How to Combine PDF Files on a Mac
You can combine PDFs on a Mac with the built-in Preview app, or with the merge tool on this page. In Preview, open the first PDF, show the thumbnails sidebar, drag the other PDFs into it and export the result. With PDFYork, drop the files here, put them in order and click Merge PDFs; the files are combined in your browser without being uploaded.
Before you start
- Where your file is processed
- In your browser. The file is read and processed on your device and is not uploaded to PDFYork.
- Account
- Not required. Without an account you can run 3 tasks per day across all tools. A free account raises the limit.
- Cost
- Standard tool. Free accounts can run 14 standard tasks per day.
How to Use
Add the PDFs from Finder
Drag the PDF files from a Finder window onto the upload area above, or click to browse.
Arrange the order
Drag the file cards into the order you want the documents to appear.
Merge
Click Merge PDFs. Tick the bookmark option first if you want one bookmark per file.
Save
Download the combined PDF. Safari saves it to your Downloads folder by default.
Method 1: Combine PDFs with Preview
Preview is included with macOS and can merge PDFs without any download:
- Open the first PDF in Preview.
- Choose View > Thumbnails to show page thumbnails in the sidebar.
- Drag the other PDF files from Finder into the sidebar, dropping them where they should appear.
- Drag thumbnails to fine-tune the page order.
- Choose File > Export as PDF to save the combined document as a new file, so the original stays unchanged.
Preview is convenient for a few files. With many documents, dropping each one in the right place in the sidebar takes more care, and it is easy to drop a file onto a page by mistake.
Method 2: Combine PDFs in your browser
The tool on this page works in Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge on macOS. Each file appears as a card you can drag into order, and the result can include a bookmark for each source file. The merge runs in your browser, so the files are not uploaded.
Which method to use
| Situation | Better choice |
|---|---|
| Two or three files, quick job | Preview |
| Many files that need sorting | Browser tool |
| You want a bookmark per file | Browser tool |
| You need to delete or reorder individual pages too | Preview, or merge here and then use Organize PDF |
Combined file too big to email? Compress PDF applies lossless compression, and the result shows how much was saved.
Use Cases
Scans from Notes or Files
Combine documents scanned with the Notes app or an iPhone into one PDF for an application.
Course readings
Merge downloaded lecture PDFs into one file to read in Books or Preview.
Client packs
Join a proposal, quote and terms into one document before emailing from Mail.