How to combine multiple pdf files with OS X Mavericks 10.9

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With every release of OS X Apple seems to slightly change the way to merge two pdf documents. I’ve previously written on how to merge 2 pdf files in Mountain Lion (10.8) and how to merge two pdf files in Lion or earlier. Here’s how to do it in OS X 10.9 Mavericks. 

John has just posted a much easier method of doing this in a comment below. Thanks John, here it is:

1. Double click your first pdf document to open it with Preview, the built in mac OSX.

2. Go to the “Edit” drop down menu, find “Insert” and then “Page from File…”

3. Click on the file (or files) that you wish to import.

After this…

You can delete pages by selecting the page in the page thumbnails and pressing delete.

You can rearrange pages by selecting the page in the page thumbnails and dragging it up or down.

Whatever changes you make will be saved when you select ‘Save’

Make sure all files are pdf files…if you’re using .doc files, save them as pdf first.

Written by Wayne Connor
Mac user since 1996
Helping people master their Macs since 2005

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64 responses to “How to combine multiple pdf files with OS X Mavericks 10.9”

  1. Lawrence Moore

    So if doc1.pdf has five pages and I want to insert doc2.pdf between pages 3 and 4 of doc1.pdf, where do I drag the doc2.pdf thumbnail to? On top of page 3 thumbnail or between thumbnails 3 & 4?

    Reply
    1. Wayne

      “I want to insert doc2.pdf between pages 3 and 4 of doc1.pdf, where do I drag the doc2.pdf thumbnail to?”

      Drag it ON TOP OF page 3 or 4 thumbnail (so it merges), NOT between them (or else jot won’t merge). If it is not where you want, AFTER you drop it just move it around by dragging it and letting go between pages 3 and 4 thumbnails.

      Reply
  2. Ragnar

    Life Saver!!! Thank you very much. The help file on the Preview app is wrong and suggests that you do an “Export”. There are 2 options for Export (Not described in the help) One being Export which ONLY saves another copy of the selected File, and Export as PDF which creates one file per contained file. Even this is very simple like you post, Apple doesn’t publish this anywhere.

    Reply
  3. Marcel

    No matter how hard I try, I won’t get the green plus, and they remain just two separate documents. Bit of a bummer when scanning because since OS X Maverick HP scan stopped working properly. The only way of scanning is using Preview, single pages at the time (or am I missing something?)

    Reply
    1. Wayne

      Most likely you are trying to merge 2 files that are not pdf files. Convert them to pdf first, (‘print’ – ‘save as pdf’) then merge them.

      Reply
  4. Flatlander

    Thanks for the guidance on this procedure. I had my documents in PICT format and figured out I had to put them in PDF format by going through Preview>Export as PDF. I was then able to go through with your steps. Similar to Ragnar’s post. Also, the grey frame only showed up on the initial merging and the other pages just had the green + and merged without the frame and no problems. Much appreciated!

    Reply
  5. Beth

    Thank you soooooooooooooo much! The small change with the green plus sign had completely escaped me and I was getting so frustrated with the inability to do something that I was used to! Thanks for clearing this up. Even the Apple Support forums aren’t making this clear (at least that I can find)…

    Reply
  6. Luke

    Thanks for the post! Although I can not get the green plus on my documents. I’m trying to merge two 26 page PDF’s and I’ve followed your steps above without luck. I can merge a one page document into one of the 26 page docs but not the two multiple page PDF’s together. Any suggestions on how I can get this to work?

    Reply
    1. Alex

      You need to make sure the document is not in ‘collapsed’ mode.
      if you click the tiny grey triangle at the top left next to the document name, you can then drag the other documents into that document to add them.

      Reply
  7. Arjan Broere

    Thanks! Works great and saved me money because I was about to go and buy an app for a relatively simple merge-job.

    Reply
  8. Fran

    THANK YOU! for explaining that a slight overlap was necessary to get the Green +. Had been dragging them “perfectly” (over and over again) and could not understand why the pages weren’t merging!

    Reply
  9. Tom

    I can add one pdf to another one as indicated above, but when I try to add a third pdf to the combined one, no green plus. If I close Preview and reopen, I can add one pdf, but no more. Nor can I select multiple pdfs and add them all at once. I used to be able to do this before Mavericks.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. In archiving pdfs, I like to combine a year’s worth into a single pdf.

    Reply
    1. Wayne

      To do a huge archive, like a year’s worth, just select them all in finder, click and they will all open in one preview window, then choose ‘print’, then choose PDF:save to pdf (bottom left of print dialog). It will save them all to one pdf.

      Reply
  10. Robert W

    I’ve tried this several times, and this does not work for me. Does this only work for merging two PDFs? Before, you could drag pages from one and they merged into the target PDF, but every time I try to do that, the green “plus” appears and then swiftly disappears, no matter what I do, where I move the page in the thumbnails of the target document. Therefore, when I let go of the mouse, it doesn’t actually merge. Perhaps it is only me with this problem, but it is seriously irritating me. Thanks in advance.

    Reply
    1. Wayne

      Still works for pages. Maybe one of the documents is ‘locked’?

      Reply
  11. Crystal

    When I try to merge pdf files in preview when I hold the thumbnails over each other I do not get a green plus sign… Can anyone help with this?

    Reply
  12. Deby

    I have transferred single multiple pages on my mac into one file and it works great but why is it that when I transfer them to my iPad they overlap?

    Reply
  13. Brooke

    I started with 5 PDF files, I was able to merge two files into one and the other three into another. I’m looking at two files on top of each other in the thumbnail view on the side, but I can’t get the two to merge into each other. Help?

    Reply
  14. Paul

    Apple talks about good design. But this user interface is horrible.

    Reply
    1. Wayne

      Yes. I agree it’s poor when it needs so much explaining. Not intuitive at all. Not very Apple.

      Reply
  15. Susan

    Thank you for the explanation.This worked great. Make sure the documents are in pdf format. I made that mistake earlier.

    Reply
  16. MC

    Thanks for this info! This is a tremendous help!

    Reply
  17. John Darling

    Much easier way to do this:

    1. Open your first document with preview
    2. Go to edit drop down menu, find “insert” and then “page from file”
    3. click on the file you wish to import.

    This adds the second file to the end of the first one. You can change the page order manually after that. Make sure all files are pdf files…if you’re using .doc files, save them as pdf first.

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      Thanks!! That actually worked, whereas on my Mac (Maverics 10.9.3) what the article writer said to do was NOT working at all. The only way to get the green arrow was to use Option while dragging but that only created another file of the same file I was dragging. Your method worked like a charm, thanks, John!

      Reply
    2. Wayne

      Thanks John that’s a great tip.

      Reply
  18. John Whitehead

    This was a life saver: very many thanks.

    Apple’s help system is always frustrating because it’s so slow and clunky but when it’s downright wrong as well it’s enormously frustrating. I think we need a campaign to make them take Help seriously again…

    I can feel an online petition coming on.

    J

    Reply
  19. Crystal

    John Darling, that comment was soooo helpful! I selected one pdf, drug it into the previewer. Then hit insert and selected 21 other files and it worked perfectly. Thank you!!!

    Reply
  20. Ayla Hourani

    Thank you. Easy, straightforward and works like magic! Took me ages to figure that one out lol

    Reply
  21. laj

    THANK YOU! This was so helpful. I had about given up on being able to do this. So glad I found your clear explanation.

    Reply
  22. Marnie

    Thank you so much!! What a help. I’ve been fiddling around for nearly an hour with this but you solved it in 3 min. flat.

    Reply
  23. guillaume

    Anybody know how to prevent preview from automatically renumbering the pdf after inserting pages ?

    Reply
  24. Rabia

    It worked for me as I was trying to merge two documents. I will definitely try for multiple documents also.

    Reply
  25. Paul

    Thanks!! That is the first time an instruction for Mac was clear and worked on the first attempt!! You saved me many minutes of frustration. Now I Mac could only figure out how to save one document as one PDF from the beginning (when there are several formats in one document, tables etc. it saves each section as a different document, a pain in the ass). Thanks again

    Reply
  26. BigBen

    Thank you, that was most helpful. The illustrations are great!

    Reply
    1. Milind

      Thank a lot made my life easy…

      Reply
  27. Bobbi

    Thank you! No one was was getting it right.

    Reply
  28. Ginger

    Thank you! This was definitely helpful!

    Reply
  29. maureen

    Thank you! Very helpful.

    Reply
  30. A Rem

    Thanks very very helpful and easy.

    Reply

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