There are two useful ways to split a PDF on a Mac. PdfVala separates every page into its own PDF and packages the results for download. Preview is better when you want to extract one page or a selected group into a new document.

Option 1: Split every page in Safari

Open the Split PDF tool in Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Edge, or Brave.
Select one PDF from Finder or drag it into the upload area.
Choose Split PDF. Each source page is copied into a separate one-page PDF.
Preview a result and download one page, download pages individually, or create a ZIP containing all pages.

Important: the current PdfVala splitter separates all pages; it does not yet accept a custom range such as 3–8. Use Preview for a selected group, or download only the individual page results you need.

Option 2: Extract selected pages with Mac Preview

Open the PDF in Preview.
Choose View → Thumbnails so page thumbnails appear in the sidebar.
Select one thumbnail. Hold Command while clicking to select non-adjacent pages, or Shift-click to select a continuous range.
Drag the selected thumbnails from Preview to a Finder folder. macOS creates a new PDF containing those pages.
Open the new file and confirm the page order before sharing it.

You can also choose Print with the desired pages selected and use the PDF menu in the print dialog to save a new file. The drag-to-Finder method is usually faster.

Extracting pages is different from deleting pages

Extracting creates a new file and leaves the original intact. Deleting modifies the current document. If the goal is to remove confidential or unwanted pages while retaining the rest, use Remove PDF Pages and inspect the downloaded copy.

When to use each method

Goal	Best method
Create a separate PDF for every page	PdfVala Split PDF
Extract pages 2, 4 and 7 into one PDF	Preview thumbnail selection
Keep the document except for unwanted pages	Remove PDF Pages
Share all one-page results together	PdfVala ZIP download

Privacy on a Mac

Preview is fully local. PdfVala also processes the selected PDF in your browser and does not send document contents to its splitting server. The page code must load first, and the Mac’s available memory determines the practical size limit.

Troubleshooting

The PDF asks for a password

Open it with the authorized password first. If you have permission to remove that restriction, use Unlock PDF before splitting.

The browser slows down on a large scan

Close memory-heavy tabs, keep the Mac connected to power, and try Preview if you only need a small group of pages. Image-heavy scans require more memory than text PDFs.

Dragging a thumbnail rearranges the original instead

Drag the selected thumbnail out of the Preview window and drop it into a Finder folder. Keep an untouched copy of the source document until you verify the result.

ZIP download is blocked

Allow the download when Safari prompts, then check the Downloads button and Finder’s Downloads folder. You can always use the page-level download buttons instead.

Split every PDF page on your Mac

Create one PDF per page, then download one result or the complete ZIP.

Open Split PDF

How to Split a PDF on Mac