I cannot split PDF into separate pdfs

[Oladotun35264994vecl]

Hello All

I am trying to split a single pdf  file into 2 separate pdf files.

But when I follow instructions (Split option) I get an error that

"File already has 2 pages or fewer"

and nothing happens

Thanks

[jane-e]

But when I follow instructions (Split option) I get an error that

"File already has 2 pages or fewer"

By @Oladotun35264994vecl

Please show a screenshot of the choices you made when you use Split. For example, are you choosing to split at every page or every two pages or at bookmarks? 

Jane

[Oladotun35264994vecl]

Hello Jane, thanks for looking at this, here are the screen shots

I am on a Mac

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

@Oladotun35264994vecl 

You have a two-page document and are trying to split it into every two pages. Change the number of pages to 1 to split at every page.

Jane

[Oladotun35264994vecl]

THANK YOU, THAT WORKED

[jane-e]

You're welcome @Oladotun35264994vecl 😊

Jane

[Melodic_portfolio4952]

Nice information.

[Pj Naber]

I believe it's a problem with Acrobat. I have my setting to split document pages to 1 page, but it splits it into 2 pages even though I did not request that. This has never been an issue before. I have to close Acrobat to get this to work correctly, which is a pain to do this every time I need to split a document.

[jane-e]

@Pj Naber 

Please show a screenshot of Organize Pages and the Split function.

Jane

[allison_k]

Any advice on what to do when you have a two-page document, set it to split every 1 page, and you still get the "File already has two pages or fewer" error? The kicker is that Acrobat will successfully split 1 PDF per session, though - if I open five 2-page PDFs, the first one will split but the rest will give me this error. I have to fully quit Acrobat, reopen a single file, split the pages, quit Acrobat, open the next file, etc. I'm running the most recent version, and this only started happening a month or so ago.

[brendan_5361]

I started having this issue recently too. I found a workaround, but it would be nice if this issue got fixed.

If you change the Pages to a number greater than the total number of page and click split, you'll get the same error message. Then change it back to 1 and it will split correctly

[brendan_5361]

Screenshots of the workaround

[allison_k]

I'm glad it's not just me! That workaround did the trick, it's at least less time consuming than closing and reopening the program. Thank you so much for sharing!!

[AnandSri]

Hello @allison_k, and brendan_5361

I hope you are doing well, and sorry for the trouble you had.

Could you please check what version of Acrobat is installed on the machine? Go to Acrobat (Mac)/Menu (Windows) Help > About Acrobat, and share the screenshot of the version. Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on your machine: 25.001.20844 for Windows and 25.001.20841 for Mac, as of November 3, 2025. Check for any pending updates by navigating to Menu > Help> Check for Updates. Install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

Check if the PDF has any restrictions (encryption/protection) or invalid bookmark names (especially if you were splitting by bookmarks). Additionally, would it be possible to share a sample PDF file that reproduces the issue? If yes, please share the file directly in private/direct message only to me. Click on my community profile name, then select "Message." What is the version of the operating system installed?

Thanks,

Anand Sri.