About Split PDF Tool
Split PDF is a professional, browser-based tool for extracting specific pages from PDF documents with advanced selection and organization capabilities. The application processes files entirely client-side using PDF.js, pdf-lib, and JSZip libraries, ensuring complete data privacy.
Designed for users requiring granular control over page extraction, this tool supports multiple selection methods, page reordering, rotation controls, and an intelligent exclude mode for removing unwanted pages without manual deselection.
Technical Capabilities
- ▸ Multi-Method Page Selection: Choose pages via checkboxes, range input (e.g., "1-5, 7, 10-12"), or bulk "All/None" buttons with real-time validation feedback.
- ▸ Exclude Mode Toggle: Invert selection logic to extract all pages except selected ones—ideal for removing confidential or irrelevant sections.
- ▸ Interactive Reordering: Drag-and-drop pages using Sortable.js to customize extraction sequence before processing.
- ▸ Individual Page Rotation: Rotate specific pages in 90° increments (↺ counterclockwise, ↻ clockwise) with permanent application to extracted PDFs.
- ▸ High-Quality Previews: Canvas-based thumbnails rendered at 1.5x scale with full-screen preview modal for page verification.
- ▸ Batch ZIP Download: All extracted pages packaged as individual PDF files in a single compressed archive using JSZip.
How to Use
1 File Upload
Upload Methods:
- File Picker: Click "Select PDF File" button to open system dialog. Single file selection only.
- Drag & Drop: Drag PDF directly from file explorer onto upload zone for immediate processing.
- Keyboard: Tab to "Select PDF File" button, press Enter to activate picker.
File Processing:
- PDF.js parses document and extracts metadata (page count, file size).
- Each page rendered as thumbnail canvas at 1.5x scale for 92% JPEG quality.
- Thumbnail grid populated with page cards showing preview, number, and controls.
Technical Note: Original PDF loaded as ArrayBuffer in memory. Thumbnail rendering occurs asynchronously to prevent UI blocking on large documents.
2 Page Selection
Selection Toolbar Controls:
- Selection Counter: Displays number of selected pages (e.g., "5 pages") with real-time updates.
- "All" Button: Selects all pages instantly. Checkboxes update to reflect selection state.
- "None" Button: Deselects all pages. Useful for starting fresh selection.
- Range Input Field: Type page ranges using format "1-5, 7, 10-12".
Auto-applies as you type (300ms debounce).
- Green border = Valid range
- Red border = Invalid (out of range or malformed)
- Gray border = Empty or cleared
- Exclude Toggle Switch: Red when active. Inverts selection
logic—extracts all pages EXCEPT selected ones.
- OFF (gray): Include mode—extract selected pages
- ON (red): Exclude mode—extract all except selected
- Counter shows: "3 (extracting 17 pages)" in exclude mode
Individual Page Controls:
- Checkbox: Click to toggle page selection. Thumbnail border highlights when selected (purple glow).
- Thumbnail Image: Click to open full-screen preview modal (98% screen size, dark background).
Technical Note: Selection state stored in JavaScript Set for O(1) lookup performance. Range parsing validates against total page count before applying.
3 Organization & Rotation (Optional)
Page Card Controls:
- ⋮⋮ Drag Handle: Located at top of each card. Click and hold to activate
drag mode.
- Drag vertically to new position in grid
- Drop zones highlighted during drag operation
- Final extraction order matches visual grid sequence
- Powered by Sortable.js library
- ↺ Rotate Left Button: Rotates page counterclockwise by 90°. Thumbnail updates immediately with CSS transform.
- ↻ Rotate Right Button: Rotates page clockwise by 90°. Rotation persists to extracted PDF using pdf-lib rotation matrices.
Reordering Workflow:
- Click and hold ⋮⋮ drag handle on source page
- Drag to desired position (visual feedback shows valid drop zones)
- Release mouse to finalize new position
- Repeat for additional pages if needed
- Extracted PDFs will follow displayed grid order (top-to-bottom, left-to-right)
Technical Note: Rotation angles stored in pageRotations object (key: page number, value: degrees). Applied via pdf-lib's page.setRotation() during extraction.
4 Extraction & Download
Extraction Process:
- Click "Extract Selected Pages" button to initiate splitting operation.
- Processing stage appears with progress indicator.
- Pages extracted based on current grid order (respects drag-drop reordering).
- Exclude mode logic applied if toggle is active.
- Rotation transformations embedded into extracted PDF pages.
Processing Stages:
- Parse original PDF using pdf-lib
- Determine pages to extract (include/exclude mode logic)
- For each page:
- Create new PDFDocument instance
- Copy page from source document
- Apply rotation if specified
- Serialize to Uint8Array
- Add to JSZip archive
- Generate final ZIP blob
- Trigger browser download
Download Details:
- ZIP filename: "selected_pages.zip" (include mode) or "excluded_pages.zip" (exclude mode)
- Each PDF named: "page_X.pdf" where X is original page number
- All PDFs maintain original quality (lossless extraction)
- Rotations permanently applied to PDF structure
Post-Download Options:
- "Split Another PDF" button: Reloads page and clears all data from memory.
- Original file automatically cleared from browser storage after download.
Privacy Guarantee: All extraction occurs client-side. Zero network requests during processing. Verify via browser DevTools Network tab—no outbound connections.
Professional Use Cases
Report Distribution
Extract specific sections from comprehensive reports to share relevant pages with stakeholders without distributing entire document.
Document Redaction
Use exclude mode to remove confidential pages before sharing with external parties or public disclosure.
Legal Evidence Extraction
Extract specific exhibits or evidence pages from large case files for focused review or submission.
Academic Material Preparation
Separate relevant chapters or sections from textbooks for focused study guides or course material compilation.
Scanned Document Organization
Remove blank pages, extract misfeeds, or reorganize scanned files with rotation and reordering before archival.