5 applications to split PDF files into several pieces …

An essential format for exchanging documents inside and outside the company, PDF is often the source of small practical questions. In the series “we must surely be able to do it, but how? “, here is one of the star problems associated with PDF documents: cutting.

A PDF document that is too large, which you want to divide into several parts so that you can send it by email; a PDF to send to a client, if only you could remove the pages that contain confidential data; this PDF manual is too long, of which it would be useful to archive only certain pages.

For all this, what you need is a software tool specialized in handling PDF documents. And this tool must also offer this precise cutting function. Here are five of the best applications of their kind, which will allow you to shape your PDFs à la carte.

PDF Studio Standard

With PDF Studio Standard, you have a truly complete tool to manipulate your PDF files the way you want. To extract several pages from an original PDF, PDF Studio Standard is effective, but you have to “juggle” a little if the pages to be extracted are not consecutive.

This defect is compensated by the wealth of functions and options offered for other manipulations: you can delete pages, insert new ones, merge PDFs, replace, rotate, crop, etc. The software also allows you to add watermarks, insert headers and footers, extract text or even export pages as image files (JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF). The total.

PDF Studio Standard costs around 70 euros. The trial version offered for download allows you to use all functions, but a mark is placed on the created documents. Note that selective cutting of isolated pages, which is lacking in PDF Studio Standard, is offered in a Pro version which costs a little more (around 100 euros).

PDF Architect

Software with an elegant and pleasant interface, PDF Architect is a modular suite dedicated to the PDF format. In the free basic version, PDF Architect only offers a limited number of functions, but this is sufficient for the purpose here.

To be more precise, this is actually “just” enough, because the editing functions are limited to deleting single pages (one by one). Therefore, you will have to manually delete each page that you do not wish to keep in the lightweight PDF. If there are a lot of them, it can be a little daunting, but it works well.

Still with this free version, you can have fun rotating pages and reorganizing PDF documents by moving certain pages. It’s fun, and maybe even useful in some cases.

7-PDF Split & Merge

While PDF Studio Standard and PDF Architect are generalists in the PDF format, 7-PDF Split & Merge is a specialist. It is of course interested in PDF documents, but only for cutting (its split side) and merging (its merge side). Only two things, therefore, and which he does very well.

The interface is in English, a little technical, but we find all the necessary options to effectively control the cutting of a PDF file. In particular, or rather especially, the possible selection of page intervals and isolated pages.

7-PDF Split & Merge is free software for private use only. For commercial use, you must purchase a license (around $30). Note that in the free version, there are also usage limitations for cutting (50 possible pages maximum at a time) and for merging (5 documents maximum at a time).

CutePDF Editor

Unlike the applications presented above, CutePDF Editor does not need to be installed: it is a service that runs directly in your web browser, provided that Flash technology is installed (and enabled). And no need to register or activate an account, it works straight away.

Being a web service, the main disadvantage is confidentiality (even if the service is secure). You also have to take into account the loading time of your original PDF file. But for the rest, the efficiency is there.

The interface is in English, which is not really annoying. One click on the Open File button to open the original PDF document, then another click on Extract Pages (on the left) to display the extraction options. It’s clear, it’s well done, and it works very well.

Google Chrome

What if the king of PDF cutting was… Google Chrome? This browser has two PDF functions which, combined, make the operation extremely simple. The trick is that Google Chrome not only knows how to open and display PDF documents, but also saves what it displays in PDF format. It is therefore sufficient to exploit these two possibilities.

In practice, after opening the PDF document in Google Chrome (with drag and drop), start printing with the Ctrl + P shortcut. Click on the Modify button in the Destination section to change printer, and choose Save as format PDF.

Next, indicate the pages to extract in the input box of the Pages section, for example 1,5,8-12 for pages 1, 5 and 8 to 12. Click the Save button, and that’s it!

Of course, you absolutely don’t have to use Google Chrome to surf the Internet. But you will still need to install the software to use this surprising use of PDF cutting.