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How can I split pdf pages into separate files in mac OS 12.3 Monterey? "Save as pdf" is now greyed out in preview print mode where I used to spit pdf pages in older OS.

How can I split pdf pages into separate files in mac OS 12.3 Monterey? "Save as pdf" is now greyed out in preview print mode where I used to spit pdf pages in older OS.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on Mar 30, 2022 7:30 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 31, 2022 3:45 PM

Create a new folder on your Desktop named PDFs. Create a new Automator Quick Action that allows you to select a PDF in the Finder and then splits the PDF into individual pages in that PDFs folder. The folder name is arbitrary.


  1. Launch Automator from your /Applications folder
  2. At the dialog, select New Document > Quick Action > Choose.
  3. At the top of the Quick Action use these settings
    1. Workflow receives current [ PDF files ] in [ Finder ]
    2. Change nothing else in this Quick Action header
  4. Drag and drop the Split PDF action from the PDFs Library onto the large blank workflow window.
  5. Change the Save Output to [ PDFs ] folder instead of the default Desktop.
    1. Output File Name remains Same as Input Name.
  6. Save the Quick Action with the name Split PDF
  7. Quit Automator.


Select any multi-page PDF in the Finder and with a right-click, choose Quick Actions > Split PDF. Then look in the PDFs folder on your Desktop.



Selecting input.pdf on the Desktop results in the following split PDF files:


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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 31, 2022 3:45 PM in response to mariospca

Create a new folder on your Desktop named PDFs. Create a new Automator Quick Action that allows you to select a PDF in the Finder and then splits the PDF into individual pages in that PDFs folder. The folder name is arbitrary.


  1. Launch Automator from your /Applications folder
  2. At the dialog, select New Document > Quick Action > Choose.
  3. At the top of the Quick Action use these settings
    1. Workflow receives current [ PDF files ] in [ Finder ]
    2. Change nothing else in this Quick Action header
  4. Drag and drop the Split PDF action from the PDFs Library onto the large blank workflow window.
  5. Change the Save Output to [ PDFs ] folder instead of the default Desktop.
    1. Output File Name remains Same as Input Name.
  6. Save the Quick Action with the name Split PDF
  7. Quit Automator.


Select any multi-page PDF in the Finder and with a right-click, choose Quick Actions > Split PDF. Then look in the PDFs folder on your Desktop.



Selecting input.pdf on the Desktop results in the following split PDF files:


Mar 30, 2022 8:07 PM in response to mariospca

Under the View menu, select Contact Sheet.


Now your PDF file will shows each page as a small image on a contact sheet. You can now select and drag to a folder each individual page or select multiple pages from the contact sheet and drag them as an ensemble to extract more than one page together as a file to be deposited into that folder.

How can I split pdf pages into separate files in mac OS 12.3 Monterey? "Save as pdf" is now greyed out in preview print mode where I used to spit pdf pages in older OS.

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