Combine several PDFs into one
Two or three files that need to arrive as one document, without uploading them anywhere.
Do this first: on a Mac
- Put the files in one folder and rename them so they sort in the order you want, like
1 cover.pdf,2 invoice.pdf. Finder combines them in the order you select them, and going alphabetically saves you from having to click in exactly the right sequence. - Select them all. Click the first one, then hold the Command key and click each of the others.
- Control-click anywhere on the selection, choose Quick Actions, then Create PDF.
- A new combined PDF appears in the same folder, named after the first file you picked. Rename it to whatever you are sending.
Your original files are not touched. The combined one is brand new, so if the page order came out wrong, delete it and select the files again in the order you want.
To control exactly where the pages land, open the first PDF, choose View then Thumbnails to show the column of pages down the left, and drag the second PDF out of Finder into that column, dropping it where its pages should go. Then choose File, Export as PDF to save the result as a new file.
On a Windows PC
Windows has no built-in way to combine PDFs. That is a real gap, not something you are missing or doing wrong. Edge will let you reorder the pages inside one PDF, but it will not join two files together.
The free PDF websites do work. Before you use one, look at what is actually in the document. A flyer or a menu is fine. Anything with names, account numbers, payroll, or health information means handing a permanent copy to a company you know nothing about, and you cannot take it back afterwards.
- A one-off, with nothing sensitive in it. A free site is fine.
- Anything with personal or financial information in it. Send it to us and we will combine it and send it straight back.
- Something you do every month. Tell us. Some of you already have Acrobat and have never noticed, and if you do not, we will get the right tool onto your machine properly.
Did this not sort it out?
Tell Michael which step you got to and what the screen says. A photo of the screen from your phone is perfect.