PDF tool
Merge PDF
Put several PDF files into one document, in the order you choose. Everything happens in this tab, so nothing is uploaded, there is no queue, and no account is needed. The pages are copied rather than redrawn, which means the text in the result is still selectable and searchable instead of turning into a picture of a document.
1. Choose your PDFs
Select two or more files. They are read in this tab and never sent anywhere.
Choose the PDF files to merge
You can also drag them onto this box
PDF only, as many as you like
Choose one or more PDF files to begin. Nothing is uploaded.
2. Take the merged file
Working on it.
The PDF engine is fetched from this site the first time you merge something, then kept by your browser.
Check the order before you download. The number beside each file is its position in the finished document, and the arrows move it. A merge that reorders the inputs on its own gives you a document that looks entirely plausible and is quietly wrong, which is the one failure worth spending ten seconds on.
How this one works
Combining PDF files sounds like it should be a single step, and most of the difficulty is not in the combining.
Pages are copied, not redrawn
Each page is copied across with its own fonts, images and vector drawings intact. This is the part that decides whether the result is any good: a merge that renders each page to an image and stitches the images together produces a file that looks correct and cannot be searched, cannot be copied from, and gets larger every time it is processed. Copying keeps the file as a real document.
Every page of every file is kept
All pages of all files are included, in the order shown, unless you remove a file from the list. Nothing is dropped because it looked blank, and nothing is rotated because its dimensions differed. If a merge quietly discards something, the person who needed it usually finds out after they have sent the document on.
It runs in this tab, which is why it is quick and free of uploads
The engine is a small library that runs in your browser, so a hundred-page document does not have to travel to a server and back. There is no size limit to speak of, no queue, and nothing retained. The trade is the one the whole site makes: the work happens on your machine, so the tool cannot quietly improve itself with a better model or a faster server.
Password protected files will not merge
A PDF with an open password has to be decrypted before its pages can be read, and this tool will not try to guess it. Remove the password first, then merge. The file that caused the problem is named in the message so you know which one to deal with.
When to use something else
Merging joins whole files. If you need to keep only certain pages, split each file first. If the goal is a smaller file, merging is the wrong direction, because it adds pages. If a page is upside down or in the wrong place after the merge, the PDF editor can rotate, reorder, or remove it without starting over. If a document has to be signed by someone else, do that after the merge, so the signature covers the finished file rather than one part of it.
What merging does, and the one thing that surprises people
Merging copies the pages from each file into a new document in the order you choose. Nothing is re-rendered, so text stays selectable and images keep their resolution, and the result is as good as the inputs.
The surprise is bookmarks and links. Internal bookmarks from the original documents do not always survive, and a table of contents that pointed within one file may now point at the wrong page or nowhere. If the merged document needs a working outline, check it afterwards rather than assuming it carried over.
File size is simply the sum of the inputs, because the pages are copied rather than recompressed. A merged file that feels unexpectedly large is usually one large input rather than a fault in the merge.
Order matters and is entirely under your control, so set it deliberately rather than relying on the order you happened to select the files in. Some systems sort a multi-selection alphabetically, which puts page 10 before page 2 if the names are not zero-padded.
Further reading: How merging without an upload actually works
Common questions
Are my PDF files uploaded anywhere?
No. The merge happens in this browser tab, on your machine. The files are read from your device and written back to it, and nothing is sent to a server. That is also why it works on a connection too slow for an upload.
Does merging reduce the file size?
No, and it cannot. Each page is copied across exactly as it already is, so the merged file is about the same size as the files you put in. Shrinking a PDF means recompressing the images and fonts inside it, which is a different job with its own quality cost.
Can I choose the order the pages end up in?
Yes. Add the files in the order you want them, and they are joined in that order. If you get the order wrong, start again rather than trying to reshuffle afterwards.
Why will my password protected PDF not merge?
The PDF format keeps the contents encrypted, so the pages cannot be read without the password. This tool has no way to ask for one, so an encrypted file has to be unlocked first. Open it in a PDF reader, save an unprotected copy, and merge that.
How many files can I merge at once?
Enough to cover ordinary paperwork, but not an entire archive. Every open file is held in memory at once, and a browser tab has a ceiling it will hit without warning. If it stalls, merge in smaller batches.