PDF Page Extractor
Keep only the pages you need, or remove the ones you do not. Page order follows exactly what you type, so you can reorder while extracting.
Order matters when keeping pages — 3,1,2 produces a document in that order. Reverse ranges work too: 10-1.
How to use the PDF Page Extractor
- Drop in the PDF you want to work with.
- Choose whether the pages you list should be kept or deleted.
- Type the pages —
1-3, 7, 12-15— and press Extract.
Writing page ranges
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
5 | Page 5 only |
1-10 | Pages 1 through 10 |
1-3, 7, 12-15 | Pages 1, 2, 3, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15 |
3, 1, 2 | Those three pages, reordered |
10-1 | Pages 10 down to 1, reversed |
Duplicates are ignored, so 1-5, 3 gives five pages rather than six. Page numbers are the physical positions in the file, which may differ from printed page numbers if the document has unnumbered front matter.
Extract, split or delete?
These three overlap, and the right one depends on what you want to end up with.
- Extract produces one new document from the pages you select, and lets you reorder them. Use it to pull a single chapter or a set of scattered pages into one file.
- Split produces several documents from one. Use it when the source needs to become multiple separate files.
- Delete is extract inverted — keep everything except what you list. Easier when you want to remove a handful of pages from a long document.
Removing pages is also the most reliable way to shrink a PDF. Cutting a 200-page report down to the 12 pages you need beats any compression setting.
Frequently asked questions
Can I reorder pages while extracting?
Yes. Pages are copied in exactly the order you type, so 5, 1, 3 produces a document with those pages in that sequence.
Does extracting lose quality?
No. Pages are copied as complete objects. Text stays selectable, images are not re-compressed, and the result is identical to the source pages.
Why is the extracted file not proportionally smaller?
Each page carries the resources it references — embedded fonts in particular. A one-page extract from a document with several large fonts keeps a full copy of those fonts.
How do I find the right page numbers?
Open the PDF in any viewer and use the page position shown in the toolbar, not the number printed on the page. Cover pages and roman-numeral front matter make these differ.
Related tools
Split a PDF into separate files by range or page count.
Combine several PDFs into one, in the order you choose.
Rotate PDF pages permanently, all or selected.
Reduce PDF file size, with an honest account of the trade-offs.
Extract the text content from a PDF.