The pages are copied unchanged — text, images, links — so the chapters are as good as the original. If the document has no bookmarks the option is disabled and says so; use “every N pages” for even parts or Extract pages to hand-pick a chapter’s range instead. The reverse works too: Bindery’s Merge writes a real outline, so chapters merged back together get their bookmarks again. Splits count as one job on the free plan regardless of how many chapters come out, and nothing about the document is transmitted anywhere.
How it works
- Drop the PDF and open Split; choose “at bookmarks”
- Check the parts on the page board — one per top-level bookmark, plus front matter
- Split and download the ZIP of named chapter files
Questions people ask
How are the chapter files named?
After the bookmark that starts each part, turned into a safe file name, prefixed by the original document’s name. Pages before the first bookmark become a part called front-matter. Duplicate titles get a number so no file overwrites another. The ZIP lists them in document order.
My PDF has no bookmarks — what now?
Bindery disables the bookmark option and tells you why. Split “every N pages” gives even parts, and Extract pages lets you type the exact range of a chapter, such as 12-31, or click its pages on the board. Both produce the same untouched page copies.
Are nested bookmarks used?
Splits happen at the document’s top-level bookmarks — the chapter level — rather than at every sub-heading, which would produce a file per paragraph. If you need a finer cut, extract the range yourself; the board shows every page so the boundary is easy to find.