Split PDF API

Split PDF documents into smaller, organized files using a PDF splitting API built for extracting specific sections, separating batches, packet routing, and automated document workflows.

Try for free

Precise PDF splitting

Split PDFs by page ranges or document sections so downstream systems receive the exact file boundaries they need for routing, review, storage, or delivery.

Built for automated document routing

Use REST, Postman, JavaScript, Python, Java, C#, PHP, or HTTP to break large PDFs into smaller outputs for packet separation, export jobs, intake workflows, and archive-ready processing pipelines.

Simple and transparent pricing

Select a package that suits your needs according to the number of credits you wish to spend. Each API tool and action has a specific credit cost.

Try it out

This example will split your document into two documents. The first PDF will contain all pages except the last five, and the second PDF will contain the remaining five pages.

Try it out in three steps

Add a PDF named document.pdf to your project folder.
Run the code from the same folder.
Open first_half.pdf in your project folder to view the results.

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" \
  -o first_half.pdf \
  --fail \
  -F document=@document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document",
          "pages": {
            "end": -6
          }
        }
      ]
    }'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" \
  -o second_half.pdf \
  --fail \
  -F document=@document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document",
          "pages": {
            "start": -5
          }
        }
      ]
    }'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" ^
  -o first_half.pdf ^
  --fail ^
  -F document=@document.pdf ^
  -F instructions="{\"parts\": [{\"file\": \"document\", \"pages\": {\"end\": -6}}]}"

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" ^
  -o second_half.pdf ^
  --fail ^
  -F document=@document.pdf ^
  -F instructions="{\"parts\": [{\"file\": \"document\", \"pages\": {\"start\": -5}}]}"

package com.example.pspdfkit;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import okhttp3.MediaType;
import okhttp3.MultipartBody;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.RequestBody;
import okhttp3.Response;

public final class PspdfkitApiExample {
  public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {
    final RequestBody firstHalfBody = new MultipartBody.Builder()
      .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
      .addFormDataPart(
        "document",
        "document.pdf",
        RequestBody.create(
          MediaType.parse("application/pdf"),
          new File("document.pdf")
        )
      )
      .addFormDataPart(
        "instructions",
        new JSONObject()
          .put("parts", new JSONArray()
            .put(new JSONObject()
              .put("file", "document")
              .put("pages", new JSONObject()
                .put("end", -6)
              )
            )
          ).toString()
      )
      .build();

    final Request firstHalfRequest = new Request.Builder()
      .url("https://api.nutrient.io/build")
      .method("POST", firstHalfBody)
      .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
      .build();

    final RequestBody secondHalfBody = new MultipartBody.Builder()
      .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
      .addFormDataPart(
        "document",
        "document.pdf",
        RequestBody.create(
          MediaType.parse("application/pdf"),
          new File("document.pdf")
        )
      )
      .addFormDataPart(
        "instructions",
        new JSONObject()
          .put("parts", new JSONArray()
            .put(new JSONObject()
              .put("file", "document")
              .put("pages", new JSONObject()
                .put("start", -5)
              )
            )
          ).toString()
      )
      .build();

    final Request secondHalfRequest = new Request.Builder()
      .url("https://api.nutrient.io/build")
      .method("POST", secondHalfBody)
      .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
      .build();

    executeRequest(firstHalfRequest, "first_half.pdf");
    executeRequest(secondHalfRequest, "second_half.pdf");
  }

  private static void executeRequest(final Request request, final String outputFileName) throws IOException {
    final OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient()
      .newBuilder()
      .build();

    final Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

    if (response.isSuccessful()) {
      Files.copy(
        response.body().byteStream(),
        FileSystems.getDefault().getPath(outputFileName),
        StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING
      );
    } else {
      // Handle the error
      throw new IOException(response.body().string());
    }
  }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using RestSharp;

namespace PspdfkitApiDemo
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var client = new RestClient("https://api.nutrient.io/build");

      var firstHalfRequest = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
        .AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
        .AddFile("document", "document.pdf")
        .AddParameter("instructions", new JsonObject
        {
          ["parts"] = new JsonArray
          {
            new JsonObject
            {
              ["file"] = "document",
              ["pages"] = new JsonObject
              {
                ["end"] = -6
              }
            }
          }
        }.ToString());

      firstHalfRequest.AdvancedResponseWriter = OutputFileResponseWriter("first_half.pdf");

      var secondHalfRequest = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
        .AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
        .AddFile("document", "document.pdf")
        .AddParameter("instructions", new JsonObject
        {
          ["parts"] = new JsonArray
          {
            new JsonObject
            {
              ["file"] = "document",
              ["pages"] = new JsonObject
              {
                ["start"] = -5
              }
            }
          }
        }.ToString());

      secondHalfRequest.AdvancedResponseWriter = OutputFileResponseWriter("second_half.pdf");

      client.Execute(firstHalfRequest);
      client.Execute(secondHalfRequest);
    }

    static Action<Stream, IHttpResponse> OutputFileResponseWriter(string outputFileName)
    {
      return (responseStream, response) =>
      {
        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
          using (responseStream)
          {
            using var outputFileWriter = File.OpenWrite(outputFileName);
            responseStream.CopyTo(outputFileWriter);
          }
        }
        else
        {
          var responseStreamReader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
          Console.Write(responseStreamReader.ReadToEnd());
        }
      };
    }
  }
}

// This code requires Node.js. Do not run this code directly in a web browser.

const axios = require('axios')
const FormData = require('form-data')
const fs = require('fs')

;(async () => {
  const firstHalf = new FormData()
  firstHalf.append('instructions', JSON.stringify({
    parts: [
      {
        file: "document",
        pages: {
          end: -6
        }
      }
    ]
  }))
  firstHalf.append('document', fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'))

  const secondHalf = new FormData()
  secondHalf.append('instructions', JSON.stringify({
    parts: [
      {
        file: "document",
        pages: {
          start: -5
        }
      }
    ]
  }))
  secondHalf.append('document', fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'))

  await executeRequest(firstHalf, "first_half.pdf")
  await executeRequest(secondHalf, "second_half.pdf")
})()

async function executeRequest(formData, outputFile) {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post('https://api.nutrient.io/build', formData, {
      headers: formData.getHeaders({
        'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
      }),
      responseType: "stream"
    })

    response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(outputFile))
  } catch (e) {
    const errorString = await streamToString(e.response.data)
    console.log(errorString)
  }
}

function streamToString(stream) {
  const chunks = []
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    stream.on("data", (chunk) => chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk)))
    stream.on("error", (err) => reject(err))
    stream.on("end", () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString("utf8")))
  })
}

import requests
import json

def process_first_half():
  response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
    headers = {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
    },
    files = {
      'document': open('document.pdf', 'rb')
    },
    data = {
      'instructions': json.dumps({
        'parts': [
          {
            'file': 'document',
            'pages': {
              'end': -6
            }
          }
        ]
      })
    },
    stream = True
  )

  if response.ok:
    with open('first_half.pdf', 'wb') as fd:
      for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
        fd.write(chunk)
  else:
    print(response.text)
    exit()

def process_second_half():
  response = requests.request(
    'POST',
    'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
    headers = {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
    },
    files = {
      'document': open('document.pdf', 'rb')
    },
    data = {
      'instructions': json.dumps({
        'parts': [
          {
            'file': 'document',
            'pages': {
              'start': -5
            }
          }
        ]
      })
    },
    stream = True
  )

  if response.ok:
    with open('second_half.pdf', 'wb') as fd:
      for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
        fd.write(chunk)
  else:
    print(response.text)
    exit()

process_first_half()
process_second_half()

<?php

function process_first_half() {
  $FileHandle = fopen('first_half.pdf', 'w+');

  $curl = curl_init();

  curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
      'instructions' => '{
        "parts": [
          {
            "file": "document",
            "pages": {
              "end": -6
            }
          }
        ]
      }',
      'document' => new CURLFILE('document.pdf')
    ),
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
      'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
    ),
    CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
  ));

  $response = curl_exec($curl);

  curl_close($curl);

  fclose($FileHandle);
}

function process_second_half() {
  $FileHandle = fopen('second_half.pdf', 'w+');

  $curl = curl_init();

  curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
      'instructions' => '{
        "parts": [
          {
            "file": "document",
            "pages": {
              "start": -5
            }
          }
        ]
      }',
      'document' => new CURLFILE('document.pdf')
    ),
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
      'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
    ),
    CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
  ));

  $response = curl_exec($curl);

  curl_close($curl);

  fclose($FileHandle);
}

process_first_half();
process_second_half();

POST https://api.nutrient.io/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--customboundary
Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "end": -6
      }
    }
  ]
}
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

(document data)
--customboundary--

POST https://api.nutrient.io/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--customboundary
Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document",
      "pages": {
        "start": -5
      }
    }
  ]
}
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

(document data)
--customboundary--

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Implementation options

Validate split workflows before wiring them into packet-routing or document-delivery systems

Teams evaluating split PDF workflows usually need to confirm both the page-range behavior and the easiest integration path. Nutrient supports REST, Postman, JavaScript, Python, Java, C#, PHP, and raw HTTP so developers can test PDF splitting — separate documents by page range, chapter, or content boundary — with real files before connecting it to intake, export, routing, or archive workflows. Continue to merge PDF if the workflow also needs to combine documents, getting started for API key setup, the Postman collection for the fastest first request, Processor API pricing for credits, or the Processor API overview for broader DWS evaluation of page, packet, and document splitting workflows.

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