How to combine multiple PDF documents into one

The advantages of using documents in PDF format are many, they’re easy to share, they can be easily translated, they’re difficult to modify (which makes them more secure), we can protect them with passwords, they can be opened from any device and they’re compatible with any browser, and these are just some of the benefits this popular file format offers us.

We’re going to tackle one of the aspects that can sometimes be difficult to solve if we don’t have a tool to help us, and that’s combining several PDF documents into one.

There may be various reasons why you need to combine several files into one, perhaps because you want to attach information from different documents or perhaps because of a matter of convenience, etc., whatever the reason, today we’re going to tell you how to attach or combine several PDF documents into one.

There are several options available, both in installable software and online.

1. Using Programs

PDFCreator

PDFCreator is a program compatible with the Windows operating system that creates PDF files very simply.

The program works in the same way as a physical printer, but virtually, i.e. it doesn’t print on a sheet of paper, but what it does is “print” a digital document in the form of a PDF file.

Using PDFCreator is very easy:

Download and install the software on your computer.
Open the document(s) you wish to convert to PDF.
To combine several files, open the first one first.
Click on the File menu and select Print.
In the window that appears, select the PDFCreator virtual printer.
In the PDFCreator interface that opens, click on Merge.
The Manage print jobs window opens, click on Continue.
Open the second PDF and click on File > Print > Print. Repeat the procedure with all the files you wish to add.
Then click on the PDFCreator icon and click on Merge.
The Manage Print Jobs window will open, where you’ll see a list of the files you’ve sent to the print queue.
Press the Ctrl key and, without releasing it, click on the files you wish to join.
Now click Merge > Continue.
Click on the PDFCreator icon. Select the Save option and save the file resulting from the PDF documents you’ve combined.

That’s it, once you’ve completed the steps, you’ll have your PDF Document available in the location you chose to save it.

On macOS

If you’re using a computer with macOS, you won’t have to install anything to merge various PDF documents, since the system has a built-in tool with which we can do this.

The steps you need to follow are very simple:

Open the document you wish to merge and click on the icon that appears in the top left-hand corner of the display window to open the sidebar.
Make sure the “Thumbnails ” option is activated, and you’ll see a thumbnail view of the document content.
Click on one of the thumbnails, then press CMD + A, this action will select all the pages in the document.
If you only wish to select certain pages, hold down the CMD key while you click on the pages you wish to select.
Then drag and drop the pages onto the list of document pages you wish to merge.

Note: Before releasing the mouse button, wait for the + sign to appear to ensure that the pages have been added correctly.

That’s it, you can see your PDF documents combined into one.

Acrobat Reader DC

Adobe’s classic PDF reader also lets you combine more than one document.

Acrobat Reader DC lets you combine PDF documents and other formats, such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint (PPT), JPG, and PNG, among others, into a single PDF. Please note that this function is only available in the paid version of the application.

To combine documents using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, proceed as follows:

Open Acrobat Reader DC, open the “Tools” tab, and select “Combine files”.
Click on “Add files” and select the files you wish to include in the PDF. You can merge PDFs or combine various PDF documents and other file formats.
Then choose one of the following options:

Arrange and delete content: click, drag, and drop to rearrange files, or press “Delete” to remove any content you don’t want.

Combine files: once you’ve organized the files, click on “Combine files”.

Save as a PDF file: name the file and click on the “Save” button.

Now you already have the PDF document you created as a result of the combination you made earlier.

2. Using Online Tools

As you know, online applications offer us the advantage of being able to work from anywhere, without having to install anything on the PC.

Several online options allow us to work with PDF documents. Here are just a few of them.

SmallPDF

With this online tool, we can perform many actions in our PDF documents, including combining multiple files into one.

SmallPDF also has an extension for Chrome that we can install in the browser.

The procedure for joining or combining files is very simple:

To start with, you need to choose the files from your device or from cloud storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive. You can also drag and drop files into the window.
Once you’ve loaded the files you want to combine, click on the Merge PDF button.
Below, you’ll see the combined file available for download to your device, save it to Dropbox or save it to Drive. You can also e-mail it, copy a link to share the document, and edit or compress it.

Now you’re ready! Your PDF is ready to use.

ILovePDF

Just follow the steps below to learn how to use it to combine documents.

The procedure is very simple:

Go to ILovePDF.com
Choose the files you want to combine from your computer, Google Drive or Dropbox.
Once you’ve uploaded the files, click on the Merge PDF button.
When you’ve completed the process, you’ll see a button that lets you download the generated file. You can also save it to Google Drive or Dropbox, or share it via a link.