PDF Tools

Performs page-level operations on PDF files: splitting, extracting, deleting, and combining documents.

Overview

The PDF Tools node exposes four operations behind a single node. The first three — Split, Extract, and Delete — act on one PDF file at a time, while Combine merges an array of PDF files into one document.

Split, Extract, and Delete each support two modes:

• Manual: Specify pages or ranges directly (e.g., 1-3, 5)
• Smart: Describe what you want in plain language and let AI detect the pages

Use it to:

• Split a batch of invoices into separate files
• Extract only the pages you need from a report
• Remove blank pages or cover sheets
• Merge multiple PDFs into a single document

Parameters

The available parameters depend on the selected Operation.

Parameter	Description	Required
Operation	Split, Extract, Delete, or Combine	Yes
File Destination	Destination folder for the processed file(s)	Yes

Operation

Selects which PDF operation to run. The remaining parameters change based on this choice.

• Split, Extract, Delete — take a single File
• Combine — takes an array of PDF Files

Split

Splits one PDF into multiple files.

Parameter	Description	Required
File	PDF file to process	Yes
Split Mode	Manual or Smart (default Smart)	Yes
Split Points	Start a new file at these pages (e.g., 5, 9)	In Manual mode
Split Instructions	Describe how to split — e.g. separate each invoice	In Smart mode

The File parameter expects a single PDF file, typically from an upstream node:

{{$item.data.file}}

Extract

Keeps only the specified pages and discards the rest.

Parameter	Description	Required
File	PDF file to process	Yes
Extract Mode	Manual or Smart (default Smart)	Yes
Extract Ranges	Page ranges to extract (e.g., 1-3, 4-5)	In Manual mode
Extract Instructions	Describe pages to keep — e.g. keep all pages with tables	In Smart mode

Delete

Removes the specified pages and keeps the rest.

Parameter	Description	Required
File	PDF file to process	Yes
Delete Mode	Manual or Smart (default Smart)	Yes
Delete Ranges	Page ranges to delete (e.g., 1, 4-5)	In Manual mode
Delete Instructions	Describe pages to remove — e.g. delete all blank pages, remove cover sheets	In Smart mode

Combine

Merges multiple PDF files into a single document.

Parameter	Description	Required
PDF Files	Array of PDF files to combine	Yes

note

Unlike the other operations, Combine takes an array of files rather than a single File. An expression that resolves to a single file will not work here — the input must be an array.

Files are combined in the order they appear in the array. Use Aggregate to collect files from multiple items first:

{{$item.data.files}}

At least one file must be provided.

Settings

Setting	Description
Execution Mode	Once per item (default) or Once
Output Mode	How to output results when running once
Batch Size	Items to process concurrently (default 5)
Stop on Error	Stop workflow on failure

Output

Each operation outputs one item per resulting file. Split may produce several output files, and each of its items includes a split index:

{
  "file": {
    "type": "fileData",
    "name": "document-1.pdf",
    "fileInfo": { "type": "..." }
  },
  "splitIndex": 1,
  "totalSplits": 3
}

Extract, Delete, and Combine each output a single item containing only the resulting file:

{
  "file": {
    "type": "fileData",
    "name": "document_extracted.pdf",
    "fileInfo": { "type": "..." }
  }
}

Access in expressions:

• File object: {{$item.data.file}}
• Position in output set (Split only): {{$item.data.splitIndex}}
• Total number of files produced (Split only): {{$item.data.totalSplits}}

Examples

Split Invoices into Separate Files

[Google Drive (invoice PDF)] → [PDF Tools (Split, Smart)] → [Copy File]

Use Smart mode with instructions like separate each invoice to detect split points automatically.

Extract Specific Pages

[OneDrive Trigger] → [PDF Tools (Extract, Manual)] → [Send Gmail]

Set Extract Ranges to 1-3 to keep only the first three pages.

Remove Blank Pages

[OCR PDF] → [PDF Tools (Delete, Smart)] → [Copy File]

Use Smart mode with delete all blank pages to clean up scanned documents.

Combine Multiple Reports

[Google Drive (reports folder)] → [Aggregate (collect files)] → [PDF Tools (Combine)] → [Send Gmail]

Tips

• Split, Extract, and Delete work on a single file; Combine works on an array of files
• Smart mode is the default for Split, Extract, and Delete — describe the pages in plain language and AI detects them
• Manual mode expects page numbers or ranges (e.g., 1-3, 5); Split Points mark where each new file begins
• Use Aggregate before Combine to gather files from multiple items into an array
• These are long-running operations for large documents
• Use Rename File afterward to set meaningful output filenames