How to merge PDF files into one

How to merge PDF files in PDFZyro

1. 1Open Merge on the Home page. If a document is already open, choose Merge with other files… from its Tools menu, and it's added to the list for you.
2. 2Add the PDFs: click Add next to documents in your library, or drop PDFs onto the upload area to upload them. You can combine up to 50 files at once.
3. 3Put the files in order. Drag them by their handles, or use the up and down arrows next to each one. The list shows how many files and pages you're combining.
4. 4Type a name for the merged document if you like. If you leave it empty, it's named after the first file, with (merged) at the end.
5. 5Click the Merge button, which shows how many files you're combining, for example Merge 3 files. The merge runs in the background and shows its progress.
6. 6Click Open the merged document to read it, download it or keep working on it. The original files haven't changed.

What the merged PDF looks like

• It's a new document, usually saved in the same folder as the first file in the list.
• Every page keeps its own size and orientation, so a landscape spreadsheet stays landscape next to portrait letters.
• Each file you merged gets a bookmark with its name, and its own bookmarks are kept underneath, so it's easy to jump to the start of each part.
• Its version history notes which files it was made from.
• The files you started from aren't touched. Keep them, or delete them once you're happy with the result.

Merging pictures, Word files and scans

Merge combines PDFs. To include a photo, a scanned picture or a Word document, turn it into a PDF first, then add it to the merge like any other document:

• Pictures (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, TIFF or BMP): open Images to PDF on the Home page and convert them. The new PDF is added to your documents.
• Word, Excel and PowerPoint files: open Office to PDF on the Home page and convert them.
• Scanned PDFs merge like any other PDF. To search or copy their text afterwards, run Make searchable (OCR) on the merged document.

Tidying up the merged PDF

Merging joins whole files. Once you have the combined document, open it with Organize pages to fine-tune it: drag pages into a different order, use Rotate left or Rotate right on sideways scans, and delete blank or unwanted pages. Click Save and the changes are kept as a new version, with the first merged version still in the history.

Need only part of a file in the merge? Use Extract pages first to copy the pages you need into a new document, then merge that instead of the whole file.

Then finish the document: add page numbers or Bates numbers across the whole thing, compress it if it's too big to email, or send it for signature.

Other ways to merge PDFs

• Preview on a Mac: open the first PDF and show the thumbnails (View, then Thumbnails). Drag the other PDF from Finder into the thumbnail sidebar, where its pages should go. Then choose File, then Export as PDF, to save the combined file under a new name.
• Finder on a Mac: select the PDFs, Control-click them and choose Quick Actions, then Create PDF. Check the page order of the new file afterwards.
• Adobe Acrobat: the paid version's Combine Files tool merges PDFs and other files. The free Acrobat Reader can't combine files.
• Windows: there's no built-in tool for combining PDFs, so you need a PDF app or an online tool such as PDFZyro.

Tips for merging PDFs

• Name files with numbers (01 Cover, 02 Report, 03 Appendix) before you start, so the right order is obvious.
• A password-protected PDF can't be merged. If you know the password, remove it first with Remove password on the Home page.
• Merge first, number last. Page numbers and Bates numbers don't update themselves, so add them to the finished document.
• Merging creates a new file, so digital signatures in the originals don't carry over as valid signatures. Keep the signed originals as your record.
• Merged files can get big. If yours is too large to email, compress it, or share a link to it instead.