Merge PDF

Introduction

One of the minor irritations in dealing with documents day-by-day is that there's a contract, a different copy of the contract's amendment, a dozen invoices that should have been one document, or scanned pages that should all have been part of one document. The solution is quite easy: combine PDF documents into one, well-structured PDF.

A PDF merge tool combines pdf files together, without any loss of formatting or design, and without the need of design software or manual copy/paste. It will walk through how to merge, when to perform it, what to look for before letting the tool handle your contents and of course how to ensure that each time they come up with a clean result.

How to Merge PDF Files?

Merging PDF files entails combining several individual PDF files into a single file. You send three attachments, rather than one. There is one document that is sequential that has everything rather than scrolling through 5 different documents to find a one clause in a contract.

The merge tool can read each of the source PDFs, then save all of the pages exactly as they are in the source PDFs and then add them to a completely new PDF in a specified order. No re-rendering or flattening — a well-designed merge tool preserves a layout, images and text.

How to Merge PDF Files Online

The majority of PDF merge tools work in a similar way:

1. Upload files – Drag and drop PDFs into the tool, or find them with the tool on your device.
2. Include additional files if necessary – many of the tools allow you to add files other than PDFs, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or images (JPG/PNG); they will convert other documents to PDF automatically prior to merging.
3. Reorder the files – drag files into the sequence you want them to be in the final document. This step is important, because if the data is not reordered after the merge, it will have to be reordered again if it is reordered later.
4. Preview (Recommended) – before committing, make sure the correct pages with the correct order by previewing first.
5. Click Merge – it merges all of them into one PDF, typically in a matter of seconds.
6. Download your file – save the combined PDF to your machine, or, depending on your tool, save the PDF to cloud storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

The whole operation usually takes less than a minute, even with files with dozens of pages.

Why Merge PDFs? Common Use Cases

Merging is not a feature that is merely there for convenience, for many workflows, merging is a must.

• Business & Finance: One common method in accounts payable is to group all the invoices, receipts, and purchase orders into a single document for review and approval on a weekly basis. The same is true for the finance and reporting teams and their financial statements, dashboards and executive summaries, which they send up the chain.
• Legal & Contracts: Legal teams often combine a master agreement with any and all amendments into a single document, thereby operating on the same document instead of having to keep track of multiple attachments that can be mixed up.
• Project & Client Work: Cross-functional projects produce files from different teams like design decks, strategy documents, analytics reports. Combining them into a single, streamlined PDF means no version mismatching and quicker stakeholder reviews.
• Personal & Academic Use: Students compile all their lecture notes or research materials into a single study document (PDF), scanned from their notebooks. Job seekers combine a resume, cover letter, and portfolio into a single file when they apply for a job via email. Having all your paperwork in one place, not in a broken file drawer, is useful for anyone with scanned documents, such as tax records, ID and medical records.

There are a few things you should look for in a PDF Merge Tool.

While there are many different types of merge tools, the differences are greater than they appear on the surface.

Online PDF Merge: Is It Safe?

It's not something to take lightly, particularly in relation to personal, financial or legal data. There are two general ways in which tools go:

• Server side processing – your files are uploaded to your provider's servers, combined on their servers and returned to you. Look for HTTPS in the tool you are using: a good tool will encrypt this transfer and delete the original and merged file after a short period of time after processing. It's a good idea to review the claimed retention and deletion policy of a tool before uploading sensitive documents.
• Client-side (in browser) processing – the merge takes place on your device, in your browser and your files never leave your device. This eliminates the risk of uploading as it makes it a better choice for sensitive documents such as Contracts, Medical Records, or Financial Statements.

As long as it's done right either method can be safe — the important thing is to ensure that the tool is clear about which one it uses and what will happen to your files afterwards.

You can merge PDFs in numerous ways, including using PDF file merging software.

In most situations, where users are merging only a few documents from time to time, there is nothing faster or simpler than an online merge tool; and desktop options really only start to gain the edge when you're merging in bulk, offline, or when you're looking for advanced PDF editing capabilities integrated into the application.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Combining PDFs is a minor issue that occurs regularly: many individual PDFs that actually belong in one. A top-notch merge PDF utility allows you to upload, reorder and merge PDFs, download them again — without too many hassles and without compromising the quality or security of your documents — in seconds. From collating invoices, merging a legal contract with its amendments, to simply tidying up that pile of scanned documents, the right tool makes that scattered pile one clean document to share.