Make Mac BetterHow to merge PDFs on a Mac
You don’t need to upload your documents to a website to combine them. A Mac already has two ways to do it, and there are faster options when you do it often.
Step by step
Open the first PDF in Preview
Double-click it to open it in Preview and choose View › Thumbnails to show the pages in the sidebar.
Drag in the other PDFs
Drag the other PDF files from the Finder into the sidebar, onto the spot where they should go. You can also drag thumbnails to change the page order.
Save the result
Choose File › Export as PDF to create a new file and keep the originals as they were.
Quicker: a Finder Quick Action
Select several PDFs or images in the Finder, Control-click and choose Quick Actions › Create PDF. A single PDF is created next to them; rename the files 01, 02… first if the order matters.
Is it safe to use a website to merge PDFs?
Those sites receive a copy of your documents: contracts, invoices, IDs. On a Mac it isn’t necessary. Make Mac Better merges, splits and compresses PDFs on your own computer and never modifies the originals.
How do I merge many PDFs in a set order?
In Make Mac Better, open Tools › Merge PDF, drop the files, drag the rows into order and press Process. The result lands in a new folder in Downloads.
Can I also delete, rotate or extract pages?
Yes. Preview lets you do it page by page. Make Mac Better has separate tools to extract, delete, reorder and rotate pages, add or remove a password and turn a PDF into images.
Does merging reduce the quality?
No. Merging copies the pages as they are. Only compressing a PDF reduces quality, so do it on a copy if you need the file to be smaller.