I Only Need 5 Pages From a 100-Page PDF: How to Extract Them

You receive a 100-page PDF from a colleague, client, university, vendor, or government website.

But you don't need the entire document.

You only need pages 42 to 46.

Now what? Downloading, printing, or sending the entire 100-page PDF isn't necessary.

The practical solution is to extract the pages you need and create a new PDF.

This is one of the most useful PDF tasks for everyday work, study, and document management.

A Real-World Situation

Imagine you're working on a client project. Your client sends you:

Product-Catalogue-2026.pdf

File details:

• 120 pages
• 35 MB
• Hundreds of products

Your team only needs information about products on pages 64–69.

Instead of sending the entire catalogue to your colleague, you can extract those pages into:

Required-Products.pdf

Now you have a smaller and more focused document.

Why Extract Pages From a PDF?

There are many situations where you don't need an entire document. You might only need:

• A specific section of a report
• Several pages from a contract
• A chapter from a book
• Selected pages from a catalogue
• A few pages from a research paper
• Specific invoices
• Selected pages from a financial statement
• Certain pages from a user manual

Extracting the relevant pages makes the document easier to share and manage.

Example 1: You Need Pages 10–15 From a Report

Suppose you receive a 75-page project report. But your manager asks:

“Send me the methodology section.”

The methodology is on pages 10–15. Instead of attaching all 75 pages:

75-page PDF → Extract pages 10–15 → 6-page PDF → Send to manager

This is faster for both you and the person receiving the document.

Example 2: You Only Need One Chapter From a Book

A student downloads a 300-page textbook. The upcoming exam covers only Chapter 7.

Chapter 7 is on pages 185–210.

Instead of repeatedly opening the 300-page PDF, the student can extract the relevant pages and create:

Chapter-7-Revision.pdf

This creates a focused study document.

Example 3: A Client Needs One Section of a Contract

A business receives a 60-page contract. The client asks:

“Please send me the payment terms section.”

Suppose the relevant section is on pages 25–28. You can extract those pages into a separate PDF.

However, be careful with contracts and confidential documents. Follow your organization's document-sharing and privacy policies before extracting or sharing sensitive information.

Example 4: You Need Selected Pages From an Invoice Bundle

Imagine your accounting team receives: Invoices-October.pdf

It contains 80 pages. You only need invoices for three vendors.

If those invoices appear on pages 12, 31, and 57, you can extract those pages into one smaller PDF. Instead of sharing the entire invoice bundle, you share only the relevant pages.

How to Extract Pages From a PDF

The process is simple.

1. Step 1: Find the original PDF. Locate the document containing the pages you need.
2. Step 2: Open a PDF splitting tool. Use an online tool such as BunnyPDF's Split PDF tool.
3. Step 3: Select the required pages. Choose the pages you want to extract. For example: 42–46 or selected pages such as: 8, 15, 27, 43.
4. Step 4: Create the new PDF. The selected pages are turned into a separate PDF.
5. Step 5: Check the result. Open the new file and make sure all required pages are present.
6. Step 6: Rename it. Use a descriptive filename. Instead of split.pdf use Client-Product-Section.pdf.

Extracting Pages vs Splitting a PDF

These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but the practical goal can be slightly different.

Extracting pages

You want to keep only selected pages.

Splitting a PDF

You want to divide a large PDF into multiple sections.

Both approaches can be useful depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

What If the Pages Are Not Consecutive?

You don't always need a continuous range.

Suppose you need: Pages 4, 18, 29, 44 and 71

You can select those individual pages and create one new PDF. This is particularly useful for reports, catalogues, research papers, and large document collections.

Why Extracting Pages Can Be Better Than Sending the Full PDF

A smaller, focused PDF has several advantages.

• Easier to understand: The recipient doesn't have to search through irrelevant pages.
• Easier to share: A smaller file is generally easier to send and upload.
• Faster to download: Smaller documents can be quicker to transfer.
• Better organization: You can create separate PDFs for different topics or departments.
• Less unnecessary information: You can share only the pages that are relevant, where appropriate.

What If the Original PDF Is 100 MB?

Extracting pages can help here too.

Suppose you have a 100 MB PDF. But the pages you need account for only a small portion of the document.

Instead of compressing the entire 100 MB file, you can first extract the required pages.

100 MB PDF → Extract 10 pages → 8 MB PDF

Now you have a much smaller document. If necessary, you can compress it further.

Best Workflow for Large PDFs

For a large document, use this sequence:

Select → Extract → Compress → Check → Share

• Select: Identify the pages you actually need.
• Extract: Create a new PDF containing only those pages.
• Compress: If the new PDF is still too large, compress it.
• Check: Verify that the content is readable and complete.
• Share: Send the final document through your normal approved sharing method.

BunnyPDF for Extracting PDF Pages

BunnyPDF can be useful when you need to work with large PDF documents without sending the entire file.

For example:

100-page PDF → BunnyPDF Split PDF → Select pages 25–30 → 6-page PDF → Share

This workflow is useful for students, employees, freelancers, consultants, accountants, researchers, business owners, and project managers.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Sending the entire document unnecessarily

If the recipient only needs five pages, don't automatically send all 100 pages.

Forgetting page numbering

Remember that the page number shown inside a PDF may not always match the PDF viewer's page index if the document contains a cover or introductory pages.

Not checking the extracted PDF

Always open the final file before sending it.

Using unclear filenames

A filename such as document-final-2.pdf is difficult to understand later. Use Project-Methodology-Pages-10-15.pdf instead.

Sharing confidential information

Extracting pages does not automatically make a document safe to share. Make sure the selected pages don't contain confidential information that the recipient shouldn't receive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

You don't always need the entire PDF.

If someone sends you a 100-page document and asks for five specific pages, extracting those pages is usually much more practical than sending the entire file.

The simple workflow is:

Find the pages → Extract them → Check the PDF → Share it

And if the resulting PDF is still too large: Compress it.

With BunnyPDF, common tasks such as splitting and compressing PDFs can become part of a simple everyday document workflow.