Combining pdf documents on an Apple computer is easy. Leopard and Snow Leopard (the latest versions of Macintosh OSX that come on your computer) have the ability to move pdf pages within a pdf file around and even merge two different pdf documents together. It’s built right in to OS X for free – you don’t need a third party program to do it!
To join two or more pdf files together using Preview (the standard pdf viewer in OS X) simply open the pdf file in preview, open the thumbnail view (Shift-⌘-D), and then drag a second pdf file ON TOP OF an existing page thumbnail. (It must be on top of the thumbnail, see the pictures below). The two documents will merge into one. Then save the new combined file. Read on for step-by-step instructions.
SUMMARY: To combine two separate PDF files into one document you need to drag the new pdf ON TOP OF an existing thumbnail and it will merge the two together. If you drag it into the sidebar but not on top of an existing page the new file will be added as an external link – not merged into the original pdf document. See these two pictures below to visualise the difference.
Drag the new pdf file under the existing one and it will insert a thumbnail that links to the second pdf but they are not merged.
Drag the new pdf file on top of the existing one and it will merge into it - creating one pdf.
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The blue line that appears underneath the original pdf lets you know the files are NOT being combined. Move the pdf on top of the other pdf so that the blue line disappears.
Here’s how to do it step by step.
1. Firstly, open one of the pdf files in Preview. Preview is the default application that a pdf will open into so if you just double click on the pdf file it will open in Preview.
2. Now go to the menu at the top of the screen called ‘View’ and click on ‘Sidebar’ (or ‘Show Sidebar’ if you have Snow Leopard). Alternatively, press Shift-Command-D to show the thumbnails. This will make a sidebar appear on the right side of the window with thumbnails of all the pdf pages in it. (See these pictures below).
In Leopard select 'Sidebar'
In Snow Leopard and newer versions of Preview select 'Sidebar' then 'Show Sidebar'
3. You can now drag the second pdf file (from a folder or from your desktop) into this sidebar window, and it will be added to your pdf document as an additional page.
Drag the new pdf from the desktop onto an existing thumbnail.
To merge the two files you need to drag the new pdf ON TOP OF an existing thumbnail. If you drag it into the sidebar but not on top of an existing page the new file will be added as an external link – not merged into the original pdf document. See these two pictures below.
Drag the new pdf file under the existing one and it will open but not merge.
Drag the new pdf file on top of the existing one and it will merge.
In some older versions of Preview, if you drag the second file on top of an existing page in the sidebar, it will appear as a red box to show you it will be merged, or as a red line to show you it will not be merged. In the latest version of preview, the red box does not appear, but the same principle applies – drag it on top of the existing thumbnail to merge the two documents.
You can now save it – use ‘save as’ to save a new document with the merged fles, or you can use use ‘save’ to save over the existing document, adding the new pages to it.
No – you can’t reduce the file size of the new PDF document – you can’t get everything for free! To do this you Adobe Acrobat Professional.
Like this article ? Click here to for how to make a pdf booklet. Also here for how to reduce the file size of a pdf.
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thanks for the instruction. a bit complicated but it’s the direction that the mac user interface is heading. though it’s a lot more stable than the original, it’s not as intuitive and user friendly.
This works fine with single page docs. But if you have several page PDFs you want to combine, you need to ensure they are expanded – press option command right arrow. then you can drag and drop the files where you want and save as a merged PDF.
thanks Phil.
I am saved.
Excellent advice! You don’t need to merge the files to save it as one. I couldn’t get the red box when I was trying to merge them. But, I could add them into the sidebar and save the whole thing as a pdf afterwards. That seemed to work. Thanks again!
Worked perfectly. Thank you!
Thank u for the advice dude!!!
You’ve saved my life!!!!!!!
Brilliant! So easy – thanks for the tip!
Thanks so much. Clear, accurate and helpful.
This is great. Easy way to combine pages. I’ve been needing this little trick for a while!
cool advice, works like a charm
In Snow Leopard (10.6.3), Preview no longer behaves all that logically when trying to combine images. If I try to drop a jpg onto an opened jpg, as the author notes, no red box or line appears (it’s gray), and the second jpg doesn’t get added. After messing around, I’ve found that I needed to first turn the first image into a PDF, then the process works. However, you can’t add more than one image at a time. Trying to drag and drop multiple images (any format) doesn’t work. You’ll know it finally worked because the first thumbnail image (in the Sidebar) will change its appearance to have a left-hand spiral bound icon (see here: http://img.skitch.com/20100516-25ftjfn1fqw3xe9w121xyt7p3.jpg )
Leopard’s Preview worked much better for combining multiple images. Not sure what happened in SL, but it’s currently a convoluted and non-intuitive method.
Hey, thanks soooo much Scott! I’ve been playing around with this for about an hour given the above advice – no red box, no nothing. I was about to give up and just scrolled down to your post. I have a big grant due tomorrow and was dying! Thanks! Hope everyone else gets to you!!
Yes, this is a very important step. Make sure your file is in PDF before you try to merge anything. It does not work otherwise!
Thanks Scott! their tricks worked like a charm… but I’m not computer savvy and It would never have occurred to me to change the format! Thanks!
Thanks Scott – I thought I was the only one who couldn’t get this to work – your advice helped out so much!! (mine were saved as jpegs)
We are running 10.5.8 on this iMac, and do not have the menu option illustrated above; under View, there is no mention of Sidebar ?
Brilliant…I am creating a school yearbook with comic life magiq software, it will be almost 100 pages and the program cannot have so many pages so I was breaking into smaller files and saving to pdf file, could not figure out how to put them all back together for the printer. Thanks soooo much!!!
Excellent step by step instructions and visuals. Thanks!
I followed Scott’s method (16 May), and it worked. Having installed the first image in the Sidebar I selected 159 other images in Finder and dragged them over all together onto the 1st, and they all appeared in the right order, but above the 1st. When I dragged the 1st up to the top in the Sidebar it was still just a single image, unconnected with the rest. I then found that I had to drag it down slightly from the top to just above the following (original) 2nd image) and a blue line appeared within a sort of cartouche containing all 159 images. It then went in properly, as part of of the 160. But when I saved the result, I had to be careful that I was saving the new combined file (which I had apparently renamed) and not just the original 1st image. Perhaps I should have deleted the separate 1st image after putting it within the cartouche. It worked perfectly, but I suspect that there must be a less laborious way. I have Snow Leopard v. 10.6.3.
Works, but why do I end up with a 2.5MB file when I merge ten 15kB files? This is a >10X bloat. In general, the Mac generates pdf files easily but they are WAY bigger than those made by Adobe or windows. Why???
Worked like a charm!
Excellent, thank you for sharing!
THANK YOU so much…this was so easy and worked perfectly!! :)
You have changed my life.
Great!!!! Thanks a lot!
Thank you. That’s exactly what I need.
…why didn’t I think of that, that was easy!
Excellent instructions.
However, when you open the resulting file in Adobe reader, Preview has messed with the fonts. Don’t know why it does this, but most annoying…
Brilliant instruction – just saved me from buying some expensive software to achieve this!
Scotts’ advice of 16 May is VERY helpful in addition to the original advice – would be great if it were moved to the top of the list.
But the tip was exactly what I wanted to know and most helpful.
Thank you greatly. Concise, very helpful. Love to have netizens helping people like this!
Great tip. Simply superb!!! Thanks a ton dude ;-)
Great tip and many thanks !
Comparing this “complicated” solution to all the other tools you have to buy and install (usually for Windows machines) – reinforces the reasons I LOVE the Mac!
Alex
There is a better way to combine multiple files (and it also works for two files).
Select all the files you want to combine and then command-click, select “open with preview”. All of the files will be combined, and you can drag-and-drop the order in the panel on the right.
Tim
Tim, that won’t work. What it does is it opens all the files in preview but it does not merge them. You can change the order on the right and won’t do anything. If you save it will only save the page that you are looking at, not all of them. Which is what you would expect, you don’t want it to automatically merge files every time you open them! It will only merge the files if you drag one on top of the existing thumbnail and get the red border like I was talking about in the article.
You are correct. Sorry if I confused anyone. (I was also using the print-as-pdf trick below as ana-cap suggests).
Thanks for the tip! I’ve been trying to figure this out for ages.
I also found that if you (accidentally) dropped the pages in the wrong spot, you can also sort and move them around in the sidebar.
Not that anyone would ever drop in the wrong place…..
Thank you. It was easy to do and worked flawlessly. It saved me from having to attach multiple individual documents that should all be connected.
WOW thank you! I tried this one my own and couldn’t figure it out. Really appreciate the advice!!
Actually, it’s easier than that. All you have to do is drop each document in the sidebar and then select all the documents in the sidebar and select Print selected Images. Then instead of printing to your printer, hit the PDF drop down and it will save everything into another PDF.
Good idea – yes that is another way to do it.
Thank you ana-cap!! Your advice was perfect!!!! What an EASY way to combine multiple pdf files!!
Thanks again
Can you also split pdfs?
cheers…
How to make outlines? I want to combine 20 to 100 PDF files into one but i want to keep each of the PDF outlines (bookmarks) so its easy for me to locate the file name i want on the sidebar.
thanks
Wow, thanks!
Thank you SO much! I’ve been banging my head against the wall and pulling my hair out trying to get this to work. The help in Preview is NO help. It fails to tell you to drag the icon “on top” of the other to combine. I’ve been using a PC forever with a full version of Acrobat so I actually hate this Mac (my husband’s idea).
Lovely, it was a wonderful tip, thanks so much,
This was easy. Thank you so much. I spent hours before I found this help to make it work. This made my day. Thanks again
This is great – I have another related question….. Anyone know how to reduce the size of a pdf file yet keep a reasonable quality?
Now that was awesome. Macs ROCK!
To reduce the file size and keep good quality – that’s what Adobe Acrobat Professional does, and very well.
Thanks! Worked like a charm combining 24 pages into one document – just remember to add them in REVERSE sequence so the last one you drop on the stack is the first page of the document. Super easy, and built-in to OS-X. Eat that, Windoze!
That’s another reason why I love Mac OS :)
Very helpful to know selection of all documents in the drawer and option-cmd-P will then allow you to print or save to a file name of your choice. Great feature, very easy to use, super powerful.
Fantastic instructions and easy to follow, its really easy and quick to do and was just what I needed. So glad I came across this tip so I didn’t have to find another application to do it.
Some others have said its complicated but it really isn’t, it may sound like it but its actually very simple. You simply drag the other pdfs you want merged into the sidebar and save. Simples ;-).
Thank you!
This worked like a charm and saved me a ton of headaches! Love the tip. Thanks :-)
This is amazing and TOTALLY saved me today. Thank you sooo much!!!
worked fine….thanks mate………….