Merge multiple PDF files on Mac

Sometimes we may need to join two PDF files together or append pages from one PDF file to another. On Mac OS, we can achieve that without using any third-party PDF merger or editors, but just the stock PDF reader and editor, the Preview, or even the PDF creation tool in the Quick Actions. Check out the quick steps below.

Method 1. Combine multiple PDF files into one single PDF using the Quick Actions

If you are on the latest Mac OS 10.14 with the Quick Actions feature, you don’t even need to open the PDF files in Preview or any other apps on Mac to combine two or more PDF files. The Quick Actions has the Create PDF tool to help. It can help us directly merge multiple PDF files right in the Finder app, so you don’t have to launch any app for this simple job.

Find the PDF documents in Finder. Rename them to keep them in the desired order. Command+click or drag and drop to select all of them. Right click on them, select Quick Actions > Create PDF. A new merged PDF file will be created and saved in the same folder in Finder.

combine pdf files in finder using quick actions create pdf tool on mac

It is not only PDF files, in this way, you can also convert and combine multiple images into a PDF on Mac, or even create a merged PDF file with mixed PDF documents and image files.

Method 2. Combine two or more PDF files using Preview on Mac

Preview is the default PDF reader and editor. You can use it to insert one PDF into another on Mac without any third-party PDF editor. Open one PDF file in Preview. Choose View from the top menu bar, choose Thumbnails from the drop-down menu to show page thumbnails in the left sidebar. You can select a page thumbnail in the left sidebar first, then click Edit > Insert > Page from File, select the second PDF that you want to add to the first PDF file, then click Open. You can append one PDF to the end of another, or insert a new PDF file into anywhere of an existing file in Preview.

insert pages to pdf from another pdf using preview on mac

If you like to delete any PDF page from any of the merged PDF files, simply select a page thumbnail in the left sidebar of Preview, then click Edit from the top menu bar, choose Delete from the drop-down menu list.

Finally click File > Export as PDF to save the combined PDF file to your Mac.

Method 3. Merge part of PDF files on Mac

If you like to extract certain pages from one long PDF file and insert it into another PDF file, the Preview app on Mac can also help you achieve it in a not so apparent way.

Open the two PDF files in Preview separately. Drag the selected thumbnails from one PDF to any position into the sidebar of the other PDF, then release. Repeat the steps to copy more PDF files from one PDF to another. In this way, you can select any PDF page from one file and insert it anywhere you want it to appear in the other PDF file.

merge part of pdf files, pages in preview on mac

Finally go to save the PDF file with newly added pages or choose File > Export as PDF to save the merged PDF as a new file.

Merging PDF files using Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is the most powerful PDF editor and converter. You can follow this tutorial to combine several PDF documents using Acrobat using its Combine Files tool which is able to combine and arrange several documents, spreadsheets, emails, and other file types into a single PDF..