60-page meeting pack that has to go out as four separate files, one per agenda item. Select the pages of the first item and export them as pack-item-1.pdf. Then select the second item’s pages and export pack-item-2.pdf, and so on. Four exports later you have four clean files, and the original pack is still intact on disk in case the agenda changes. If one part turns out to include a page belonging to the next item, you do not start over: adjust that selection, export that one part again, and replace the earlier file. Splitting by selection keeps each part independent, which is exactly what makes corrections cheap.
Related guides
Keep going with these step-by-step guides from the same series: