Extract Pages: settings and best results

What does Extract Pages do?

Extract Pages copies the pages you choose out of a PDF into a new PDF, on your own computer. Use it to send a buyer only the product pages of a catalog, to keep the signed page of a contract, or to share a short excerpt of a long report. The original file is not changed.

You can type the same pages for every PDF in the queue, or pick pages on thumbnails, file by file. The chosen pages are saved as one new PDF, or as one PDF per page.

01Step 1: Add your PDFs

Click Tools in the sidebar, open the PDF tab and click Extract Pages. You can also type "extract pages" in the search box at the top.

Drop your PDFs on the queue, or click it to pick files. To add more later, use Add more. Files that are not PDFs are set aside under Not applicable, and folders are not accepted, so select the files inside a folder instead.

12345

1. 1Pages to extract
2. 2Output
3. 3Pick pages per file
4. 4A file in the queue
5. 5Run extract

03Step 3: Pick pages on thumbnails (optional)

When each PDF needs different pages, click Pick pages per file…, or click Adjust on a file in the queue. The page picker opens with a thumbnail of every page.

• Every page is selected when you first open a file. Click Select none to start from nothing, or Select all to start over.
• Click a page to select or unselect it. Hold Shift and click another page to select every page in between.
• Use the arrows at the top, or the left and right arrow keys, to move to the next PDF. Your picks for the file you leave are kept.
• Click Done to keep your picks and close the picker.

12345

1. 1A selected page
2. 2Switch files
3. 34 of 12 selected
4. 4Select all
5. 5Done

A file you picked shows a star on its Adjust button, and the "Batch:" line counts how many files are hand-picked. For those files, your picks replace the Pages to extract field. The Output choice still applies to them.

Picks are kept while Hangar is open, so they are lost if you quit before running. For more about hands-on editors like this one, see Studios.

04Step 4: Run, then check the result

Check where the files will go: Default output folder saves them in your workspace's output folder, in an extract folder with a subfolder for today's date, such as 10-15. Click Change to pick another folder for this run. Then click Run extract.

When the run ends, each file shows Done and the size of its new PDF. With Separate files, click the count, such as "4 files", to see each page file. Click View to check the pages, and Open folder to go to the new files.

1234

1. 1Done
2. 2View
3. 3Saved to
4. 4Open folder

The results panel may show a large amount of space "saved". That only reflects the pages you left out: the pages you kept are not compressed. For more on reading results, see See and compare your results.

Every setting

Pages to extract

The pages taken from every PDF you have not picked by hand. Pages that a file does not have are skipped.

• RangePages and ranges separated by commas, such as 1, 3, 5-8
• DefaultEmpty

Output

One PDF saves the chosen pages together in one new file. Separate files saves one PDF per page.

• RangeOne PDF, Separate files
• DefaultOne PDF

Pick pages per file…

Opens the page picker to choose pages on thumbnails for each file. A picked file ignores Pages to extract.

• RangeAny pages of each PDF
• DefaultEvery page selected when first opened

New files are named after the original: catalog-extracted.pdf with One PDF, or catalog-p3.pdf for page 3 with Separate files. If a file with that name is already in the folder, Hangar adds (2), (3) and so on.

Tips for the right pages

• Same pages from many files, such as the cover of every report: type them in Pages to extract and add all the files at once.
• Different pages per file: use the picker. You can mix both: type pages for most files and pick by hand for the exceptions.
• Check page numbers on the thumbnails. Pages are counted from the first page of the file, which may not match the numbers printed on the pages.
• Pages in a new order: Extract Pages always keeps the original order. To reorder, rotate or duplicate pages, use Organize Pages.
• Several pieces at once: to cut a PDF into many parts rather than keep a few pages, use Split PDF.

Why did a file fail or look wrong?

If a file can't be extracted, its row shows Failed with the reason, and the other files still finish.

• "Select at least one page to extract": the file was not picked by hand and Pages to extract is empty. Type pages in the field, or pick pages for that file.
• "None of the selected pages exist in this PDF": the file is shorter than the pages you asked for, for example page 9 of a 5-page PDF. Check its page count, or pick its pages by hand.
• "This file is password-protected": the PDF needs a password to open. Remove it with the Unlock tool first.
• "Couldn't read this PDF": Hangar already tried to repair the file and could not. Open it in another app and export it again as PDF.

If the new file looks different from the original:

• No bookmarks: bookmarks are not carried into the new file.
• A form can't be filled in any more: fillable fields may stop being fillable. What was typed stays visible.
• A link does nothing: links to pages you did not extract stop working.
• The picker shows no pages: Hangar could not count the pages when the file was added, which usually means it is slightly damaged. Type the pages in Pages to extract instead: Hangar repairs the file while extracting.

For other errors, see A file failed: what to check.

Limits

• Extract Pages accepts PDF files only.
• Pages always keep their original order, and each page can only be extracted once per file.
• Picks made in the page picker are not saved after you quit Hangar.
• PDFs that need a password to open can't be used until the password is removed.
• Everything runs on your computer and nothing is uploaded.

Keep going after extracting

Extract Pages is not a chain step. When a run finishes, click Chain another tool and pick the next tool, for example Compress or Page Numbers. Hangar loads the new files into the queue and opens that tool. To join extracted pages from several PDFs into one file, use Merge PDF.