Right now if you own a Mac, you would probably be the lucky one amongst those who both wish to own a Mac and use the merging feature quite often as it comes with in-built PDF tools. So, you don’t need to search about how to combine PDF files for free.
Using Preview on Mac
The preview app that Mac boasts, may look simple from the outside but don’t get carried away by it. The thing with Preview is that, it is better for you to start with making a copy of each PDF file, because the software itself saves work as it works on it, so incase if you are using the original PDF files and you don’t get what you desire, then you are looking at some lengthy footwork to get the original files back.
- You can start by opening the duplicate file. If incase thumbnails are not present, you can go to the view menu to switch them on so that they can appear on Preview’s side bar.
- The next step simply involves dragging files to the sidebar and dropping them in a position where you want them. It can be the start, end or even between two pages. If you get the location wrong, you can use thumbnails and delete the pages you do not want.
- Sometimes people are not able to get their heads across as to how to merge a few pages from second PDF file? In that case, you will first need to open the PDF file separately and drag the thumbnails into your first PDF file. MacOS as usual allows you to use Shift-click to select continuous pages or click-CMD on multiple pages to select pages from almost anywhere you want in the file.
- In some cases, Preview may act in an unusual manner while it is saving a file, so after bringing the combined pages in order, you first choose the file, export it as PDF and save it under its original name. You can also save the file under its original name by following prompts but it is better and safe to use the Export to PDF option.
Merging Files of Different Types wit preview
Preview also comes with feature of combining files of different type in one single file, which means that you can drag any JPEG, TIFF and PNG files into a PDF file.
At the same time, you can also create a PDF from Word or an Excel document. You can as usual convert the Word and Excel files into PDF by going into the export option and then dragging them in Preview because it won’t allow otherwise.
Using A Third Party Tool for Merging PDF Files
If you are still searching for how to combine PDF files free, there is another way too.
You can use a third party application like Adobe Acrobat or any other reliable software to merge PDF files, the same way you do it in Preview but you can also drag files which Adobe knows how to convert in PDF be it HTML, Word or Excel files.
That’s it. We hope that your questions: how to combine PDF files for free are answered.
