Photo: Pranay Parab
Ever wanted to merge a few different PDF files into a single document? You might have googled third-party apps or found sites to do it online, but your Mac actually has a built-in tool that allows you to merge PDFs instantly. It’s built right into Finder, and it’s been hiding in plain sight for a while.
How to merge PDFs on your Mac
The first step is to gather those PDFs in a single folder on your Mac. Once you’ve done that, the most important step is to select your files in the right order. The file you select first will appear on the first pages of the merged PDF; similarly, each file you select after that will end up in its corresponding position in the single PDF document you’re going to create.
You can press and hold the Command key and select all the PDF files in the order that you’d like to see in the final document. When you’re done selecting your files, right-click any of the files and select Quick Actions > Create PDF. A few seconds later, a merged PDF file will appear in the same folder. Rename it to whatever you want.
Once the merged PDF is created, be sure to open it and check if all the pages are in the right order. If they are, then you did everything right. If not, you can always return to your PDF folder and select the files in the right order before repeating the process.
You can’t merge password-protected PDF documents though
It’s worth noting that this process works with unencrypted PDF documents only. If you have a bunch of password-protected PDF files, you’ll have to save a copy of those documents with the passwords removed first. When that’s done, you can use this tip to merge your PDF files.
If you want to reduce the number of clicks you need to merge PDFs in Finder, you can switch to column view. Open Finder and press Command + 3 to switch to column view. You can now select all the PDF files to be merged, and click the Create PDF button in the right pane in Finder.
