How to Merge PDF Files Without Adobe Acrobat

Merge PDF files online

Docubox's Merge PDF writes the pages of several PDFs into one new file. You use it in a web browser, so there is nothing to install, and it has no settings: the only choice you make is the order of the files.

1. Open Merge PDF and add your files. Go to the Merge PDF page and drop your PDFs onto the upload box, or choose them from your device. Before you upload anything, the page tells you that a free account is needed to download the result and that the files are processed on Docubox's servers.
2. Put the files in order. The merged PDF follows your list from top to bottom. Once the list holds more than one file, an up arrow and a down arrow appear beside each name. Use them to move a file earlier or later, and the X to take one out. Check the list before you continue, because the order is set when the merge starts.
3. Select Run Merge PDF. Your files upload first, and then Docubox's servers join them. The button stays disabled while the list has a file that does not end in .pdf, or more files or more data than the limits below allow. The page count is checked after the upload.
4. Sign in to download. When the merge is done, Docubox asks you to sign in with Google or with a one-time code sent to your email. It is free, and there is no password. The result page then shows a preview, a Download button and the time the temporary file expires.
5. Save it if you want to keep it. Choose Save to my documents and Docubox makes a verified copy in My documents that stays until you delete it. Otherwise the merged file is temporary and goes away on its own.

The merged file is named after the first file in your list, with -merged added, so a list that starts with contract.pdf gives contract-merged.pdf. Docubox also compares the page count of the new file with the total from your originals, and the job fails rather than hand you a file with pages missing.

Merge PDFs on a Mac with Preview

If you have a Mac, you may not need a website at all. Preview, the PDF viewer on your Mac, can combine PDFs without sending them anywhere. The steps below follow Apple's guide, Combine PDFs in Preview on Mac.

1. Open the PDFs in Preview. Open every PDF you want to combine.
2. Protect your originals. Preview saves changes to a document automatically. If you want to keep the originals untouched, choose File > Duplicate to make a copy of each PDF before you combine anything.
3. Show the thumbnails. In each open PDF, choose View > Thumbnails so the page thumbnails appear in the sidebar.
4. Drag pages across. Drag the thumbnails you want from the sidebar of one PDF to the sidebar of the other. If the pages are not next to each other, Command-click each one first to select it. You can drop them at the end of the document or between existing pages.
5. Add whole files or reorder. To add an entire PDF, drag its icon from the Finder into the sidebar of an open document. Drag thumbnails up or down the sidebar to change their order.

Preview is the better choice when a file is private, when you are offline, or when you want to pick individual pages, because everything happens on your Mac. Docubox's tool is an option when you are not on a Mac, or when you would rather arrange whole files in a list than drag thumbnails. If Acrobat is already installed and you are comfortable with it, Adobe's guide to combining files in Acrobat covers that route.

What the merged PDF keeps

Merging copies pages into the new file; it does not redraw them. With Docubox, that is what you can expect from the result:

• Page order. Every page of the first PDF comes first, then every page of the second, and so on down your list.
• Page size and rotation. Each page keeps the size and rotation it had in its original, so a landscape page stays landscape and a rotated page stays rotated.
• Bookmarks. The bookmarks of every file are carried over and listed one file after another, each still pointing at its own pages.
• Links. Links to web addresses are kept, and so are links that jump to another page of the same file. If two of your files use the same name for their jump targets, as copies of one template sometimes do, a jump link can land on the wrong page, so try the links you depend on.
• No password. The merged file is not password protected, even if one of your originals had a print or edit restriction.
• Digital signatures. Merging may invalidate existing digital signatures, so keep the signed original as your record.

Before you send the merged PDF to anyone, open it in your usual viewer, scroll through the pages and check the order. If a PDF depends on form fields, layers or attachments, check those too.

When merging fails

• A PDF needs a password to open. Docubox refuses these files and does not ask for the password. Remove the protection in the app that made the file and upload the unprotected copy. A PDF that only restricts printing or editing is accepted.
• The merged file would be over the page limit. The limit counts the pages of all your files together, so several short PDFs can fit where two long ones cannot. Use Split PDF to cut the pages you do not need, then merge what is left.
• A file is damaged or is not really a PDF. A cut-off download, a PDF with no pages and a file that only has the .pdf ending are rejected. Export or download the original again.
• You added more files, or more data, than one merge allows. Docubox will not start the merge until you remove some files. The limits are listed earlier on this page.
• The file is a signed document. The merge itself works, but it may invalidate the signature. Merge a copy and keep the signed original.

A merge that fails is not counted against your daily allowance. The help article on troubleshooting conversions explains the common messages.

What happens to your files

Docubox merges your PDFs on its servers, not in your browser. The files upload to private storage, and Docubox's systems can read them while the merge runs, so an online tool is the wrong choice for a document you would not upload to any website. A free account (Google, or a code emailed to you, with no password) is needed to download the result.

Signing in does not keep a file, and neither does downloading it. A download does not delete the file or extend the time, and a copy you have already downloaded is yours to keep. Only saving the result to your documents makes it last. The retention policy covers the rest.