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 Linc Davis,Apple recommended

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 22, 2013 5:09 PM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 10 (207,926 points)
    Applications
    Aug 22, 2013 5:09 PM in response to jessicajsh
  • by mollyr123,

    mollyr123 mollyr123 Feb 10, 2014 7:03 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 10, 2014 7:03 PM in response to Linc Davis

    You obviously didn't even read her question.

    She tried that.

  • by Neil Bradshaw,

    Neil Bradshaw Neil Bradshaw Apr 4, 2014 7:30 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 4, 2014 7:30 AM in response to jessicajsh

    Same problem.  I successfully merged two pdfs as described, then when trying to add another pdf it simply won't.  Very frustrating, think I'll have to go back to Windows!

  • by bairdcal,Apple recommended

    bairdcal bairdcal Jul 24, 2014 8:35 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (7 points)
    Jul 24, 2014 8:35 AM in response to jessicajsh

    "When dragging the thumbnail to the top or the bottom of the thumbnail pane, a divider line may appear. To ensure your pages are inserted into the current document, do not drag the thumbnail beyond the divider line."

     

    From: OS X: Combining PDF documents using Preview, Moving Pages Between Documents, Note under Step 5.

     

    Hope this helps

     

    Callum

  • by stanleyfromhonolulu,Helpful

    stanleyfromhonolulu stanleyfromhonolulu Jul 25, 2014 4:59 PM in response to bairdcal
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jul 25, 2014 4:59 PM in response to bairdcal

    I had the same problem. There are apparently two different kinds of PDF docs that Preview recognizes, the single-page and the multi-page.

     

    To merge an additional page into a Multi-page is easy (see below), but I have never found out how to make Preview change a "single-page" into a "multi-page" PDF. Instead, if I want to combine a bunch of one-page PDFʻs into a single multi-page file, I go the somewhat un-classy route of making a copy of some random little multi-page PDF I have lying around, and re-naming the copy. Then I add all the PDFʻs I want to be in the new file to the renamed copy, and finally delete all of the unwanted original pages to get the merged file I want. Very gorpy, but until Apple gets some competent Human Engineers on its staff, it will have to do. And it has the great recommendation that IT WORKS!

     

    Hereʻs how I add single pages to a multi-page file:-

    With both docs open, show the sidebars of both docs. The multi-page should be expanded and show thumbnails for all its included pages, and the top (first) page will have a rotary arrow in a circle pointing to the right. If there is only one page showing, move the cursor over that page and a rotary arrow should appear, pointing to the left. Click on that arrow and it should flip to the right and all the pages should appear in order below.

     

    Now go to the file that you want to add to the multi-page, and select the thumbnail in the sidebar. Then drag it over to the multi-page sidebar and drop it where you want it in the series of page-thumbnails (a red line will snap to where it is going). When you first drag it over the multi-page sidebar there should appear a gray box covering all the pages now in the multi-page; be sure to drop your new page within the gray box, even if you want to add it at the end - if you drop it outside that box it wonʻt be added to the multi-page but will merely show in the window.

     

    Of course, this works for me, in the Hawaii Standard Time Zone, with OS 10.6.8 and Preview version 5.0.3  They are mine and Iʻm going to keep them forever! (hopefully, but who knows the future?)

     

    Good luck!

  • by RainMeister,

    RainMeister RainMeister Sep 23, 2014 10:53 PM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 10:53 PM in response to jessicajsh

    You may be running into the same problem I had until I figured out that I was trying to merge 2 non-PDF documents which was causing the problem.

     

    First, make sure the documents that you wish to combine are saved in PDF format. When I had first scanned the hard copies of the documents onto my system, it was initially saved in JPEG mode. Whenever I tried to combine one JPEG document with another JPEG document, Previews would not allow the documents to merge.

     

    So I then converted and saved each document into PDF format. Next, I opened each PDF version of the documents in Preview, and opened the thumbnail preview. I then dragged one of the document thumbnails over onto the top of the other document thumbnail, and voila!, they merged.

  • by fdomiano,Helpful

    fdomiano fdomiano Nov 18, 2014 8:20 AM in response to RainMeister
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 18, 2014 8:20 AM in response to RainMeister

    I had the same problem. Here's how I solved it:

     

    - Open the destination file

    - Go to Edit > Insert > Page from file...

    - Select the pdf file you want to insert

     

    When I did that, it asked for a password. I ignored it and clicked on "Edit without saving" and it worked. And I was able to save it, no problem.

  • by gigabits,

    gigabits gigabits Jan 3, 2015 5:16 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2015 5:16 AM in response to jessicajsh

    I had this same problem, using OS X Lion and Preview.  I had no 'Page from file...' option under Edit > Insert so couldn't follow fmomiano's directions.

     

    I've used the 'drag thumbnails where you want them' routine described above in the past with no problems, this was the first time it hadn't worked.  It appears that the document I had was password protected (though I was never prompted for a password) and was created by Adobe Pagemaker 7.0, and encoded using Acrobat Distiller for Windows.  Don't know if the creator/encoder really matters.

     

    What I did to solve the problem was to make a duplicate and then follow the directions above.  Worked perfectly.

     

    This might also help anyone else that stumbles across this thread:

     

    2 PDF's won't combine into 1 file?

  • by j-rad,

    j-rad j-rad Feb 22, 2015 7:38 PM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2015 7:38 PM in response to jessicajsh

    Have had this same issue since I started using macs in 2006... Have fumbled through all the clunky solutions mentioned above... I do believe that RainMeister is onto something with trying to merge jpgs... If you're, in fact, stumped by all the usual tricks not working, I would almost guarantee you're trying to merge jpgs. 

     

    SO HERE'S THE ANSWER!!!  (for merging jpgs in preview into a single PDF)

     

    With all of your jpegs in one preview window (all jpgs showing in the thumbnail bar on the left), print to PDF.  Voila... done.

     

    I'll probably forget this the next time I'm stumped as to why preview won't merge "pdfs"... hope I find my answer!  =)

  • by The Guv,

    The Guv The Guv Mar 27, 2015 6:35 PM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 27, 2015 6:35 PM in response to jessicajsh

    The key I found was that you need to make sure the files you are combining are already in PDF format, and that in the sidebar you need to open the triangle so you see all the pages in the target document and that you drag above the grey line that appears to make sure they combine.

  • by jamminjj,Helpful

    jamminjj jamminjj May 9, 2015 11:02 AM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 9, 2015 11:02 AM in response to jessicajsh

    I was having this same difficulty, but discovered by accident that it works if you drop one of the thumbnails directly on top of the other thumbnail. It won't work if you just drop it in the thumbnails sidebar, which is what I was originally doing.

  • by DiamondRich,

    DiamondRich DiamondRich May 13, 2015 1:18 PM in response to jamminjj
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 13, 2015 1:18 PM in response to jamminjj

    Yes! This worked. Drop it right on top. Then you can rearrange the pages as you want. I could not get it to save into a new combined PDF dropping the pages below the page already in the original PDF. Thank you

  • by FigureMan,

    FigureMan FigureMan Jul 31, 2015 1:49 AM in response to fdomiano
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 1:49 AM in response to fdomiano

    Thanks! It helps me a lot! I never think about using "insert."

  • by ck614,

    ck614 ck614 Aug 6, 2015 8:28 PM in response to jessicajsh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2015 8:28 PM in response to jessicajsh

    I just worked on this same problem...combining single page PDF's into a larger, multipage PDF...for well over an hour and discovered the same things as @stanleyfromhonolulu: you can't do it. For whatever reason you can only add pages to a multi page PDF otherwise it simply won't save as a multi page PDF, no matter what you do (trust me, I tried everything!!). To work around this, however, all you need to do is open one of your single page PDF's, insert a blank page, and presto! you now have a multi-page PDF that you can easily drag all the single page PDF's you want into. When you're finished click 'save a version' and then go back and delete the blank page.

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