How to Split a PDF File on Mac With 2 Ways (macOS Sonoma Included)

Most people are more inclined to deal with PDF files because they're the most used file format for presenting digital material and are highly secure. In the case of large PDFs or if you need to allocate certain pages of a PDF to various people for collaboration, you will need to split PDF pages. So, here are the methods for how to split a PDF file on Mac.

Part 1. How to Split a PDF on Mac With UPDF (Two Easy Ways)

UPDF for Mac gives you all the tools you need to split, edit, annotate, convert, and organize PDFs on Mac. Large PDF files may be easily split into smaller pages with it. There are two different ways to split a PDF on Mac with UPDF. One is to split your PDF by page numbers and the other is by extracting the pages you need. You can learn how to use these methods by following the below guides.

Way 1. How to Split a PDF into Multiple Files on Mac by Splitting?

Here are the instructions on how to split a PDF on Mac by splitting PDF with how many pages you need for per PDF:

Step 1. Go to the "Organize Pages" Icon

Download and launch the UPDF application. Open your PDF document in it. Click on the "Organize Pages" button in the left panel as shown below.

Step 2. Separate PDF Pages on Mac

Now, click the "Split" option on the page management toolbar.

A pop-up window will appear. Now, you have the option to split PDFs by the number of pages. Let's say that you want to split a 100-page PDF. You can enter 5 in the "Split by Number of Pages" field and you will get 20 PDF files of each 5 pages.

Enter the number and click "Split". Choose the folder to save the split PDF files.

Still do not have the idea about how to use the splitting feature with UPDF on Mac? You can follow the below video guide.

Video Tutorial on How to Split PDF on Mac

Way 2. How to Split PDF Pages on Mac by Extracting

Apart from splitting PDF documents directly, UPDF offers a different approach to splitting a PDF document on Mac. The extraction feature is another function that provides splitting of PDF pages. If you need to split the PDF with pages that is not continuously placed, you can use this method. To understand how you can perform this action, look into the following steps to learn this unique approach to splitting PDF documents:

Step 1: Lead to the Organizing Tab

Download UPDF by clicking the "Free Download" button below. Open the PDF document on UPDF and lead to the "Organize Pages" section on the left side of the window.

Step 2: Proceed to Extract the PDF

Select the respective PDF page. To select multiple pages, hold the "Command" key and click on the page with the cursor.

Once selected, tap on the "Extract" button to save the extracted PDF document.

Step 3: Save Split PDF Document on Mac

Provide the name and location of the PDF document you are splitting and select "Extract."

If you don't need the pages you just extracted in your original file anymore, you just delete the pages from PDF. Then, save the original PDF file and your PDF file is split into 2 separate PDFs.

After going through the guides introduced above, you may ask why you should choose UPDF to split PDF on Mac instead of other tools. One of the reasons is that UPDF has many other features like UPDF AI, editing PDF, annotating PDF, converting PDF, etc. You can read this review article about UPDF to learn more. Highly recommend you to click the below button to test its all features and if you like this tool, you can purchase it at 61% off via clicking the below picture.

How to Choose to Use the "Split" Option or the "Extract" Option

The difference between the "Split" and the "Extract" option in UPDF is a definite one. Although the results are almost identical for both functions, their usability varies by inch. In such a case, it is important to be aware of what to choose in a respective situation.

Whenever you select the option of "Split" to divide documents, they are performed through page numbers. You specify the number of documents that are to be created, and the platform splits the documents under the defined number of pages.

On the other hand, the extract option gives you a personalized experience of splitting the PDF document with ease. You just have to select a page or multiple pages from the PDF and use the Extract feature to cast out the pages as a separate document.

Part 2. How to Split PDF on Mac With Preview?

Preview is the default app on your Mac. So you can use Preview to split PDF easily. Just follow the below guide.

Step 1. Find the PDF you want to split on Mac. Right click to select "Open with" "Preview".

Step 2. If you cannot find the thumbnail at the left side, you can go to "View" at the top menu and check "Thumbnail" to make it visible.

Step 3. Now, you can hold on "Command" and click to select the pages you want them to be one PDF. Then, drag them to the Mac desktop to create one PDF with these pages you need. Repeat the same steps for the second, third, or more PDF. Now, you split the PDF into multiple PDF pages you need.

Part 3. FAQs about Splitting PDF on Mac

Can I Save Individual Pages of a PDF on Mac?

Yes, if you wish to save a single page from a PDF document separately, you can use the split function of UPDF. You can check this method in way 1. In other cases, it is better to use the "Extract" feature to get exact results, check the extract pages method in way 2.

How Do I Save Separate Pages of a PDF on a Mac?

To save the pages of a PDF document separately, you can use the simple splitting function of UPDF to get the required results.

How Do I Split PDF Pages Without Adobe?

As we all know Adobe Acrobat is very expensive and also a bit complex to use for beginners. Many users search for a more cost-effective option with the same quality, UPDF is the best option that you can find to split PDF pages. Try it today.

Conclusion

Now, you know how to split a PDF file on Mac with UPDF and Preview. However, compared with using Preview, we recommend downloading and using UPDF for splitting PDF files on Mac as it takes time to split PDF on Mac with Preview. And with UPDF, it is super easy to split PDF with splitting and extracting per your needs. Also, it has many other features like editing PDF, annotating PDF, converting PDF, etc. Just click the below button to test all its features now.