jessicajsh

Q: My PDF documents won't merge

I have followed the direction exactly for merging pdfs in Preview.  See below.  When I save the document, or duplicate and save with a new name, it only shows me on of the pdfs.  Please help.

 

(1) Open the first pdf file, (2) Open the thumbnails draw (3) Drag in the second pdf file and (4) Save the new pdf.

 


iCal, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Aug 22, 2013 4:26 PM

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Q: My PDF documents won't merge

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  • by johnny2san,

    johnny2san johnny2san Jan 6, 2016 4:08 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 4:08 AM in response to jessicajsh

    I also had a bad hair day trying to combine PDFs in one doc using Preview, but ck614's solution worked perfectly for me, thanks.

     

    If you create a multi-page PDF you can then add additional pages to that doc, and only then..!

     

    So open one of the desired PDFs and go to edit>insert page> and a blank page will appear in the sidebar below the original PDF; you now have a multi-page PDF and can drag additional PDFs into the sidebar. Finally highlight the blank page and Edit> Delete> then Save; that should do it.

     

    For me the question is, why does Apple continue to publish incorrect frustrating directions @ other Apple web sites?

  • by Pband,

    Pband Pband Apr 7, 2016 6:12 PM in response to johnny2san
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 7, 2016 6:12 PM in response to johnny2san

    Responding to a super-old OP, but this thread is where my search led me before I figured it out...

     

    It's like bairdcal and The Guv alluded to above.  Open the thumbnails sidepane.  If it's a one-page PDF, drag your other PDF file, or a page from another PDF directly on top of the one page and release.  Wait for the page number underneath the page thumbnail to highlight before you release.  This will add it to the current file.  Now, there is an unbelievably light grey horizontal line below the last page in the thumbnails, as there was already if you started with a multi-page PDF.  If you move off center of your display, it might even not be visible.  When you add more pages, pay attention to this line.  Dragging pages/files into the sidebar, the line will shift to allow you to drop above/below it.  Drop above the grey line and you'll add a new last page to your PDF.  Drop below this line and you don't add to your PDF, you just open an additional PDF in the same window.  Look at the top title bar in the window - it will say "2 files" or something like that if you did it wrong.  Not sure why this would be desirable, but that's how Tim Cook (Steve Jobs?) wanted it...

  • by moviegourmet,

    moviegourmet moviegourmet Apr 30, 2016 9:24 PM in response to j-rad
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 30, 2016 9:24 PM in response to j-rad

    Thank you!  It seems I've been able to export a screen cap as a PDF in the past, but it wouldn't work tonight.  However, opening the print window and saving as PDF did convert it and then I was able to merge easily.

  • by cbp,

    cbp cbp Aug 13, 2016 5:01 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 13, 2016 5:01 AM in response to jessicajsh

    Try this. Open all PDFs in Preview.  Open Thumbnail view. Arrange in order. Drop in new files. Delete unwanted files.

    Now, in the heading (title bar) of the opened Preview file, there should be a summary indicating how many pages you have in your Preview file (ex: the file name may be that of only one PDF file but beside it, there is a summary that indicates, for example, 14 pages - all those you have dropped or opened while in thumbnail view. Now, scroll through while in Thumbnail view and make sure you have all in desired order.  Now, go to Print in the File menu.  When the Print dialog box comes up, not in the bottom left there is an option to Save or Print as pdf. Select it and when given the option, type in a new file name for your multipage, merged PDF and save to the desired location. Voila, you now created a multi page pdf.  Once created, you can now open it in Preview as many times as desired and add and delete files (while in thumbnail view) and just go to Save and it updates, accordingly, the number and order of pages in your merged pdf.

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