Merge PDFs on Windows

Merge PDF files on Windows in the browser

The merge tool is a web page, so it works the same on Windows 10, Windows 11 and a work laptop where you cannot install software. Open it in Edge or Chrome, drag the files in from File Explorer, and each one shows its page count. Set the order with the arrow buttons, press merge, and the combined PDF is saved to Downloads.

The files never leave the PC. The tab reads and joins them itself, which is what you want for payslips, bank statements and signed contracts, and it is free with no account and no daily limit.

What Windows has built in

Microsoft Edge is the default PDF reader on Windows. It opens, prints, highlights and draws on a PDF. Microsoft Print to PDF turns anything you can print into a PDF, one document at a time. Combining two PDFs into one file is the job the browser tool adds.

Adobe Acrobat Reader, the free version, is a reader as well. Combining files sits in the paid Acrobat plans. If your company already pays for Acrobat, its Combine Files command does the same job; if it does not, the browser tool covers it for free.

Getting the order right

File Explorer sorts names as text, so a scan named page 10 can land before page 2 when you select a whole folder. The merge tool lets you move each file up or down after it is loaded, so the names do not matter.

To pick the files, hold Ctrl and click each one in File Explorer, or click the first and hold Shift on the last to take a whole run. Then drag the selection onto the page in one move. Files from different folders can go in one batch after another.

Check the joins before you send the file. Open the result in Edge, jump to the first page of each part, and make sure it is the part you expected.

Two files, many files and scans

For the common case of two documents, merge two PDF files is the same engine with a smaller screen. For a stack of twenty statements, merge multiple PDF files is built for the long list. Scanned pages join like any other page, and merge scanned documents covers getting the scans themselves right.

If the combined file has to go through an upload form with a size limit, merge first and then compress, as merge and compress PDFs explains, so the limit is met once on the file you actually send.

The same job on other machines

The merge tool runs in any modern browser, so the steps above work on a Mac, a Chromebook or a phone as well. Merge PDFs on a Mac also covers Preview and Finder, which Apple ships for free. The merge hub lists every guide for joining files into one PDF.