Split a PDF in half

One upload, nothing to set: the document comes back as two PDFs, the front half and the back half, in a zip. A document with an odd number of pages has no exact middle, so the extra page goes into the first file and the result tells you both lengths — eleven pages become six and five. Pages are copied rather than redrawn, so neither half is changed in any other way.

It divides the document, not the paper. If you have a scan of an open book — two pages side by side on one sheet — this is not the tool; the question below has the recipe.

Split it in half

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

How it works

  1. Upload the document. One PDF of two pages or more. There is no form: the halves are worked out from the page count.
  2. Run it. The cut goes after the middle page, and with an odd count the first half takes the extra one. A note tells you which lengths you got, so you never have to count.
  3. Download the two files. They come back in one zip, named after your file with -1 and -2 on the end. -1 is the front half.

What this tool does not do

  • It divides the document, not the paper. If you have a scan of an open book — two pages side by side on one sheet — this is not the tool; the question below has the recipe.
  • The cut cannot be moved. Split by page numbers is the tool when the halves are not equal, or when you want three parts.
  • Both halves are new documents, so bookmarks are not carried over and a form’s field definitions are left behind.
  • A one-page document is refused: there is no half to split off it.

What happens to your file

The file is uploaded because Split PDF in half 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

Which half gets the extra page when the count is odd?
The first. Eleven pages come back as six and five, and the result says so rather than leaving you to count. If you need it the other way, split by page numbers after page five instead.
I want to split each page down the middle — a scan of an open book. Can this do that?
Not this tool: it divides the document, not the sheet. Crop the file twice, once keeping the left half of every page and once the right, then run alternate and mix on the two results to interleave them back into reading order.
Can I split into three or four parts?
Split by page numbers does that in one pass — write the pages to cut after, or set a fixed number of pages per file. Running this tool again on each half works too, but the arithmetic gets away from you by the third round.
Is the original changed?
No. Your upload is left as it is and deleted on the usual schedule; the two halves are new files you download. Nothing is written back to the copy on your computer.