How to split a PDF on your Mac

You don't need a website to split a PDF on a Mac. Preview pulls pages out when you drag their thumbnails to the desktop. Automator, also built in, can break a PDF into one file per page. Koi splits it in one drag, into a file for every page or for ranges you type, like 1-3, 4, 5-.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Everything about Koi here is what version 1.13 does. Preview's steps come from Apple's own guides, checked October 21, 2026, and the Automator action was checked on macOS 27.

This is the quickest built-in way to pull a few pages into a new PDF.

1. Open the PDF in Preview.
2. Choose View, then Thumbnails, so the pages show in the sidebar.
3. Click the first page you want. Command-click to add more, or Shift-click to take a run of pages.
4. Drag the selected thumbnails out of the sidebar onto your desktop. They become a new PDF there.

The original keeps every page. Apple's guide describes dragging thumbnails to the desktop to make a new PDF, and moving pages between two open PDFs.

To cut a PDF into three parts this way, you repeat it three times, picking the pages each time. It works well for one or two pieces and gets slow past that.

Automator comes with every Mac and has a Split PDF action that makes a one-page PDF from each page. Set it up once as a Quick Action.

1. Open Automator from Applications, choose New Document, then Quick Action.
2. Set “Workflow receives current” to PDF files, in Finder.
3. Drag Split PDF from the Library into the workflow, and choose the folder under “Save Output to”.
4. Choose File, then Save, and call it Split PDF.
5. In Finder, Control-click a PDF and choose Quick Actions, then Split PDF.

It's every page or nothing: Split PDF has no page ranges. For a 200-page PDF that's 200 files.

1. Start dragging the PDF in Finder or on your desktop.
2. While you're still holding it, press and hold Shift. The PDF wheel opens round your pointer.
3. Drop the PDF on Split. Its pages show on the right.
4. Under Split into, pick Every page, or Page ranges and type them, like 1-3, 4, 5-. “5-” runs to the last page.
5. Each page is marked with the file it goes in, File 1, File 2, or Left out, so you see the result before you save.
6. Click Save, which counts the files for you, like Save 3 files. They go in a new folder beside the PDF, “Report split”, which shows in Finder.

• Each range you type becomes one file, so 1-3, 4, 5- gives three PDFs.
• Pages you don't name are left out, which is how you extract just the pages you want.
• If you type a page the PDF doesn't have, Koi says so and tells you how many pages it has.
• The original is never touched. When its folder can't be written to, the folder goes to Downloads.
• A PDF a password keeps shut doesn't open.

It all runs on your Mac with Apple's PDFKit, and nothing is uploaded. More on the Shift wheel.

• Page numbers: the ranges count pages from the first page of the file, not the numbers printed on them. A book whose page 1 comes after ten pages of front matter starts at 11.
• Bookmarks: a split file only has the pages you gave it, so a table of contents that points to other pages won't take you anywhere useful.
• Size: each part keeps the fonts and pictures it uses, so the parts together can be bigger than the original. Compress them afterwards if you need to email them.
• Locked PDFs: one that needs a password to open has to be opened and saved without it first.

• The signature page of a contract: type just its number, like 7, and you get a one-page PDF to sign and send back. Every other page is left out.
• A batch of scanned receipts: a scanner often saves the whole pile as one PDF. Every page turns it back into one file for each receipt, ready for your expenses.
• A book or a long report by chapter: type the chapters' first and last pages, like 1-24, 25-60, 61-, and each chapter becomes its own PDF.

In Preview, each of these means selecting the right thumbnails and dragging them out, once per file. In Koi it's one line typed, and the page grid shows which file each page lands in before anything is saved. Receipts you split can go straight into Koi's expense tracker.

Pulling two pages out once? Preview's thumbnails are already on your Mac. Need every page as its own file now and then? Build the Automator Quick Action. Splitting PDFs by ranges often, or want to see what goes where before you save? Use Koi's Split, and the same wheel merges PDFs, reorders and rotates pages and compresses a PDF.

Preview and Automator are free. Koi has no free plan: Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. The Shift wheel uses no AI, so it never counts against Koi's usage. See the plans.