How do I extract a single page from multi page PDF?

Have you ever been sent a multi page PDF, but just needed one page out of it? Did you know how to do it, or did you just end up taking a screen shot of the bit you need?

I am often sent multiple versions of logos, or graphics as a PDF, but usually only need one of the slides. Out of habit I always do the same process and kind of assumed that was what everyone did. It turns out they don’t! Recently I have explained this process to a few different people, so thought I’d lay it down as a mini tutorial that you can bookmark or refer back to if needed.

Open PDF in Preview

Open your PDF using Preview (this tip is specifically for Mac users). Click on the top left drop down menu (these are your viewing options) and select Thumbnails.

Drag a page from a PDF

Find the thumbnail of the page or slide you need. Then, simply drag it out of preview either to your desktop, or a folder. That’s it! You’ve now extracted a single page or slide from a multi page PDF! This duplicates the page, so will have no effect on your original PDF.

Your individual PDF will be named the same as the original with “(dragged)” at the end, so you’ll probably want to rename this.