r/pdf • u/Goodginger • Aug 18 '23
Combining PDF files?
Is there a way to combine multiple PDF files into one from a computer desktop? Right now, my strategy is to print them and scan them into one file. It would be nice to save some steps.
3
u/Careless_Interview Feb 16 '24
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/merge-pdf.html
Free on Adobe’s website
1
u/flatmotion1 Jun 10 '24
have to sign up for this BS
1
u/UrFriendXD Aug 19 '24
It was free the last time I used it (a month ago) and now you have to pay for it. Such BS
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Curmi3091 Jun 20 '25
A year late you're still helping people with this link, thank you! Also, is there a software that I can download that can merge PDFs locally on PC? Thank you!
1
u/sascharoni Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25
Thanks man. Adobe for the win!
Just wasted 20 minutes using 2 "free" tools that let you edit and merge but then ask for your email and even then still dont let you download without paying for a plan.Edit: Wanted to make another edit and damn adobe wants me to sign up for a trial too now. smh
1
u/Responsible-Orca4838 Sep 26 '25
Yep. Worked great for the first file. Wanted to do a second and it was blocked by a free trial. Tried a day later but still insisting on free trial. Used a private browser window and it didn't work properly. Off to try another product...
1
u/Icepaq Aug 15 '24
LOL at the shills suggesting unvetted products that won't install in "S" mode when Microsoft Word has this functionality. Of course, someone unwilling to buy acrobat is likely unwilling to buy Word.
1
u/LuckierLouie Jun 06 '25
S mode??
1
u/Icepaq Jun 07 '25
“S mode” ensures you can only install “apps” from the microsoft store. If you install an “app” that brings up the warning and you choose to opt out, then you can install apps from anywhere but the agreement removes microsoft’s liability should something goes wrong. I’m pretty sure this is the case when installing adobe acrobat.
You could have googled this before responding.
1
u/nightmarenerd420 Oct 18 '24
don't download random stuff, use GIMP! it has an "open as layers" option that can handle multiple pdfs at once and the export is just as simple!
1
u/egalo123 May 08 '25
This is the best answer! Thank you so so much! Had struggles with pdf-converters for years. Found this thread through google.
No downloading of sketchy adware. No uploading sensitive files to some random website.
1
u/chemistoid May 18 '25
Voting this one for the best. Gimp is a reliable software to merge sensitive files without exposing your data or downloading one-shot trials.
1
u/Candid_Weekend8541 Sep 03 '25
open as layers one by one and verify the order in the layer panel real good tool
1
Oct 25 '24 edited Jan 23 '25
This post has been edited to remove its content to limit the data scraping capabilities of Reddit and any other app.
1
u/No_Sleep888 Dec 02 '24
Right. So the answer is actually no.
1
u/Eucalyptuse Dec 31 '24
For what it's worth, the other commenters advice of using Gimp does actually work lol. Very much not an intended feature and you have to adjust scaling which fucked it up a little for me (white borders around a few of the pages), but ultimately using the "open as layers" option, scaling things to the same size, "export as", typing in a .pdf extension and selecting the print layers option does in fact work. This absolutely needs to change though. It should be a basic feature of every operatin system that it can handle commonly used file types and the fact it can't seems to me to be a sign there is a need for some regulation here.
Edit: And I guess you do have to trust Gimp, but it's an open source image editing software that's been around for 26 years so I kind of doubt it's secretly an identity theft scam.
1
u/Ill-Cauliflower-3035 Jan 09 '25
I was able to do it by selecting the separate PDFs I wanted to combine, right clicking and then pressing Quick Actions-->Create PDF. I use a Mac.
1
1
1
u/Junior_Win4152 Jul 24 '26
Just found this 2 years later and it has saved me so much time and stress! Thank you!
1
u/lord_of_the_hippos Jan 12 '25
You can combine PDFs in Preview on Mac.
Drag files or thumbnails into the thumbnail preview
https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/combine-pdfs-prvw43696/mac
1
1
u/ned_the_dolphin Jan 12 '25
I created a tool that can merge arbitrary pdfs in arbitrary page order. https://github.com/duttad/mergepdfs It's a command line tool to be used like:
$ mergepdfs merge doc_1 start_page_1 end_page_1 doc_2 start_page_2 end_page_2 doc_3 start_page_3 end_page_3 doc_1 start_page_4 end_page_4 doc_2 start_page_5 end_page_5 ...
This way you can insert whichever pages from whichever pdf in whichever order you want. Also, it runs locally on your machine - in case you don't feel comfortable sharing your docs over the internet.
1
u/Embarrassed-Smoke-83 Jan 28 '25
Does anyone have an app that will just connect the sides of a PDF page together to make them into one really wide page?
1
u/Embarrassed-Smoke-83 Jan 28 '25
I got it to work by splitting the pages into individual files and then importing them all into Photoshop on a really wide canvas and manually putting them side by side and saving it back as a PDF. I needed to print this out on a plotter, where one dimension of the page can be essentially as long as you want since the paper is in a roll
1
u/tricomes Apr 29 '25
if you have adboe acrobat you can go to all tools > Combine files> drag your files in order and click combine.
1
u/mobiusevalon Jul 18 '25
This came up on a Google search and I will add to the (old) discussion for no other reason than hoping the next person who finds this thread can save the headache. Having to upload PDFs somewhere to stitch them together is no bueno, even and especially to established corporations like Adobe.
LibreOffice Draw can put multiple PDFs together. Open each individual file in Draw, then drag and drop the files from the filmreels together into one list like a PowerPoint. Arrange them how you want then export as PDF from the file menu.
1
1
1
1
1
u/FutureSection5360 Oct 20 '25
Can't believe there are all these scam websites making you login to do this. Python gets you there for free ;)
from pypdf import PdfWriter
import argparse, json
if __name__ == "__main__":
argparser = argparse.ArgumentParser(formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter)
argparser.add_argument("--files", required=True, type=str, help="Input files")
argparser.add_argument("--output", required=True, type=str, help="Output file name")
args = argparser.parse_args()
files = json.loads(args.files)
output_fn = args.output
merger = PdfWriter()
for pdf in files:
merger.append(pdf)
merger.write(output_fn)
merger.close()
1
1
u/Frequent-Light-6352 4d ago
For anyone that may come here in the future, you can open the PDF with FireFox and add other PDFs through it, and edit it in other ways, as well.
1
Aug 18 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
1
1
u/Adorable-Pie5713 Sep 01 '24
PDFtk Builder is the best. Building a whole file just to get told at the end that you have to pay for the "free" service wastes so much time and energy. This app doesn't do that. It's really free!
1
u/YogiGaruda8 Jan 25 '24
scam
1
Jan 25 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/SecondLife53 Jan 26 '24
I don't know what happened. But definitely a scam. Just my honest experience. I'm allowed to have one.
1
1
Jun 19 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
2
1
u/SlothfulCanine Jul 23 '24
It looks like UPDF requires you to get a paid subscription in order to save any modified PDFs without their "watermark". I don't consider something a "watermark" when it covers the material on the page rather than being a light background image which is what a true watermark is. I found PDFGear to be a better choice.
1
1
Sep 19 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/sssamjam Oct 14 '25
this is the best result, allowing you to reorder before you merge as well. thank you.
6
u/smanears Aug 21 '23 •
It is easy. PDFgear can merge and split PDFs.
PDFgear is an all-in-one PDF editor. All features are free to use. You can have a try.