A well-made report already knows where its own sections begin — that is what the bookmark outline is. Splitting at those entries means the parts land on real boundaries rather than at page numbers someone typed by hand, and each file comes out named after the chapter it holds. The depth control matters on a document with nested headings: top level gives you chapters, two levels gives you chapters and their sections. Pages before the first bookmark become a leading part of their own, so a title page and a contents list are never silently dropped.
Features
Cuts at the document's own outline, not at page numbers you have to look up
Each part is named after the bookmark that opens it
Depth control for documents with nested chapters and sections
Pages before the first bookmark are kept as a leading part
Entries landing on the same page are collapsed into one cut
Says clearly when a document has no bookmarks at all
10 parts including "Front matter", "Chair's Statement" and "Financial Review".
The eleven pages before the first bookmark become the leading part.
Common errors & troubleshooting
The document has no bookmarks. — Bookmarks are an outline a producer adds deliberately, and many exports have none. Split by page range instead, or by a phrase that starts each section.
Too many parts came out. — The depth is set below the chapter level, so subsections are cutting too. Set it to top level only.
Two chapters ended up in one part. — Their bookmarks point at the same page, so there is no page boundary between them. A cut can only happen where a page starts.
A part name has odd characters in it. — Characters a filename cannot carry are replaced when the name is built. The part contents are unaffected.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is a PDF bookmark?
It is an entry in the document outline — the collapsible tree a reader shows in its sidebar. Each entry points at a place in the document, which is what makes it a reliable cut point.
Why does the front matter become its own part?
Because dropping it would lose pages. Anything before the first bookmark is kept together as a leading part rather than being attached to chapter one.
Do the parts keep their own bookmarks?
No. Each part is a fresh document made from copied pages, so the outline does not carry over. The chapter name lives in the filename instead.
Can I split at only some of the bookmarks?
Not individually — the depth setting is the control. If you need arbitrary boundaries, use a page-range split.
Does this work on a scanned book?
Only if someone added an outline afterwards. A raw scan has no bookmarks, because nothing in it knows where the chapters are.
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