How to Split the Pages in a PDF file

Have you purchased a PDF file (secured with a password or not) and found yourself stuck with splitting the pages that you want to assign to your students for distance learning? For example, if you have purchased any one of my Math Mysteries, the PDF file contains both the student sheets, answer sheets, teacher instructions, and printable awards. Obviously, you don't want to be sending the entire file home to them. So how do you split these secured documents to contain the student pages only? Continue reading this post for a simple solution to this common issue.   

First, I have been working on updating a lot of these mystery packet files to contain a Google Slides option that contain the student pages only. However, Google Slides are not an option for everyone. So if you want to simply recreate a pdf file with the student pages only, follow the steps below:

STEP 1. Save the original PDF file to your computer.

STEP 2. Either open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader OR if you don't have that program, right click and select to open it in the Google Chrome Internet Browser. (See image example below).

STEP 3. Decide which pages you want to include for your students. For example, in the Case of the Super Bad Superhero, I want my students to only see the story article, the suspect pages, the student clue math worksheet pages, and the mystery declaration page. So, in this example, I only want to keep pages 5 - 12.

STEP 4. Click on the print ​option. 

STEP 5. Open the drop down menu for 'Pages.' Select Custom.

STEP 6. Then type in the page numbers that you want to keep in your new file. Do dashes for a range, or separate different page numbers using commas.  So if I want all pages from 5 - 12 use the dash like in the example below. If you only wanted say pages 5, 8, and 10, type the numbers in and separate each with commas: 5, 8, 10 

STEP 7. Select the 'Destination' drop down menu (where you usually see your printer model listed as a default.) Select the option 'save as pdf.' 

STEP 8. Where it usually says 'print,' the button will change to 'save.' Select 'save' then type what you would like to save your new split PDF file as e.g. The Case of the Super Bad Superhero Student Copy.  

Now you should have a new PDF file saved onto your computer with the pages you wanted to keep for your kids only.