NovaNovaPDFTool's split tool has three modes. This guide explains each one, shows what they produced on a real 34 MB scan, and covers the upload-limit problem most people are trying to solve when they split a file.
Which mode do you need?
- Custom Ranges, when you know exactly which pages belong together: chapters of a manual, or one contract inside a bundle of paperwork.
- Fixed Interval, when the document has no natural sections but needs breaking up: a 300-page archive split into 20-page chunks, for example.
- Target Size, when the limit is a file size rather than a page count, such as a portal that rejects uploads over 10 MB.
How to split a PDF, step by step
- Open the split tool. Go to novapdftool.com/split on a computer or phone.
- Add your PDF. Drop one PDF onto the box or click Browse files. The page count appears once every page has been read.
- Pick a mode. Choose Custom Ranges, Fixed Interval or Target Size, depending on whether you know the pages, want even chunks, or have a size limit.
- Fill in the numbers. For Custom Ranges, set the from and to page of each range and click + Add Range for more. For Fixed Interval, type how many pages each file should have. For Target Size, type the size per part and pick KB or MB.
- Click Split file. One resulting file downloads as a PDF. Two or more come back together in one zip file named after your original.
- Check the parts. Open the zip, look at the size of each part, and open the first and last file to make sure the page breaks are where you expect.
What we measured
How we tested: we ran the live NovaPDFTool code in Chrome 155 on a Windows laptop (Intel Core i5-12450H, 16 GB RAM) on 17 October 2026, using sample files we built for testing. Times are the middle of three runs. A phone or an older computer will take longer, so treat the times as a comparison between settings, not a promise. The file was a 40-page colour scan at 200 DPI (A4) of 34.35 MB. Reading its 40 pages took about 2.5 seconds before any mode could be chosen.
| Setting | Files | Pages per file | Size per file | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target Size 5 MB | 8 | 5 | 4.29 MB | 0.77 s |
| Target Size 10 MB | 4 | 11, 11, 11, 7 | 9.44–9.45 MB, last 6.01 MB | 0.72 s |
| Fixed Interval, 10 pages | 4 | 10 | 8.59 MB | 0.67 s |
| Custom Ranges 1–5 and 12–20 | 2 | 5 and 9 | 4.29 MB and 7.73 MB | 0.32 s |
| Same ranges, merged into one | 1 | 14 | 12.02 MB | 0.30 s |
Every part stayed under its target, and the eight 5 MB parts added up to 34.35 MB, the same as the original. Splitting moves pages into new files. It doesn't make anything smaller.
Custom Ranges: when you know the pages
Each range row has a from page and a to page, with a thumbnail of the first and last page so you can confirm you picked the right spot. Click + Add Range for each extra file you want. A range like 12 to 20 includes both ends, so it gives you 9 pages.
Tick Merge all ranges into one PDF file to get a single file instead, with the ranges in the order you listed them. This works like extracting pages. Note the file name: it is built from the first and last page in the file, so our pages 1–5 plus 12–20 came out as pages-1-20.pdf even though pages 6 to 11 are not in it. Rename it before you share it.
If a range doesn't fit the document, such as 12 to 45 in a 40-page file, the tool stops and tells you which range is invalid instead of guessing.
Fixed Interval: even chunks
Type a number and the document is cut into files of that many pages, in order. If the page count doesn't divide evenly, the last file is shorter: 40 pages split every 15 would give 15, 15 and 10. The cut ignores content, so it won't respect chapter breaks. Use Custom Ranges when those matter.
The output files are named after the pages they hold, like pages-1-10.pdf and pages-11-20.pdf, so they sort in the right order in any folder.
Target Size: getting under an upload limit
Target Size works out the average size of a page, then how many whole pages fit in your limit, rounding down. Our scan averaged about 0.86 MB a page, so a 5 MB target gave 5 pages per part (5.8 rounded down), and 10 MB gave 11. Then it splits into equal groups of that many pages.
Two things follow from that:
- You may get more parts than simple division suggests. 34.35 MB divided by 5 MB is less than seven, but only five whole 0.86 MB pages fit under 5 MB, so the tool made eight parts of five pages.
- Uneven pages can break the limit. The estimate assumes pages are similar. A text report with a few full-page photos can produce one part far bigger than the rest. Check each part's size before you upload.
It is an estimate on text-heavy files too, because pages share fonts. Our 28.8 KB, 20-page text report split at 10 KB per part gave four files of 9.2, 9.1, 9.2 and 3.5 KB. That's under the limit, but they added up to 31.0 KB, slightly more than the original, since each part carries its own copy of the shared parts of the file.
A single page can never be split further. If one page is bigger than your limit, compress the PDF first with Compress PDF, then split the smaller file.
Split, extract or remove?
Split is built for producing several files. If you only want one shorter copy, Extract Pages keeps just the pages you choose, and Remove Pages keeps everything except the pages you mark. All three leave your original file untouched.