How to extract pages from a PDF without using Adobe (tutorial)

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Digital textbooks have come a long way in the past couple of years. Increasing storage sizes on tablets and access to cloud storage has made it easier than ever to store textbooks on your mobile devices. Digital textbooks offer many advantages to the classic paper textbook. It is more green because no paper is used and your back will thank you for not having to lug around 50 pounds of textbooks in your backpack. There is only one problem. Have you ever tried opening a 1000+ page textbook on your tablet or phone? It will not load. I have my textbook stored in Google Drive and I could not for the life of me open it on my iPad. The file was too large and I could only access it on my laptop. I prefer to read articles and textbooks on my iPad because it gives a similar feeling to reading a physical book. This could be an issue specific to Apple products, but luckily I found a solution that worked for me. Extract pages from your original PDF to smaller size chunks. I broke my original 1000+ page PDF into manageable 30-40 pages and saved each chapter as a separate PDF.

How to extract pages from a PDF

  1. Drag desired PDF into a new Google Chrome window.
  2. Click on Print icon located on top right corner or type Ctrl + P.
  3. On the left, you’ll see all your printers available in the destination section. Click the Save as PDF option.
  4. Click the option to define your own page ranges that you want to extract.
  5. Save new extracted PDF.

*This will only work on a laptop

There are different methods to extract pages from a PDF. If you Google “extract pages from a PDF”, the main methods will be done through Adobe Acrobat. You won’t be able to do this on the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Most people do not have Adobe Professional unless it it is through their work. The paid version of Adobe Acrobat Professional is a whopping $449. The option to extract pages on Adobe Acrobat Reader (what most people have) will run you $12.99/month. The method above is free and is built into Google Chrome. These smaller chunks should now open up with ease on your tablet. Happy studying!

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