Merge PDF Files Online - Combine Several PDFs into One

Merge PDF files into one document, in the order you choose

Jobsixo lets you merge PDF files online by adding them to a list, putting the list in the right order and pressing one button. You get a single PDF with the pages of every file, one file after another. It is the quickest way to combine PDF files when a portal, a college office or a recruiter will accept only one attachment.

The tool works with any ordinary PDF: typed documents, scans, exported Word files, photographs saved as PDF. Pages are copied across as they are, so a landscape page stays landscape and an A3 drawing stays A3 inside a document that is otherwise A4. Nothing is redrawn and nothing is recompressed.

How to combine PDF files, step by step

1. 1
   Drop your PDFs on the box that says Drop files here, or click it to browse. You can pick several files at once, and you can come back to the box and add more.
2. 2
   Look at the list that appears under the box. Its order is the page order of the result. Use the up and down arrows beside a file to move it one place, or drag a row to a new position. The X at the end of a row takes that file out.
3. 3
   Open the Order menu if you would rather not arrange files by hand. It offers The order shown above, Filename A to Z and Filename Z to A.
4. 4
   Press Merge PDFs. The work happens in your browser, and the button reads Working while it runs.
5. 5
   Under Done, download merged.pdf. When you chose a filename order, a short line above the download lists the files in the order they were joined, which is a handy last check.

What happens inside the browser

The merge uses pdf-lib, a JavaScript library that reads and writes PDF structure. The tool opens each file in turn, makes a blank output document, and asks pdf-lib to copy every page of the source into it. A copied page keeps its own content, fonts, embedded images and page size. Because the page content is carried over rather than rendered to a picture, text remains selectable and searchable, and vector drawings stay sharp at any zoom.

Before a file is accepted it passes a few checks. The file must not be empty, must be no larger than 100 MB, must contain the PDF header and must have no more than 500 pages. These limits apply to each input file, not to the merged result. If a file fails, the message says why and names the next step, such as unlocking a protected file or repairing a damaged one.

Two things are not carried across. The outline of bookmarks in a source file does not appear in the merged document, and interactive form fields stop being fillable. In a test with a one-page form, the text field was gone from the merged copy, and the document title stored in the source was gone too. What is printed on the page is unchanged, so a form that has already been filled in still reads correctly. A form that still needs filling in should be completed before you merge it.

A worked example: one upload for a college admission

A university asks for a single PDF holding the application form, the mark sheets and the identity proofs. You have three files, and the order the office wants is form first, then mark sheets, then identity proofs.

The page counts add up as 12 + 8 + 5 = 25, and the sizes as 1.8 + 6.4 + 2.1 = 10.3 MB. The merged file lands close to that total, because the pages are copied without recompressing them. If the portal caps uploads at 5 MB, the merge has done its job and the next step is a size problem, which is where reduce the file size or a fixed target comes in. Merging never makes a file smaller on its own.

Putting files in the right order

The order is the whole job, so it is worth a minute. The default, The order shown above, follows the list exactly as you see it. That suits a handful of files with meaningful names. When you have a dozen scans called page-01 to page-12 that arrived in a random order, choose Filename A to Z instead.

The name sort is numeric, which matters more than it sounds. A plain alphabetical sort puts page-10 before page-2, because the character 1 comes before 2. Here page-2 comes before page-10, so numbered scans line up the way you expect. Case is ignored, so Annexure and annexure sort together. Filename Z to A is the same list reversed, useful for a stack of scans that was fed into the scanner back to front.

• The order shown above: you control everything, by arrows or dragging.
• Filename A to Z: numbered files in natural order, with no dragging at all.
• Filename Z to A: the same list reversed, for a stack scanned back to front.
• On a phone, use the arrows. Dragging rows is a desktop habit and the arrows work with a finger and with a keyboard.

Common uses for merging PDFs

Most people reach for a PDF merger because somebody else has set a rule about attachments. Typical situations in India include these.

• Exam and scholarship forms that take one document containing the application, photo page, certificates and fee receipt.
• Job applications where the recruiter wants a CV, cover letter and certificates in a single attachment. A cover letter written in a word processor can be turned into a PDF first with Word to PDF.
• Bank, loan and visa files that ask for statements, salary slips and identity proofs together.
• Reports and theses assembled from chapters written by different people, each saved as its own PDF.
• Invoices or bills collected over a month and sent to an accountant as one file.

Tips before you press Merge

• Name files with a number prefix such as 01-form and 02-marksheets. The sort then does the ordering for you and the list is easy to read.
• Make sure every file is the right way up. Sideways scans stay sideways in the merged file, and it is easier to turn them with Rotate PDF before you combine than to hunt for them afterwards.
• Merge phone photographs by first turning them into pages. Scan to PDF does that, and the resulting PDFs can then be joined with everything else.
• Add page numbers last. Running page numbers on the merged file numbers 1 to 25 straight through, instead of restarting for every source document.
• Keep the originals. The tool never changes them, but you may need to rebuild the bundle in a different order next week.

Mistakes that cost people time

The most common slip is merging in the wrong order and noticing only after uploading. Open merged.pdf and scroll through before you submit it. The second is merging a file with the wrong date or version, which is easy when the names are alike, so give files descriptive names first.

A third is trying to merge a locked document. A PDF that asks for a password will be refused with a message pointing you to Unlock PDF. A file that opens normally but cannot be printed or copied is a different case, and the message points to Remove restrictions. If you see a message about a damaged file, run it through Repair PDF and then merge the repaired copy.

The last mistake is expecting the merge to fix the content. If one source has two blank pages at the back, the merged file has them in the middle. Deal with them with Remove Pages afterwards, or tidy the source first.

Checking the merged file

Open merged.pdf in any viewer before you send it. Confirm the total page count first: it should equal the sum of the page counts of your inputs, which for the admission example is 25. Then scroll quickly to each join, meaning pages 12 to 13 and 20 to 21 in that example, and make sure the first page of each section is where it should be.

Look at page sizes too. If an identity proof was scanned at A5 and the form is A4, the merged file will switch size at that point. This is normal, since each page keeps its own dimensions, and portals rarely mind. If a portal wants every page the same size, the pieces should be prepared at one size before merging.

Bookmarks will be missing and the document title will be blank, so the file name is the only label the recipient sees. Name the download something a human will recognise, such as your name and the purpose, before you upload it.

Merge, or something else?

Merging joins whole files. If you only want some pages from each source, take them out first: Extract Pages builds a new file from the pages you tick, and the result can go straight into the merge list. If the finished bundle needs reshuffling, Organize PDF shows every page as a thumbnail so you can move individual pages without merging again.

Merging is also not the same as combining formats. Images are not PDFs until they are placed on pages, so for a folder of JPG files use an image-to-PDF tool, then merge the result with your other documents.

Limits you should know about

You need at least two files. With one file the button refuses and says so, since there is nothing to join. Each file can be up to 100 MB and 500 pages. There is no separate cap on the merged document, but it is built in your browser's memory, so a very large bundle on an old phone may fail where a laptop copes. If that happens, merge in two stages: join the first half, join the second half, then join the two results.

Only PDFs are accepted in the drop box. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files need converting first, and images need turning into pages. Once the bundle exists and is too long, you can cut it into parts again with Split PDF.

Privacy and where the file goes

Your PDFs are read and combined inside your own browser tab. They are not sent to a Jobsixo server, and no account is needed. The result is created in memory and offered as a download link. When you close the tab the files are gone. That matters for mark sheets, identity proofs and bank statements, which you would rather not hand to a stranger's upload form just to join them together. If the merged file holds sensitive pages, consider adding a password with Protect PDF before you email it.