Free PDF tool · one of a kind
Extract colour pages from a PDF – and stop paying colour rates for black & white pages
Drop in your PDF. The tool looks at every page, finds the ones that really contain colour, keeps front-and-back sheets together, and gives you two print-ready files: colour and black & white. It runs inside your own browser — your file is never uploaded.
- 100% free
- No upload
- No signup
- Duplex-safe
- Covers & page numbers
- Review every page
- Choose PDF
- Find colour
- Review pages
- Download
What we found
Printing estimate at BulkPrintouts rates
Printing only, A4, white-background files, before binding and courier. Colour at the “text and graphics up to 20%” rate. Your exact rate is confirmed after we open the file. Full rate list
Check every page
Tap a page to switch it between Colour and B&W. Sheet partner pages are black & white but share a sheet with a colour page.
Your print files are ready
Want us to print them? Send both files on WhatsApp — the page counts are filled in for you.
- More free tools:
- Merge PDF
- Merge with index
- Count pages
- Separate colour pages
- Fix margins
- Add page numbers
- JPG to exact KB
- All tools
In short: To extract colour pages from a PDF for free, open the tool above, choose your PDF and press Find colour pages. It checks every page for colour, keeps both sides of a double-sided sheet together, lets you correct any page, and creates a colour PDF and a black & white PDF ready for printing — without uploading the file.
How the colour page separator works
Choose your PDF
The file is opened by your browser. Nothing is sent over the internet.
Find colour pages
Each page is drawn in memory and every part of it is checked for colour ink.
Review the result
See every page with a Colour or B&W label, a live price estimate, and switch any page with one tap.
Download and print
Get the colour PDF, the B&W PDF, covers, and a ZIP with printing instructions.
Why this tool is one of a kind
Ordinary PDF splitters make you type page numbers. As far as we know, no other free online tool finds the colour pages for you and prepares them the way a printing press needs them.
Finds colour automatically
Every page is checked for colour — coloured text, a small logo, a highlighted table, a faint tint. No guessing from thumbnails.
Keeps double-sided sheets whole
Pages printed on the same sheet stay together, so the colour and B&W sets can be combined into one book without a single page out of place.
Built by a printing press
Covers, page numbers that survive the split, a printing-instructions file and a price estimate — the things a print job actually needs.
How much you save by separating colour pages
Worked examples at BulkPrintouts rates, printed front and back. The larger the order, the bigger the saving.
| Job | All in colour | Separated | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thesis or report · 250 pages, 12 colour | ₹500 | ₹262 | ₹238 · 48% |
| Engineering textbook · 480 pages, 60 colour | ₹960 | ₹606 | ₹354 · 37% |
| Study book, 10 copies · 700 pages, 30 colour | ₹14,000 | ₹3,950 | ₹10,050 · 72% |
| Coaching notes, 50 copies · 300 pages, 40 colour | ₹30,000 | ₹10,500 | ₹19,500 · 65% |
Printing only, before binding and courier. Colour at ₹2.00 per side (80 GSM, 200+ colour pages, text and graphics up to 20%) or 100 GSM Premium below 200 colour pages (₹6.00 for 11–50, ₹4.50 for 51–199). Black & white text pages at ₹0.80 (100–499), ₹0.50 (1,000+). Rates as on 16/09/2026.
| Service | Rate | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Black & white, 70 GSM | ₹0.50 / side | Front-back, 1,000+ pages, text files (₹0.70 for 500–999, ₹0.80 for 100–499, ₹1.25 for 21–99) |
| Colour, 80 GSM, 500+ pages | ₹1.50 – ₹2.00 / side | Front-back: ₹1.50 text only, ₹1.75 simple text with a little graphics, ₹2.00 text and graphics up to 20% |
| Colour, 80 GSM, 200–499 pages | ₹2.00 / side | Front-back, text and graphics up to 20% |
| Colour, below 200 pages | ₹4.50 – ₹8.00 | 100 GSM Premium only: ₹8.00 (1–10), ₹6.00 (11–50), ₹4.50 (51–199) |
| Colour, 100 GSM Premium, 500+ | ₹2.50 / side | Front-back, with free spiral per 500 pages and free courier |
Why front-and-back printing needs special care
In double-sided printing, pages 1 and 2 share a sheet, pages 3 and 4 share the next, and so on. If page 3 has colour and page 4 does not, a simple split would put them in different files and they could never end up on the same sheet. This tool moves both pages of that sheet into the colour file, so the colour and black & white stacks can be interleaved into one correct book. Choose Single side if you are not printing double-sided, and every page is judged on its own.
This tool compared with the usual ways of doing it
| Feature | BulkPrintouts colour separator | Manual selection or a generic splitter |
|---|---|---|
| Finds colour pages automatically | Yes, every page | No — you look and type page numbers |
| Keeps double-sided sheets together | Yes | No |
| Review and correct each page | Yes, one tap | Start again |
| Covers split out, page numbers kept | Yes | By hand |
| Printing cost estimate | Built in | No |
| File uploaded to a server | Never | Usually, on online splitters |
| Price | Free, no signup | Often a paid app or limited free plan |
| Time for a 300-page book | A few minutes, automatic | 30–60 minutes of checking |
Who saves the most
- MBBS and nursing studentsAnatomy, pathology and pharmacology notes where only the diagram pages need colour.
- NEET, JEE and UPSC aspirantsStudy material with the odd colour map, chart or graph.
- Coaching institutes and schoolsModules printed in dozens of copies, where every separated page is multiplied.
- PhD and master’s studentsTheses and dissertations with a few colour figures among hundreds of text pages.
- Authors and publishersBooks with a photo section or colour plates.
- Offices, CAs and lawyersReports and case files with coloured charts, stamps or highlights — kept private because nothing is uploaded.
Separated your PDF? Get the cheapest – best quality printouts in India
Send the colour and black & white files together. We print both on Laser Book Printing machines — 600 DPI, powder toner, never inkjet — put the sheets back in page order, bind, and courier anywhere in India.
Quick answers
How do I find which pages of a PDF are in colour?
Open the tool above, choose the PDF and press Find colour pages. Every page is checked and labelled Colour or B&W, with a count of each.
How do I print only the colour pages of a PDF?
Separate the file with this tool, then print the colour PDF on a colour printer and the B&W PDF on a black & white printer.
How do I count colour pages for a printing quote?
Run the PDF through the tool. The results show the number of colour pages, black & white pages and covers, plus an estimate at our rates.
How do I split colour and black & white pages for duplex printing?
Choose Front & back before scanning. Any sheet with colour on either side goes wholly into the colour file, so the book can be reassembled.
Can I change a page the tool got wrong?
Yes. In the review grid, tap any page to switch it between Colour and B&W before creating the files.
How do I put the printed pages back in order?
Keep Add page numbers ticked. Both files carry the original page numbers, so the printed sheets can be sorted into one sequence.
Terms used on this page
- Colour page
- A page with any coloured ink on it — text, a logo, a chart, a highlight or a tinted background.
- Duplex printing
- Printing on both sides of each sheet. Two consecutive pages share one sheet.
- Sheet partner
- A black & white page that is printed on the back of a colour page, so it has to be printed in the colour run.
- Colour coverage
- How much of a page is covered in colour ink. Up to 20% is typical of notes with diagrams.
Other names people use for Colour Page Separator
Whatever you search for, it is this same free tool on BulkPrintouts.com:
Frequently asked questions
Can I separate colour pages for an A5 booklet?
Yes. Choose A5 booklet under How will it be printed. The pages are shrunk to A5 and laid out two per A4 side in booklet order, so four pages share each sheet. If any of those four has colour, the whole sheet goes to the colour file, and the rest print at black and white rates. Blank pages are added to reach a multiple of four, a tiny sheet number is printed at the fold, and the ZIP includes the sheet-by-sheet order for putting the booklet together. Print double-sided, flip on the short edge, then fold and pin.
Is the colour page separator free?
Yes. It is completely free, with no signup, no page limit and no paid version.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The tool runs on JavaScript inside your browser. The PDF is read from your device and never sent to our server or anyone else’s, so it is safe for medical, legal and exam papers.
How does the tool decide a page is in colour?
Each page is drawn in memory and its pixels are checked. Black, white and grey have equal red, green and blue values; any pixel where those values differ is colour. Strict mode counts even a faint tint; Relaxed mode ignores very pale tints and scanner noise.
Why did a page that looks black and white go into the colour file?
Either it has a faint colour tint or a small coloured mark, or it shares a sheet with a colour page in Front & back mode. Such pages are labelled Sheet partner. You can switch any page by tapping it, or try Relaxed detection for yellowed scans.
What is duplex-safe splitting?
In double-sided printing two pages share a sheet. If either side has colour, both pages go to the colour file, so the colour and black & white sheets can be combined into one correctly ordered book.
Does separating change the quality of my pages?
No. Pages are copied exactly as they are in your PDF — text stays sharp and images keep their original resolution. Only the optional page numbers and footer line are added.
How are page numbers handled?
With Add page numbers ticked, every page except the covers gets its original position as a number, in both files. You choose the position, size, margin and the first number.
What files do I get?
A colour PDF, a black & white PDF, the front and back covers if you marked them, and a ZIP containing everything plus a printing-instructions file listing which original pages are in each file.
How long does it take?
It depends on your device and the number of pages; a modern laptop typically handles a few pages per second. A progress bar and time estimate are shown. Keep the tab open and in front while it runs.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, for typical notes and reports. Very large PDFs are best done on a laptop or desktop, which has more memory.
Can it open password-protected PDFs?
No. Open the PDF with its password, save an unlocked copy, and use that copy.
How much can I save?
It depends on how many pages need colour and how many copies you print. A 50-copy run of 300-page notes with 40 colour pages drops from about ₹30,000 to about ₹10,500 at our rates.
What is the small line at the bottom of each page?
A short “separated by bulkprintouts.com” line is added to body pages. Ask us on WhatsApp for the free password to remove it.
Can you separate and print the file for me?
Yes. Send the PDF on WhatsApp to +91 98201 69619. We separate the colour pages at no charge and quote for printing, binding and courier across India.
Last reviewed: 21/09/2026 · Published by BulkPrintouts.com, Borivali West, Mumbai · Questions? Call or WhatsApp +91 98201 69619 (Mon–Sat, 3 PM–10 PM IST).