Combining documents in Preview [Mojave]

I have two pdf scans I want to combine in Preview == I have opened both in Preview and opened in Thumbnail view - I have clicked and dragged #1 into #2 and saved == but the combined document is not saved. Then I read here to do Edit-Insert and I tried that but the two choices under Edit/Insert are greyed out so I can't do that.

iMac 27" 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 26, 2020 8:37 AM

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Creating a multi-page document in Preview Greetings all, I am trying to use "Preview" to create a multi-page pdf document by combining separate documents into a single expression. Should be simple enough, but, even following stock Apple Support instructions such as this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202945 proves futile. Instructions as posted do not match what is present on my desktop. For the record, and as an example, I have two scanned one-page documents that have been rendered as JPGs, and I wish to combine them and export them into a single PDF file. Following the instructions in the quoted article has never yielded success. For instance: • Line 3 states this "To indicate where to insert the other document, select a page thumbnail." This is unclear, is it referring to a current document you've opened (which, btw, is only one page, so in thumbnail view the page is pre-selected) or is it referring to the 2nd document you wish to add? • Line 4 states this "Choose Edit > Insert > Page from File,* select the PDF that you want to add, then click Open." - this ALWAYS fails, as I choose Edit>Insert but that is as far as I can go, as the "page from File" is greyed out and rendered inoperable. Saving as a pdf to my desktop will inevitably contain one one of any documents chosen for combining. Any advice (and clearer than Apple instructions) wold be most appreciated. Regards, DLC
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Unable to combine pdf in preview PDF's not combining? Show thumbnails on the side by by clicking View from top menu bar. .Try inserting a blank page after the last page of the first pdf. Then drag and drop your next pdf just before the blank page into the thumbnails. Apple support provided this remedy.
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combine large number of pdfs What happened to Preview?? Apple completely ruined it. If I want to combine hundreds of single pages into one pdf, I used to be able to just open them automatically in one window, all the thumbnails appeared down the side, I could sort them by filename to make sure the pages were ordered correctly, then print the lot to a single pdf. Now I have to open every single page separately and manually tell each one (of hundreds) to view thumbnails, then manually drag the thumbnail into position??? I’m not going to be doing that. Preview was the one thing that kept me from switching to windows! Please tell me there's a way to either roll back to a previous version of Preview or OS, or a setting I can change to get back the old way of combining pdfs! (High Sierra 10.13.6 and cannot update further as it's an old machine)
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1 reply

Apr 26, 2020 1:50 PM in response to Victoria Herring

After inserting 1st file into the 2nd, go to: File > Export as PDF, give it a name then Save

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Combining documents in Preview [Mojave]

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