Perhaps you have ever wanted to merge several PDF files into one document? If so, you may want to look for an app that can do it for you, but you don’t have to!
macOS Finder Mac has a built-in feature that lets you instantly merge PDF files into one file. However, you’ll need to know where to find this feature in the Finder.
Merge PDF files in Finder
Since macOS Mojave, you can quickly merge multiple PDF files into one PDF file using quick actions. To do this, follow these steps:
- Collect the PDF files you want to merge into a folder, or open the folders containing the various files.
- Select the files you want to merge in the correct order. The file you select first will appear on the first pages of the merged PDF file. You can cmd⌘ key and select the remaining PDF files in the order you want to see in the final document.
- When you are done selecting the files, right-click on one of the selected files. A context menu will appear, select option: Quick Tasks ▸ Create PDF.
- The merged PDF file will now be created and will appear in the same folder, which you can of course name yourself.
You can now open the merged PDF file and check if all the pages are in the correct order. If so, then you have done everything right. If not, you can always reselect the PDF files in the correct order and repeat the merge.
If the order is not correct, you can also use the Preview app to put the pages in the correct order. To do this, simply drag the pages into the correct order and resave the file.
Merge from column view
If you want to reduce the number of clicks required to merge PDF files in Finder, you can use a folder and column view. Place all the PDF files you want to merge in a folder and open that folder in Finder.
Use cmd + 3 to activate the column view in Finder. You can now easily select all the PDF files you want to merge.
At the bottom of the right column (with the preview) the option “Create PDF” will now appear, click on this to merge the files.
Encrypted PDF files
It is not possible to merge PDF files that have a password. If you want to merge protected PDF files, you must first save a copy of those documents and remove the passwords. Once that is done, you can use this tip to merge the PDF files.