Accounting systems love to export a month of invoices as a single PDF, and every document inside it begins the same way — "Invoice No", "Statement of Account", a customer reference. That repeated phrase is a better cut point than a page count, because the documents are not all the same length. Type the phrase, or a regular expression if the pattern varies, and each match opens a new part. Where separator sheets were inserted between documents instead, switch the cut to fall after the match and the separators end each part rather than starting the next one.
Features
Match a plain phrase, or a regular expression for a varying pattern
Cut before the match for repeated headers, or after it for separator sheets
Case-sensitive matching when the distinction matters
Shows which pages matched before anything is split
Every page is accounted for — no page is dropped between parts
Warns when the document has no text layer to search
Parts download individually or together as a ZIP
How to use the Split PDF by Text
Drop the PDF onto the page and let the text be read
Type the phrase that starts each document
Choose whether the cut falls before or after the match
Check the parts, then split and download
Example
Input
march-invoices.pdf — 84 pages, phrase "Invoice No", cut before
Output
31 parts, one per invoice, ranging from 1 to 5 pages each.
Invoices vary in length, which is why a fixed page count would not work.
Common errors & troubleshooting
Nothing matched even though I can see the words. — The PDF is a scan, so the words are pictures. Run it through text recognition first and the phrase becomes searchable.
Far too many parts came out. — The phrase appears more than once per document — in a footer, or in a summary table. Choose something that appears exactly once, such as a heading with a colon after it.
The regular expression will not compile. — Check the brackets and the escapes. A backslash before a digit class needs doubling in some editors, and an unclosed group is the usual culprit.
The first part contains several documents. — The first match is not on page one, so everything before it became a single leading part. That usually means a cover page, or a phrase that the first document spells differently.
Frequently asked questions
Should I cut before or after the match?
Before, when every document starts with the same header — the match opens a part. After, when separator sheets were inserted between documents — the match closes the part it is on.
Is the match case-sensitive?
Not by default, which is usually what you want. Turn it on when case is the only thing distinguishing your phrase from ordinary prose.
Can a match be split across two lines?
The search runs over each page as a whole, so a phrase broken across a line break inside the page is still found. A phrase split across two pages is not.
What happens to pages that match nothing?
They stay with the part that precedes them. No page is ever dropped, and the parts always cover the document end to end.
Can I use this to split by customer name?
Yes, if the name appears at a predictable point in each document. A regular expression such as Customer:\s+\w+ often works better than a literal name.
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