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.

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 to  Bundledocs 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. 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. Then open each extracted document in turn and rename it as necessary using the information within the document to determine the type of document and date. 

Even if you plan to load the documents to Bundledocs  it is best to use PDF X-Change Editor before loading documents rather than use the Bundledocs Split option. Whilst it is possible to first load the 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 software such as PDF X-Change Editor to extract the documents outside of Bundledocs before loading them . Doing it this way allows you to display the contents of each document while you are typing in its new name - something the Bundledocs facility does not allow. Also  If you include the date in the new filename in this way - e.g. Conveyance 23 Jan 1997  - the date will automatically be set in Bundledocs when you subsequently load the extracted documents. 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 in the extracted 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 November 2023. Disclaimer