How to Split a PDF by Custom Page Selections in Google Colab

With Python, PyMuPDF, and Google Colab, you can easily extract specific pages from a PDF and save them as a new PDF. This is useful when you need to extract individual chapters, sections, or selected pages.

1. Install PyMuPDF

Run this cell first:

2. Upload your PDF

Import Google Colab's file upload tool and select your PDF:

3. Open the PDF

Import PyMuPDF and open the uploaded file:

Note: PyMuPDF uses zero-based page indexing.

Page 1 = index 0

Page 2 = index 1

Page 3 = index 2

4. Select the pages to extract

Specify the pages you want to extract.

For example, this selects pages 1, 3, and 5:

5. Create a new PDF

Create a new PDF and copy the selected pages into it:

6. Download the new PDF

Once the PDF has been created, download it to your computer:

Complete Example

Open the notebook

Open the Google Colab notebook for this PDF mini-guide and run the code as you follow along.

[Open in Google Colab]

Ready to put this into practice? Check out the Python and PDF resources in our store.

👉 Visit the store

More PDF Python Resources

Want to learn how to Split a PDF into Separate PDF Pages in Google Colab?

Check out this mini-guide: How to Split a PDF into Separate PDF Pages in Google Colab.