Can't combine PDFs in Preview 7.0

I have the same issue with Mavericks, and the Green + symbol does not appear. I am using regular PDF files. How did you get this to work?

Yep having the same problem - snow allowed for images to be imported into a pdf under 'file' but this appears to have gone. my workaround was to select the images, save content required into pdf [file, export selected images] then merge as before.

Not working for me in Mavericks. Followed the Preview Help instructions exactly. Opened 5 pdfs, drug each one into the sidebar of the first one. No + signs, no combine. Got only the single file each time. Repeat 5 times, give up.

Then I tired a different tack. Open one PDF sidebar, then drag the icon of each of the other file into the sidebar (don't open them first). Got the + sign, but final results were the same. No luck.

I would like to combine pngs without all the labor to convert to pdfs.

Anybody?

The same technique that works for PDF, also works for images in Preview. To combine multiple file objects, set Preview's view to Thumbnails. Each item you wish to combine should be dragged and dropped on the top icon in the thumbnail view. You can drag them around to preferred order. When done, Save As... or Export to PDF as desired.

Viking,

The problem is it doesn't work. When I try to combine individual files and drag one over the other, there is no [+] sign. There is no line under the first file.

When I start with a multipage file, it works. I can drag a single page onto the multiple file and get the [+] sign, etc.

I spent 1/2 hour fighting with Preview with 5 individual files and nothing worked.

Would love to read a step by step description of making individual files combine.

Ok. Enough wasted time. This PDF combine solution is tested and works in Mavericks. The Preview help on combining PDF is too confusing to be of much value.

1. If you do not want the first opened PDF to be updated in place by Preview (without a File > Save), use a copy instead.
2. Open the first PDF in thumbnail view.
3. Drag and drop the next PDF between the last page icon of the previous PDF, and the grey horizontal bar below it. The ➕ symbol will appear before you drop the new PDF. The new content thumbnails will appear after the last PDF page, and page numbers will automatically resequence. Sometimes, Preview is absent-minded and stutters page 2 in the newly added content. Disregard, as Preview will realize this and fix it.
4. Repeat step 3 for each new PDF to combine.
5. You can choose File > Save to have all the combinations appear in the original/copy PDF filename, or you can Export to PDF, choosing a new PDF filename.

Apple dropped the site as I was posting this material. I have an Automator Service that combines PDF files. This is quicker than dealing with Preview.

Select the PDF files in the order of combination with the Finder. Right-click on the first selected PDF, and from the contextual menu, choose Service > CombinePDF - the name I gave this service. The original files are untouched, and the Service as it is currently written, will output a random PDF filename to the Desktop. I haven't bothered, but there is room for improvement in the workflow.

Cosman wrote:

The problem is it doesn't work. When I try to combine individual files and drag one over the other, there is no [+] sign. There is no line under the first file.

When I start with a multipage file, it works. I can drag a single page onto the multiple file and get the [+] sign, etc.

I spent 1/2 hour fighting with Preview with 5 individual files and nothing worked.

Would love to read a step by step description of making individual files combine.

Technical writing is harder than it sounds, eh? What exactly do you mean by the terms "individual files", "first file", and "multiple file"?

Preview can open multiple PDF files at once. Each PDF file may have multiple pages. How do you represent that? Preview uses a disclosure triangle. If you want to manipulate individual pages, you must expand a multipage PDF file. If you are working with a single-page PDF file, there is no disclosure triangle because there is no additional data to disclose. In this case, you can add a page just by dragging another page on top of the single page PDF.

If you try that with a multipage PDF, it will just expand the PDF and open the dropped page or file as a separate file. This is probably where you are getting tripped up.

Finally, the preview sidebar is not the end-all and be-all of PDFs. Try using the Contact Sheet view instead.

The forum keeps rejecting my posts with some unknown error (site undergoing maintenance). Let's see if this one gets through.

The problem seems to be that there is no horizontal bar/line under a single pdf file. Therefore, there is no addition of the second or third file, they just stack up as individual files.

The quote above pretty much explains what happens. If the first file is multipage, then there is a bar/line underneath and all goes well.

Cosman wrote:

The problem seems to be that there is no horizontal bar/line under a single pdf file. Therefore, there is no addition of the second or third file, they just stack up as individual files.

No, there is not. You have to drag the file or page on top of the single page PDF. Instead of a horizontal bar/line, you get a highlight around the page.

As stated previously - "The problem is it doesn't work. When I try to combine individual files and drag one over the other, there is no [+] sign. There is no line under the first file."

No line appears and it won't join two pages no matter how they are manipulated over, under, or around each other. See title bar - 2 docs, 2 images. pages. Works correctly if first file is multipage.

Cosman wrote:

As stated previously - "The problem is it doesn't work. When I try to combine individual files and drag one over the other, there is no [+] sign. There is no line under the first file."

No line appears and it won't join two pages no matter how they are manipulated over, under, or around each other.

As stated previously - There is no line when dragging onto a single-page PDF.

This is what it looks like when dragging:

After releasing the mouse:

Message was edited by: etresoft to add 2nd image

Glad yours works, mine doesn't.

It apparently doesn't work for a number of other people, judging from the number of posts on the web about this problem.

Since Preview is internal to Mavericks, I don't know a way to reload it by itself. Not worth reloading Mavericks.

I think Viking's solution of a script looks like the best way (haven't tried it yet) for those of us that have broken versions.

The problem is that it should be working normally. I have heard of hardly anybody having this issue. Never seen it in Mavericks on my five Macs and barely seen it posted as a problem, so I would be thinking that it would be more indicitive of a failed install, an if it were I, then I would simply be applying a reinstall after backing up and seeing if it changes things. Certainly, if it were a bug, then many more of the millions of Mavericks users would be seeing it and reporting it.

Cheers

Pete