Extract pages from a PDF as a new file

Step-by-step: extract specific pages into a new PDF

The ScoutMyTool tool lives at scoutmytool.com/pdf/extract-pages. Runs client-side via pdf-lib — no upload, no signup, no quota.

1. Drop your PDF. One file at a time. Loads into a sandboxed memory buffer; confirm in DevTools Network if the source is sensitive.
2. Pick pages by thumbnail OR type a range.Click each thumbnail to mark it for extraction (highlighted in blue). Or type directly: 3, 8, 12-15, 1, 30-, 5. Mix-and-match — typing adds to a click-selection.
3. Pick output mode. Default is "One combined PDF" — all extracted pages concatenated into a single output. Toggle "One file per range" if you want a separate PDF per comma-group in the range list, delivered as a zip. Useful for chapter-block extracts: 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 produces three chapter-PDFs in a zip.
4. Click Extract & Download. The tool builds a new page tree referencing only the chosen pages and writes the new PDF. Bookmarks pointing into the extract are renumbered to match the new file; bookmarks pointing outside are dropped. Output begins downloading.
5. Verify the output. Open the extracted PDF in any reader. Page count = number of pages in your range list. Bookmarks visible should match the sub-sections that fall within the extract range.
6. Two-pass for combine-with-extracts-from-other-files. Run extract on each source PDF separately, then assemble the outputs with Merge PDF. Both passes client-side, no upload at either step.
7. If the source is password-protected. Unlock first via Unlock PDF.

How ScoutMyTool compares to Smallpdf, iLovePDF and PDF2Go

All four offer page extraction. The differences are around range-syntax flexibility, whether you can output multiple files in one operation, and whether the file leaves your device.

Extract vs Delete vs Split — pick the right one

Three related operations, frequently confused:

• Extract — output contains ONLY the pages you named; everything else is dropped. Use when you want a focused excerpt.
• Delete via Delete Pages — output contains everything EXCEPT the pages you named. Use when you want the document mostly intact but with a few pages removed.
• Split via Split PDF — output is multiple files containing all the original pages, partitioned at your chosen boundaries. Nothing is lost; the document is just divided.

Mechanically all three rewrite the page tree per ISO 32000-1 §7.7.3¹; they differ only in which pages they include in each output.

Related PDF tools on ScoutMyTool

• Extract Pages — the tool this guide is about.
• Delete Pages — the inverse operation.
• Split PDF — partition without dropping pages.
• Merge PDF — assemble extracts from multiple sources into one final PDF.
• Combine PDFs and Images — broader assembly workflow including image inserts.
• Reorder PDF — common pre-step when the pages you need are scattered across the source.
• Unlock PDF — required first if your source is password-protected.

Frequently asked questions

What's the page-range syntax — can I extract several disjoint groups in one go?

Yes. The "Pages to extract" field accepts a comma-separated list of single pages and ranges. Examples: "3" extracts only page 3 into a 1-page PDF; "3-7" extracts pages 3 through 7 into a 5-page PDF; "3, 8, 12-15" extracts pages 3, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 into a 6-page PDF; "1, 30-" extracts page 1 and pages 30 through the end. By default the output is one combined PDF containing the extracted pages in the order you listed them. To get separate output files per range, toggle "One file per range" — useful when extracting chapter-blocks from a textbook.

How is "extract" different from "split"?

Extract gives you only the pages you ask for; everything else is dropped. Split gives you all the original pages, just partitioned into multiple files at the boundaries you specify. If a 100-page PDF is split at page 50, the output is two PDFs of 50 pages each — every original page survives somewhere. If the same PDF is extracted with "30-50", the output is one PDF of 21 pages — the other 79 are not in any output. Use extract when you want a focused excerpt; use Split PDF when you want to break a large document into manageable chunks without losing anything.

Do bookmarks and outline survive into the extracted PDF?

Bookmarks whose destination is among the extracted pages are kept and their page-number references are recomputed for the new file. Bookmarks pointing at pages that did not make the cut are dropped (they would otherwise point at nothing). This is the right behaviour for chapter-extraction: extracting "Chapter 4: pages 47-62" produces a clean Chapter-4 PDF whose outline shows just Chapter 4 sub-sections, not the orphaned references to chapters 1-3 and 5-N.

Are form fields and annotations preserved?

Yes, on the extracted pages. Form fields, annotations, and hyperlinks anchored to pages that are in the extract set are carried over to the new PDF exactly as they were. Hyperlinks that pointed to pages OUTSIDE the extract set are converted to "destination not found" or, if you toggle the relevant option, rewritten to point at the nearest in-set page — useful for keeping a table-of-contents functional when its targets are partially absent.

Is my PDF uploaded to your servers?

No. Extraction runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib. Your file is loaded into a sandboxed memory buffer, the page tree is rewritten to reference only the extracted pages, and a new PDF is serialised and delivered as a download. Verify in DevTools Network — no outbound requests during the operation. This matters for sensitive documents (medical records, financial statements) where you want to share only the relevant pages without uploading the whole file.

Can I extract pages from multiple PDFs at once?

Not in one click — the tool takes one source PDF at a time, which keeps the page-range syntax unambiguous (you always know which page 5 you mean). To extract from multiple files, run extract once per source, then combine the results via Merge PDF. This two-pass workflow is also what you want for assembling an excerpt collection from a library of PDFs.

How big can the source PDF be?

No hard cap — extraction runs client-side. The page tree rewrite is fast (a 1,000-page PDF extracts in well under a second once loaded). The main cost is the initial file load into a JS ArrayBuffer, which is bounded by available device RAM rather than by any per-file cap the tool imposes. Files up to several hundred MB work without trouble on a modern laptop.