How to Extract Pages from a PDF Document to Create a New PDF Document

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido

Do you ever wind up with a PDF that only contains a few pages that are of actual interest? Is your PDF too large to email or fit onto your thumb drive? We have good news—it's easy to extract one or more pages from a PDF and save the selected pages as a new file. This wikiHow article will show you how to save specific pages from your PDF file using completely free tools like Google Chrome, Mac Preview, and Smallpdf.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Google Chrome

1
Open the Google Chrome browser. If you have Google Chrome on your computer, you can use it to create a new PDF by extracting pages from another file. You'll find Chrome in your Start menu (Windows) or in the Applications folder (macOS).
- If you don't have Google Chrome, you can download it for free from https://www.google.com/chrome.
2
Press Ctrl+O (PC) or ⌘ Command+O (Mac). This opens a window that allows you to select a file.

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3
Select the PDF and click Open. The selected file will open in Chrome.
- If Chrome prompts you to download or save a file instead of displaying the PDF, click Cancel and then:
  - Click the three-dot menu at the top-right corner of Chrome.
  - Click Settings.
  - Click Site Settings under the "Privacy and security" header.
  - Scroll down to the bottom and click Additional content settings.
  - Click PDF documents.
  - Slide the switch to the Off (gray) position.
  - Re-open the PDF.
4
Click the menu ⋮. It's the three dots at the top-right corner of Chrome.
5
Click Print on the menu.
6
Click the drop-down menu next to "Destination." It's in the top-right corner of the print window.
7
Select Save as PDF.
8
Click the drop-down menu next to "Pages." It's the menu that says "All" by default.
9
Select Custom and enter the pages you want to distract. You can enter a single page number, a range of pages (separated by a hyphen), or multiple page numbers separated by commas.
- For example, if you want to create a new PDF from pages 2 through 4, you'd enter 2-4.
- To create a new PDF from pages 1, 4, 6, and 9, you could enter 1, 4, 6, 9.
10
Click the Save button. It's at the bottom of the window.
11
Save your new PDF. You will be prompted (via pop-up dialogue box) to type a file name, select a folder to save it to, and then click Save to finish. The new PDF containing the extracted pages is now located in the selected folder.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Preview for macOS

1
Open your PDF in Preview. Preview is the default PDF viewer for macOS, so just double-click the PDF to open it in the app. You can also right-click the PDF, select Open with, and then select Preview.
2
Click the View menu and select Thumbnails. The View menu is in the menu bar at the top of the screen.^{[1]
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Research source}
3
Select which pages to extract. Hold down the Command key as you click each page you want to extract. Pages that will be extracted to the new PDF will be highlighted.
4
Click the File menu and select Print. The File menu is near the top-left corner of the screen. In the print dialog, enter a page range you wish to print.
5
Click the Show Details button. It's at the bottom of the window.
- If you don't see this button, the additional details you need are already displayed.
6
Select Selected Pages in Sidebar. It's in the "Pages" section. This ensures that the pages you selected will be added to the new file.
7
Select Save as PDF from the bottom-left drop-down menu. It's the one that says "PDF" by default.
8
Enter a file name and click Save. Navigate to the location where you wish to save the file, give it a name, and save it. That's it!

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Smallpdf Online Tool

1
Go to https://smallpdf.com/split-pdf in your web browser. This opens Smallpdf's "Split PDF" tool, which can create a new PDF from selected pages.
2
Select the PDF containing files you want to extract. You can either drag the PDF file to the large purple "Choose Files" box, or click Choose Files, select the PDF, and then click Open.
3
Select Extract pages. It's the first of the two options.
4
Click the purple Extract button. This displays all of the pages in your PDF as thumbnails.
5
Select the files you want to extract. Click each page that you want to add to the new PDF. A checkmark will appear in the top-left corner of each selected page.
- To select a range of pages, click the Select ranges tab at the top of the page list, and then enter a range of page numbers (separated by a hyphen, e.g., "3-7"), or multiple page numbers separated by commas (e.g., "1, 3, 4, 7").
6
Click the purple Extract button. It's at the top-right corner of the page. This adds the selected pages to a new PDF and makes it available for download.
7
Click Download. It's the purple button to the right of the original file name. This saves the file to your computer.
- If prompted to do so, select a folder to save the new PDF to, and give it a new name.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

PDFsam

1
Download PDFsam Basic from https://pdfsam.org/download-pdfsam-basic. This free, open-source app is available for both Windows and macOS.^{[2]
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Research source} To download the file, click the Apple disk image link (Mac) or MSI Installer link (Windows) and save it to your computer.
2
Install PDFsam. Double-click the downloaded file, and then follow the on-screen instructions to install.
3
Open PDFsam and select the Extract module. If PDFsam doesn't launch automatically after installing, you'll find it in the Start menu (Windows) or the Applications folder (macOS). Once open, click the large Extract tile in the list of options.
4
Add the PDF document you want to extract pages from. You can either drag the file to the "Drag and drop PDF files here" rectangle, or click Add, select the PDF, and then click Open.
5
Enter the page numbers you want to extract. The pages you want to extract go into the "Extract pages" blank. You can enter a single page number, a range of pages (separated by a hyphen), or multiple page numbers separated by commas.
- For example, if you want to create a new PDF from pages 6 through 10, you'd enter 6-10.
- To create a new PDF from pages 1, 3, 6, and 14, you could enter 1, 3, 6, 14.
6
Select a folder to which you'll save the new PDF. To do this, click the Browse button to the right of the "Output settings" blank, choose a folder, and then click Select Folder.
7
Enter a name for the new PDF. You can type this into the "File names settings" blank at the bottom. Don't worry about entering ".pdf," as it will be added automatically.
8
Click the Run button. It's at the bottom-left corner of the app. When the new PDF is created, you'll see "Completed" at the bottom of the app above the green progress bar.

Community Q&A

Question

Do I have to buy the acrobat software?

Community Answer

No. However, acrobat software gives other advantages that may make it seem worthwhile to you.

Warnings

Acrobat applications (both Acrobat Reader and Acrobat Pro) inhibit printing to PDF. Acrobat Pro only supports extraction, and Acrobat Reader does neither extraction nor printing.

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