Combine several PDFs into one

Two or three separate PDFs often need to arrive as one document. Here is how,
without sending your files anywhere.

On a Mac

1. 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.
2. Select them all. Click the first one, then hold the Command key and click
   each of the others.
3. Control-click anywhere on the selection, choose Quick Actions, then
   Create PDF.
4. 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.

If 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 and 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.

So, in order:

1. A one-off, with nothing sensitive in it. A free site is fine.
2. Anything with personal or financial information in it. Send it to us and
   we will combine it and send it straight back.
3. 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 rather than leaving you to hunt for one.