How to extract pages from a PDF with PDF by Zaweba

Often you need only part of a PDF. One invoice from a month's statement, the two pages of a contract that concern a particular client, a single chapter of a manual to send to a colleague. Sending the whole document is clumsy and sometimes shares more than you should. Extract pages in PDF by Zaweba takes out just the pages you choose.

Two ways to extract

The first sends the chosen pages to a new tab. You get a new document containing only those pages, open in front of you, where you can check it, add to it and save it under a new name. This is the one to use when the extracted pages are going to become a document of their own, perhaps with a cover page added or some comments before you send it.

When extracting to a tab you can choose to delete the pages from the original at the same time. That turns extraction into a move: the pages leave one document and become another. It suits splitting off an appendix into its own file, or taking a finished section out of a working draft.

The second way saves the chosen pages as separate files. Each page becomes its own PDF. This is the quick route when every page is a separate item, such as a batch of scanned receipts or a set of certificates, and each needs to be filed or sent on its own.

Choosing the pages

Select the pages in the thumbnails first. Click one, add others to the selection as you would in any Windows list, and then extract. For patterns, Pages > Select pages can pick a list you type, or all the odd, even, landscape or portrait pages.

Check the selection before extracting. A page missed or added by accident is easy to fix at this stage and a nuisance later.

Jobs it suits

Sharing only what is needed. If a supplier needs page 14 of a contract, send them page 14 and nothing else. It keeps private details in the rest of the document private.

Filing. A scan of a stack of mixed papers can be broken into the pieces that belong in different folders.

Making handouts. Pull the relevant pages from a long report into a new tab, add a cover page, and you have a short pack for a meeting.

Archiving finished sections. Extract with delete to move completed parts of a large working document into their own files, keeping the working copy shorter.

Saving and naming the results

If you delete from the original, remember to save it, or the pages will still be there next time you open it. And if you didn't mean to delete, Ctrl+Z puts the pages back in the original.

Name the new files clearly. Extracted documents are easy to lose among similar ones. A name that says what they are and where they came from saves confusion later.

Extract, split or copy

PDF by Zaweba has three related tools, and choosing the right one saves time. Extract pages takes the pages you pick. Split cuts the whole document into parts by a rule, such as every N pages or at each bookmark. Copy and paste moves pages into another document you already have open. For pulling out a few pages for a particular purpose, extract is usually the most direct.