How do I split a PDF into separate files with an API?

To split a PDF with an API, you typically:

1. Upload or provide the PDF
2. Choose how to split it:
   • every page into its own file
   • ranges of pages
   • split by bookmarks/sections
3. Call the API
4. Download the returned files, usually as a ZIP or individual links

Common API approaches

1. Page-by-page split

Each page becomes a separate PDF.

Example request conceptually:

POST /pdf/split
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "source_url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
  "mode": "pages"
}

2. Split by page ranges

You specify chunks like:

• pages 1–3
• pages 4–7
• pages 8–10

Example:

{
  "source_url": "https://example.com/document.pdf",
  "ranges": [
    { "start": 1, "end": 3 },
    { "start": 4, "end": 7 }
  ]
}

3. Split by bookmarks

If the PDF has bookmarks/outline entries, the API can create one file per bookmark section.

---

Typical cURL example

curl -X POST "https://api.example.com/pdf/split" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F "mode=pages"

This often returns something like:

{
  "job_id": "abc123",
  "download_url": "https://api.example.com/downloads/abc123.zip"
}

---

Python example

import requests

url = "https://api.example.com/pdf/split"
files = {"file": open("document.pdf", "rb")}
data = {"mode": "pages"}

resp = requests.post(url, files=files, data=data, headers={
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
})

print(resp.json())

---

If you’re building the API yourself

You’d usually:

• parse the PDF
• extract selected pages
• write each chunk to a new PDF
• return the split files or a ZIP

Libraries commonly used:

• Python: pypdf or PyPDF2
• Node.js: pdf-lib
• Java: Apache PDFBox

---

Notes

• Large PDFs are often handled asynchronously as background jobs.
• Some APIs support password-protected PDFs.
• Watch for limits on file size and page count.

If you want, I can show:

• a real example using a specific API like Adobe, PDF.co, or Cloudmersive
• or how to implement the split endpoint yourself in Python/Node.js.