pdfsplit – Command-Line PDF Splitter

Split long PDFs (lecture slides, books, papers) into smaller, manageable chunks — ideal for summarizing with ChatGPT or Claude.

Cross-platform
No install needed
Works fully offline
Just download and run

---

Quick Start

Step 1: Download

Follow the steps for your OS OR get the latest version from the Releases page:

OS	File name
Windows	pdfsplit-windows.exe
macOS	pdfsplit-macos
Linux	pdfsplit-linux

---

Step 2: One-Time Setup (Run from Anywhere)

Windows

1. run

   Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/sachaheizmann/pdfsplit/releases/download/v1.0.3/pdfsplit-windows.exe" -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\pdfsplit.exe"

2. Move it to C:\Program Files\PDFSplit\
3. Add that folder to your System PATH:
   • Search for "Environment Variables"
   • Edit system Path, click "New", and add:

     C:\Program Files\PDFSplit\
     

4. Open a new Command Prompt and run:

pdfsplit --help

macOS

run

wget https://github.com/sachaheizmann/pdfsplit/releases/download/v1.0.3/pdfsplit-macos -O pdfsplit
chmod +x pdfsplit
sudo mv pdfsplit /usr/local/bin/pdfsplit

If blocked on first run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/pdfsplit

Now run from anywhere:

pdfsplit -h

Linux

run

wget https://github.com/sachaheizmann/pdfsplit/releases/download/v1.0.3/pdfsplit-linux -O pdfsplit
chmod +x pdfsplit
sudo mv pdfsplit /usr/local/bin/pdfsplit

Then try:

pdfsplit -h

Usage Examples

Split one PDF into chunks of 10 pages:

pdfsplit -f "MySlides.pdf" -p 10

Split all PDFs in the folder into 15-page parts:

pdfsplit -all -pages 15