Split PDF Documents at Pages Where Page Size or Orientation Changes

AutoSplit Pro plug-in for Adobe® Acrobat®

Introduction

Manually dividing a large PDF into individual files containing fewer pages can be a slow process. The AutoSplit™ plug-in offers a way to identify where pages of a document change orientation or overall size, and split it into separate smaller documents.

The tutorial steps below demonstrate how to carry out this procedure on an input document containing groups of portrait and landscape pages. The goal is to split it into multiple files that contain pages of the same orientation. Every time a change in size/orientation is detected, the following pages are extracted into a separate file, and so on.

Input Document Description

The input document used in this example is a PDF file containing groups of portrait and landscape pages:

The two page types feature completely different page content. All portrait pages contain sample payslips. All landscape pages contain sample timecards stating hours worked and general employee information. They are ordered in the document as pairs - x2 payslips and x2 timecards for each employee. After splitting the document, output files will contain only payslips and timecards for a single person. The names that feature on each page will also be extracted and used to name them.

Prerequisites

You need a copy of Adobe® Acrobat® along with the AutoSplit™ plug-in installed on your computer in order to use this tutorial. Both are available as trial versions.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1 - Open a PDF File

Start Adobe® Acrobat® application and open a PDF file using “File > Open…” menu to open a PDF document that needs to be processed.

Step 2 - Open “Split Document Settings” Menu

Select “Plug-ins > Split Document…” from the main Acrobat® menu to open “Split Document Settings” dialog.
[⚡ How to locate Plugins menu ⚡].

Step 2 - Configure the Splitting Method

Under "Split Method", check "Use separator:" and select the "Page Where Size Changes" option from the drop-down list of separator types.

Step 3 - Edit Tolerance Settings

Press the "Options..." button.

Use this dialog to modify a 'tolerance' amount for identifying changes in page size. The default tolerance is 40mm - the PDF will be split at pages where changes in width or height are greater than this amount. For example, reducing this figure to a much smaller amount would mean that page size is considered to be 'different' with only subtle differences.

In this example, the input PDF only contains standard portrait and landscape A4 pages. Width and height exceed a 40mm difference between the two page types.

Press "OK" to proceed.

Step 4 - Choose an Output Folder

Press the "Browse..." button to choose an output location for the split files.

Locate and select a suitable folder, then press "Select Folder".

Step 5 - Configure a File Naming Scheme

Use the file naming section to configure a naming scheme for output documents. Optionally add a name prefix, base filename - or one or more custom filename components by pressing "Add...".

In this example, output files will be named with an "N_AnnJohnson" format. Each starting number corresponds to a group of matching page sizes that have been extracted from the input document. First and last names will be extracted from the first page of each extracted 'group' of matching page sizes.

For instance, the first two pages of the input document are portrait and contain payslips for "Ann Johnson". The third page is a horizontal timecard, so the first two pages will be extracted separately.

This configuration searches for the presence of the text "First:" and "Last:", and extracts any text that follows (all payslips and timecards feature the employee name in this format). The output filename for the first output document following this split operation will be "1_AnnJohnson.pdf".

Step 6 - Optional: Save and Reuse Settings

Press "Save Profile..." to save these settings. They can be loaded later via the "Load Profile..." button, to process future documents using the same method. Settings will be saved with an *.apr file extension in the chosen folder.

Step 7 - Split the Document

Press "OK" to split the document.

Press "OK" again to confirm the procedure.

Step 8 - Check the Results

A results dialog lists the output files that have been created. Press the "Open Output Folder" button to view them.

Check the contents of the chosen output folder. Open a file in Acrobat to inspect its contents.

The input file has been split into x4 documents containing pages of the same orientation.

Output breakdown:

File "1_..." = Ann Johnson's payslips (portrait).

File "2_..." = Ann Johnson's timecards (landscape).

File "3_..." = Linda Anderson's payslips (portrait).

File "4_..." = Linda Anderson's timecards (landscape).

Batch Processing

Use Action Wizard tool to run splitting on multiple files at once or on all files in folder. This functionality is available in AutoSplit Pro and Acrobat Pro versions.

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