# Email two PDFs as one attachment
Canonical HTML: [https://pdfpix.com/guides/email-two-pdfs-as-one-attachment/](https://pdfpix.com/guides/email-two-pdfs-as-one-attachment/)
Join the two files into one PDF, then check the size before you send. Merging takes a few seconds in a browser tab, and the result is a single attachment that arrives in one piece. If the combined file is too heavy for the mailbox, compress it to a target rather than zipping it.
## Merge, then check the size
[The two-file merge](https://pdfpix.com/merge-pdf/two-files/) is the whole job. Add both PDFs, set which comes first, and download the result. Nothing is uploaded, so the documents never leave your machine, which matters more than usual for anything going out by email.
Look at the size of what comes back before you attach it. Two files that each squeaked through on their own make one file that does not, and finding that out from a bounce message wastes a round trip.
## What the mail limits are
Gmail draws its line at 25 MB per message and offers a Drive link past it. Other providers sit near that, and corporate mail servers are often set lower without telling anyone. The receiving server has its own limit as well, which can be stricter than yours.
Attachments are also encoded for transport, which inflates them by roughly a third on the wire. A file that looks comfortably inside the limit on disk can land outside it, so leave room rather than aiming at the number.
## If the merged file is too big
[Compress it to a target](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/5mb/) instead of zipping. A zip saves almost nothing on a PDF because the file is already compressed inside, while the compression tool works on what is actually taking the space. [The zip guide](https://pdfpix.com/guides/zip-a-pdf/) measures how little an archive saves.
It runs several methods at once, races them to the size you asked for, and reads every candidate back before offering it, so the text has to still be selectable. On the public test cases the median size reduction was 72.5%. For a strict mailbox, [compress a PDF to 1 MB](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/1mb/), and for a form portal with a hard ceiling, [the 150 KB target](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/150kb/) is the smallest the tool offers.
## Send a different PDF to each recipient
One merged file suits one audience. When each person needs their own document, a mail merge sends one message per recipient with that person's attachment. Outlook does it through Word's mail merge with an add-in for attachments, and Gmail does it through a mail merge add-on that reads names and file links from a Sheet.
Keep the file names distinct and check the mapping on two rows before sending the lot. A mail merge that attaches the wrong statement to the wrong name is the kind of mistake nobody gets to take back.
## What the merge keeps and drops
Every page arrives intact: the text stays selectable, images keep their pixels, and page sizes are unchanged. The output is reopened and compared against both sources page by page before you can download it.
Bookmarks, interactive form fields, custom page labels and attachments do not survive, and the tool names which of your files carry them before it runs. A filled form should be flattened first, or the answers go with the fields.
## Order and naming
Put the document the reader needs first, first. A cover letter before the invoice, the contract before the appendix. It sounds obvious and it is the thing most often got backwards when two files are dragged in without looking.
Rename the download before attaching it. The default name means nothing in a mailbox six months later, and the recipient files what you send them under whatever you called it.
## When to send a link instead
Past about twenty megabytes, or past three or four documents, a link is kinder than an attachment. It also lets you replace the file later without sending a correction, which attachments never allow.
[The link sharing guide](https://pdfpix.com/guides/share-a-pdf-as-a-link/) covers the free places to host a file and what each one exposes about you and the people who open it.
## Before you press send
Open the merged PDF and page through the joins. A missing final page or a duplicated cover is invisible while you are working and obvious to the person who receives it. Two minutes of paging through the file beats a correction the next morning, and it is the only check that catches a page that merged in the wrong order.
If the documents hold anything private, [the privacy scan](https://pdfpix.com/privacy-scan/) lists what the file says about the software and the people who touched it. [The combining guide](https://pdfpix.com/guides/how-to-combine-pdf-files/) covers merging in more detail, and the [office guides](https://pdfpix.com/guides/office/) cover the exports that produce the PDFs in the first place.
## Questions and answers
### Will merging the two files change how they look?
No. The pages are copied as they are, so text stays selectable, images keep their pixels and every page keeps its size. What changes is the number of files the recipient has to open, which was the point.
### How do I attach two PDFs as one file?
Merge them into a single PDF first, then attach the result. The merge runs in a browser tab, takes a few seconds, and reopens the output to compare it against both sources before you download.
### What is the largest attachment I can email?
Gmail allows 25 MB per message and other providers sit near that, though corporate servers are often set lower. Encoding inflates an attachment by roughly a third in transit, so leave room under the limit.
### What if the combined PDF is still too large?
Compress it to a size target. The tool races several methods to the number you set and reads every candidate back, so the text stays selectable rather than becoming a picture.
### Is zipping the two files a good alternative?
No. A PDF is already compressed inside, so a zip saves almost nothing, and some corporate mail systems block zip attachments outright.
### How many PDFs can you attach to one email?
There is no fixed count. The size cap decides: Gmail allows 25 MB, Outlook.com 20 MB, and most corporate servers sit between 10 and 25 MB. Merge the files into one PDF with the two-file merge, then compress it under the cap, and the count stops mattering.
### Can you send a different PDF to each recipient?
Yes, with a mail merge. Outlook does it through Word's mail merge and an attachment add-in, and Gmail through a mail merge add-on reading a Sheet. Each recipient gets one message with their own file, so nobody sees anyone else's document.
## Related pages
- [Merge 2 PDFs](https://pdfpix.com/merge-pdf/two-files/): Put two PDFs together in the right order. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Compress PDF to 5 MB](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/5mb/): Get this PDF under 5 MB, the usual mail attachment ceiling. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [How to combine PDF files](https://pdfpix.com/guides/how-to-combine-pdf-files/): Put several PDFs into one file, in the order you want. Free, in your browser, with Merge PDF.
- [ZIP a PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/zip-a-pdf/): Make a PDF small enough to send by zipping it. Free, in your browser, with Compress PDF.
- [Share a PDF as a link](https://pdfpix.com/guides/share-a-pdf-as-a-link/): Send a PDF as a link instead of an attachment. A guide, with the tool that does the job named in it.
- [Compress PDF to 1 MB](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/1mb/): Get this PDF under 1 MB, the most common attachment and portal limit. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Compress PDF to 150 KB](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/150kb/): Get this PDF under 150 KB for a government upload field. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint help](https://pdfpix.com/guides/office/): Find the right guide for PDFs inside Excel, Word and other software. Every guide on the job, sorted by the problem you have.