Split a PDF into one file per bookmark

If your document already has an outline — the list of chapters a reader shows in its sidebar — this uses it as the cutting plan. Every bookmark at the level you choose starts a new file, and each file is named after its bookmark, so you get ‘Schedule 2 - Charges.pdf’ rather than ‘report-4.pdf’. Whatever sits in front of the first bookmark, usually a cover and a contents page, is kept as a file of its own.

It needs an outline. A PDF with no bookmarks is refused — create bookmarks can build one from the headings, the pages or text it matches, and then there is something to cut at.

Split at the bookmarks

No account. Your upload is deleted after 2 hours, the result after 24 hours.

How it works

  1. Check the document has bookmarks. Open it in a reader and look at the outline or sidebar panel. A PDF with no outline is refused, because there is nothing to cut at — create bookmarks can build one first.
  2. Choose the level. Level 1 is the top of the list, usually chapters or schedules. Level 2 cuts at their sub-headings instead, which gives you more and smaller files. Levels run to 6.
  3. Download the named parts. One zip, one PDF per bookmark. Bookmarks that lead nowhere are skipped and counted in a note, so a silent gap in the middle of a report is not possible.

What the options do

The form above lists the options this tool is running today, straight from the server. This is what they are for.

Bookmark level to split at
How deep in the outline to cut. Level 1 is the top — in a contract that is usually the schedules, in a report the chapters. Level 2 cuts at their children instead: more files, each smaller. A level with no bookmarks in it is refused with a message rather than quietly handing back the whole document, so if level 3 comes back empty, work down from 1. Bookmarks are found through both kinds of link a real document contains, a plain destination and a named one defined elsewhere.

What this tool does not do

  • It needs an outline. A PDF with no bookmarks is refused — create bookmarks can build one from the headings, the pages or text it matches, and then there is something to cut at.
  • Two bookmarks on the same page cannot each start a file. The first one wins and gives the part its name.
  • Bookmarks that point at nothing — common in files assembled by older tools — are skipped, and the result counts them for you.
  • Bookmark titles become file names, so slashes, colons and quotation marks are replaced with spaces and anything over 80 characters is cut short.
  • The parts do not keep an outline of their own. Each is a plain document of its chapter’s pages.

What happens to your file

The file is uploaded because Split PDF by bookmarks runs on our server rather than in the browser tab. It is kept for at most 2 hours and the result you download for 24 hours, then a scheduled job deletes both — a job has to be able to read the file while it runs, and you have to be able to retry a failed conversion without re-uploading. Neither needs longer.

Nothing about the contents is logged, and no one reads your documents. The retention page lists the same numbers the code enforces, and the privacy policy says who can reach the storage they sit in.

Questions

The tool says my PDF has no bookmarks, but it has a contents page.
A contents page is printed on the paper; bookmarks are a separate outline stored inside the file and shown in the reader’s sidebar. Create bookmarks can build one from the document’s headings or from text it matches, and then this tool has something to cut at.
What happens to the cover page before the first chapter?
It becomes the first file, and a note tells you which page the first bookmark was on. Covers, title pages and contents pages belong in the download rather than glued to the front of chapter one.
How do I get more, smaller files?
Raise the level. Level 1 cuts at the top of the outline, level 2 at every sub-heading beneath it, and so on to level 6. Ask for a level the document does not have and it says so instead of returning nothing.
What are the parts called?
Each is named after the bookmark that starts it, cleaned up for a file system: slashes, colons and quotation marks become spaces and titles over 80 characters are cut short. A bookmark with an empty title falls back to a numbered name.
Can I split a scanned book into chapters this way?
Only if someone has already added bookmarks to it, because a scan has none of its own. Split by text is usually the better route there, if each chapter opens with a recognisable line — and it needs the scan to have been through OCR first.