Automatically Split Multipage PDF by Page Ranges

Case:

Is it possible to split a single PDF file into multiple PDF files by page ranges with FolderMill? For example, a single PDF output file contains letters for multiple clients; each client letter is 3 pages. Currently, FolderMill allows me to split a PDF into one-page files. However, I need these letters to be split into 3-page increments:

  • Page 1-3 for Client 1
  • Page 4-6 for Client 2
  • Page 7-9 for Client 3, etc.

Solution:

Yes, you can divide a large document into different parts. FolderMill can extract pages from documents not only as single-page files but also as separate combined files containing only required pages. To automatically separate PDF or TIFF files into pages, set a unique page range for each Action when configuring the Convert to PDF or Convert to Image (for TIFF format).

Automatically Split Multipage PDF into Page Ranges with FolderMill

How to split PDF by page ranges step by step:

  1. Create a new Hot Folder. 
  2. Add a new Action Set and select Convert to PDF Action

  3. For each client, you can create a separate subfolder:

    Convert to PDF Action parameters

  4. Having this window opened, press Ctrl + Alt + i on your keyboard to open advanced Action settings:

    Advanced settings of Convert to PDF Action

    Set the desired page numbers for PageRange within double quotation marks, e.g., "1-3,7,10-15". Then click OK.

  5. Repeat these steps by adding more Convert to PDF Actions within this Hot Folder (in the same or a separate Action Set) with specific page ranges for different clients:

    Client 1 PageRange="1-3"
    Client 2 PageRange="4-6"
    Client 3 PageRange="7-9"

    Tip: If you want to send only the first page to one folder, and all the rest of them to another, you can configure Actions like this: PageRange="1" and PageRange="2-999".

    Don't forget to specify a different subfolder for each recipient (e.g., C:\FolderMill Data\Hot Folders\1\Output\Client 1). In the end, you should have something like this:

    Automated PDF splitting with FolderMill

  6. Click OK, then Apply Changes and start real-time processing by clicking the Start button on the FolderMill Control Panel. 

Similarly, you can configure FolderMill to split PDF or another multipage document into TIFF-pages. In this case, select Convert to Image Action, select Image format: TIFF and follow the same procedure.