Extracting documents from a PDF containing multiple documents

You might have a large PDF containing more than one document. This could happen if, for example, you had in the past engaged a firm of solicitors to deal with correspondence for you, and you have now asked for copies of all the correspondence they sent to, or received from, third parties. If the firm has a paper-based filing system where they store paper copies of everything for a case, including emails, in a cardboard file, they may simply collect together all the paper correspondence, load it into a scanner and scan it to a single PDF to send to you.

Or you might find that at the Disclosure of Documents stage of litigation the other side sends you copies of their paper documents all in one PDF. This is not good practice but, depending on the tribunal, it may not be against the rules.

Even if that does not happen you may find that the other side sends a composite document as a single PDF. For example an Epitome of Title document will often be sent as a single PDF containing the schedule of documents (deeds such as conveyances, certified results of official searches etc.) followed by copies of the documents themselves, but you will normally want the schedule and each document to be separate documents so that they can, for example, be loaded with the schedule being the main document and each deed etc. being a sub-document.  

Another possibility is that when sending you a copy of a statement as a PDF the other side have sent you copies of the exhibits referred to in the statement all combined in a single PDF rather than separately.

If, for whatever reason, you have a PDF containing multiple documents then you need to extract the individual documents. There are a number of programs you can use to do this. I prefer PDF X-Change Editor (available only on Windows) but Sejda (available on both WIndows and Mac and online) is a close second.

PDF X-Change Editor

Using PDF X-Change Editor you can either extract the documents using the Organise - Extract Pages function specifying page ranges (e.g. 1,2-4,7-13, 14-22) with the save each page range to separate file option or, if the large PDF is bookmarked, you can use the Organise - Split Document function to save time typing in page ranges. 

Then open each extracted document in turn and rename (using File - Rename) it as necessary using the information within the document to determine the type of document and date.

Sejda 

With Sejda you can use the Split by Pages function to extract by specifying page ranges or Split by Bookmarks if the large PDF is bookmarked. Whilst Sejda does have a rename function it does not allow you to copy/paste text from the PDF into the name panel and so is not as useful, in my view.  

Note: If you are using the Bundledocs system you may have noticed that Bundledocs has its own split document facility. Whilst it is possible to first load a large PDF to Bundledocs and then use the Document Settings - Advanced - Split option within Document Settings to extract the individual documents (and then delete the large PDF from Bundledocs) it is easier if you instead use PDF X-Change Editor or other PDF software such as Sejda to extract the documents outside of Bundledocs before naming and loading them. Not only does PDF X-Change Editor allow you to display the contents of each document while you are typing in its new name - something the Bundledocs facility does not allow - but if you include the date in the new filename of each extracted documents in this way - e.g. Conveyance 23 Jan 1997  - the date will automatically be set in Bundledocs when you subsequently load each extracted document. By contrast if you use the Bundledocs Split facility then even if you are extracting by bookmark and the bookmark name happens to include the date Bundledocs will not automatically set the Bundledocs date for the extracted document and you will either have to do this manually for each document or else download and reload each document.  

Disclaimer

This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.

This page was lasted updated in August 2024. Disclaimer