How to Combine PDF Files on Mac – 2 Workable Methods You Should Know

Last Updated on May 20, 2022 by Tina Clark


Is it possible to combine the scanned PDF files on Mac into one? Yes. There are dozens of online PDF mergers with your web browser. But when you scan some documents in PDF format and send them via Email, it is not difficult to insert the lost pages into the scanned PDF.

Consider the scenario in which you need to swap two or more documents. To save time, instead of attaching various PDFs to an email, you may combine PDF files into a single file on Mac instead. Preview is the default PDF viewer and combiner on Mac to help you out. But there are lots of restrictions. What should be the best alternative when you need to edit the PDF files or perform OCR features? Just learn more details from the article and choose the desired one accordingly.

How to Combine PDF Files on Mac

Part 1: 2 Methods to Combine PDF Files on Mac via Preview

If you want to combine two or more PDF files on a Mac, Preview is the nifty small PDF viewer and combiner to merge different PDF files. Besides the basic solution to view PDF files, you can also mark up PDF with annotations and add your signature to the PDF. Just learn more about the 2 methods to combine PDF files on Mac via Preview.

How to Combine PDFs on Mac Using Preview

Step 1: Right-click the PDF file you want to merge and select the Open With option. Choose the Preview option on the drop-down list to open the PDF with Preview on your Mac.

Open PDF with Preview

Step 2: Go to the Edit menu and choose the Insert option to insert and combine PDF files. After that, you can select the Page from File from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Insert Page from File Preview

Step 3: Select your desired PDF file in the open/save dialog box. Navigate to and choose your second PDF file. Click the Open button to combine the PDF files on your Mac via Preview.

Step 4: There will be a horizontal list of thumbnails for each page displayed on the left-hand side of the Preview window. Drag an individual page or groups of pages into the desired layout.

Arrange Order for PDF Preview

Note: To delete a page from your PDF document, you only need to choose it from the Thumbnail list and press the Delete key to delete the PDF within Preview directly.

Combine a Part of PDF to Another PDF Using Preview

Step 1: Open the desired parts of a PDF that you want to combine with another PDF in Preview. Go to the View tab and select the Thumbnails option to view the thumbnails of the pages.

Check Thumbnail PDF Preview

Step 2: Keep the Command key pressed while picking the page thumbnails you want to include in the other document. Then release the key to complete the selection to add the PDF to another one.

Step 3: Drag the thumbnails into the sidebar of the other PDF. After that, you can release the PDF or PDF pages where you want them to appear in the document you want to combine.

Step 4: If you are satisfied with the combined PDF files on Mac, go to the File tab and hit the Export as PDF button from the menu bar to save the desired files accordingly.

Export as PDF Preview

Part 2: The Professional Method to Merge PDF Files on Mac

Preview is the built-in PDF viewer and merger that enables you to alter your PDF documents. But when you split the desired files, edit the PDF, or even perform the OCR algorithm to extract the desired text, PDFelement is the best alternative to combine PDF files on Mac, especially for the scanned PDF. It provides some advanced editing features, including editing text, editing pictures, and drawing on PDF documents, among others. Aside from that, it can convert any file format into a PDF document.

1. Combine PDF, Word, Excel, Images, and others into a whole file.

2. Provide editing features to combine, split, crop, and polish PDFs.

3. Perform the OCR feature to extract the text and images from PDF.

4. Convert PDF to Word, Excel, and other files, or vice versa easily.

Win Download Mac Download

Step 1: To begin, open PDFelement on your computer. Select the Batch Process option from the drop-down menu under the Tool button in the top toolbar. Select the Combine PDF function from the drop-down menu in the new window.

Open PDF for Conversion PDFElement

Step 2: Choose the PDF files that you wish to merge into a single document and add them to the document. Select the PDF files from your MacBook by selecting the + Add button. It provides you with customization choices, such as the ability to select the preferred size for the new document.

PDFelement Features

Step 3: Click on the Apply button to begin the application process. When the operation is complete, the file will be opened automatically. To save it, pick your chosen output folder from the drop-down menu and then click the Save button to combine PDF on Mac.

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Conclusion

The procedure of combining many PDFs into one file should not be time-consuming. While dealing with a large number of documents might be difficult, there are a few straightforward strategies for merging PDFs, whether you're putting up a portfolio or simply looking for ways to decrease file clutter in general. Always remember that Mac has a built-in application called Preview for this process. However, if you are looking for a more reliable application that can do better, you can go with PDFelement. Choose the application that can offer more because you always deserve better.