Splitting is often better than compressing
When a document is too large for an upload limit, the instinct is to compress it. Frequently the better answer is to send less of it.
A 40-page scanned bundle compressed to 500 KB is 40 pages of unreadable grey. The same 500 KB spent on the two pages the portal actually asked for is a perfectly clear document. Portals with tight limits are usually expecting a single certificate, the limit is a hint about what they want.
Extraction is also lossless. Pages are copied byte for byte, so the result is exactly as sharp as the original.
Writing page ranges
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
5 | Page 5 only |
1-3 | Pages 1, 2 and 3 |
1-3, 7, 10-12 | Pages 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11 and 12 |
8- | Page 8 through to the end |
-4 | The first four pages |
Page numbers refer to positions in the file, not to any numbering printed on the pages. A document with a cover page will have its "page 1" as file page 2.
Common reasons to split
- An upload limit. Send only the pages requested.
- Privacy. A bank statement proving your address also lists every transaction you made. Extracting the page with the address shares far less.
- Separating a combined scan. Ten documents scanned in one pass, needed as ten files.
- Removing blank pages from a duplex scan.
That second one is worth dwelling on. People routinely submit a full 12-page statement when a single page was required, handing over months of spending history to whoever processes the application. Splitting is a privacy tool as much as a size one.
If it is still too large
Extract first, then compress what remains. Starting from three pages instead of forty means compression has a far easier job, and the result stays readable.
Going the other way, several files that need to become one, use the merge tool.