FileMate

How to merge PDFs on Mac

Select the PDFs in Finder, right-click, and choose FileMate › Merge into PDF…. Drag them into the order you want, name the result, and click Merge. Merged.pdf is saved next to the originals, which stay unchanged. Without FileMate, Preview can merge PDFs by dragging one into another’s thumbnail sidebar, and Finder’s Quick Actions › Create PDF combines selected files, usually in name order.

FileMate merges the PDFs on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.

Merge PDFs in Finder →See the steps

Merge PDFs with FileMate

  1. Select two or more PDFs in Finder. Images can be included too.
  2. Right-click and choose FileMate › Merge into PDF….
  3. Drag the files into the right order. Pages inside each PDF keep their order.
  4. Type a name, or keep Merged, and click Merge.

Get FileMate for Mac

Merge into PDF in Finder: drag to reorder, then Merge.

Merge PDFs in Preview

  1. Open the first PDF in Preview.
  2. Choose View › Thumbnails to show the page sidebar.
  3. Drag the other PDF from Finder into the sidebar, where you want its pages to go.
  4. Choose File › Export as PDF to save the combined document under a new name.

Careful: Preview saves changes to an open document automatically, so the first PDF itself now contains the extra pages. To keep it as it was, choose File › Duplicate before adding pages, and work on the copy.

Merge PDFs with Finder’s Create PDF

Select the PDFs in Finder, right-click, and choose Quick Actions › Create PDF. macOS combines them into one new PDF. It decides the order itself, usually by file name, so rename the files (01, 02, …) if you need a particular order. There is no step to reorder them.

What FileMate adds

  • You choose the order, by dragging, before anything is written.
  • You name the result in the same window.
  • PDFs and images mix. Photos and scans become pages of their own, sized as A4, US Letter, the image’s own size, or automatically.
  • The originals stay as they were, and nothing is overwritten: if Merged.pdf exists, the new file gets a number.

Make the merged PDF smaller

Combining scans and photos can make a large file. Right-click the merged PDF and choose FileMate › Compress PDF. See how to compress a PDF on Mac.

Get FileMate

Select the files, choose Merge into PDF…, set the order, and you have one PDF. The originals stay as they are, and everything happens on your Mac.

Merge PDFs in Finder →

€9.99€4.99 incl. VAT

One payment, no subscription. macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.