How to Merge PDF Files on Mac

Combine PDFs whenever the person or system on the other end expects one document: an application portal with a single upload field, a client who wants one invoice pack, or your own archive of a year's statements.

One file is also easier to print in the right order, to send by email and to find later. The things to watch are the order of the pages and, with large scans, the size of the result.

Finder merges PDFs without opening any app: select the files, Control-click one of them and choose Quick Actions > Create PDF. A new PDF appears next to the originals.

It's quick, but you don't arrange the order first, so check the result before you send it. Preview gives you more control: open the first PDF, choose View > Thumbnails, and drag the other PDF from Finder into the sidebar where its pages should go, or choose Edit > Insert > Page from File.

Preview saves those changes into the document you opened, so choose File > Duplicate first if you want to keep it as it was. For two files that's fine. For a stack of monthly statements it turns into a lot of dragging.

File Acture's Merge PDFs combines two or more PDFs into a new file in the order you arrange them in the list. Drag the rows up or down, type a name under Result, and click Merge.

The pages are copied as they are, so text stays selectable and images aren't re-encoded. The first file becomes the base: its bookmarks, title and viewer settings are kept, and the pages of the other files come in with their links and comments. The merged file ends up about as large as all the inputs together, since every page brings its own images and fonts.

The new PDF is saved to Downloads › File Acture or the folder you pick under Save to, and your originals stay unchanged. Because nothing is uploaded, statements, contracts and medical records never leave your Mac.

Merge PDFs only takes PDFs, so turn photos and scans into a PDF first with Images to PDF, then merge that file with the others.

Images to PDF can put each photo on an A4 or US Letter page, so the photo pages match the size of the rest of the document. A receipt photographed with your phone then sits in the merged file like any other page.

Before you merge, unlock any password-protected files, settle the page order and check the size limit of wherever the PDF is going.

• Locked files: a PDF that needs a password to open has to be unlocked first with Unlock PDF. File Acture tells you when one of your files is protected.
• Only some pages? Pull them out first with the custom ranges in Split PDF, then merge the parts.
• Size limits: a merged scan can get big. Shrink it with Compress PDF and a target such as 5 MB.
• Bookmarks: only the first file's bookmarks are kept, so put the file with the table of contents first.
• Order at a glance: files appear in the list in the order you add them. Drag them into place, or add them from a Finder window sorted by name.
• How many files: the free version merges up to 5 PDFs per run, with 3 runs on each Mac. Pro removes the limit; see pricing.

Merging online means uploading every file you combine, and those are often the documents you'd least like to share: bank statements, contracts, tax papers. File Acture does the whole job on your Mac, and the free version sends nothing about your files when it counts a run, only the tool's name and two anonymous identifiers.