Guide

How to merge PDF files online without uploading them

Open Combine files in the PdfCraft editor, drop your PDFs on it, drag them into order and click Combine. PdfCraft runs inside the browser tab, compiled to WebAssembly, so it reads the files from your disk and builds the merged PDF on your computer. Contracts, bank statements and medical forms are never sent to a server, ours included.

Updated October 14, 2026. Written for PdfCraft 0.7.1 (what changed since).

Steps to combine PDFs

  1. Open the editor at easyruncraft.com/pdfcraft/editor. The first visit downloads the app; later visits open it from the browser cache.
  2. Choose Combine files. It is in the All tools list on the left and under Menu › File › Combine files…, or press Ctrl/⌘+K and type "combine". A Combine files tab opens.
  3. Add the files with Add files… (select several at once) or drag them onto the tab. Add open documents brings in PDFs you already have open in PdfCraft.
  4. Set the order. The tab starts in Grid view, one thumbnail per file showing its first page, and files are combined in the order shown. Drag the cards, or select some and use Move up and Move down.
  5. Leave out pages you don't need. In Grid view, expand a file to see its pages and remove the ones you don't want. In List view, type a range such as 1-3, 6 in a file's Pages box; empty means every page.
  6. Click Combine. The result opens as a new document called Combined.pdf. Look through it, then press Ctrl/⌘+S (Menu › File › Save) to download it.

List view also sorts the files: click the File name, Pages, Size or Modified heading. Every change to the list, including a sort, can be undone with the Undo button on the tab.

Images, text files and locked PDFs

Combine files isn't limited to PDFs. PNG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP and JPEG 2000 images and plain .txt files can go in the same list, and each is turned into PDF pages as part of the merge. That makes it the quickest way to put a scanned receipt behind an expense report.

A password-protected PDF shows a warning in the list instead of its pages. Select it, click Unlock… and type the password; with several locked files selected, the same password is tried on each. A file whose security settings forbid copying pages needs its permissions (owner) password. The password is only used to read the file and isn't saved, and the combined PDF doesn't inherit any protection. To lock the result, use Menu › File › Protect using password… after combining.

What a merge keeps

Every page of the combined document renders identically to its source, because PdfCraft copies each page's content rather than redrawing it. Each file becomes a bookmark with its own bookmarks nested underneath, so a 200-page bundle is still easy to find your way around. Links and named destinations are pointed at the copied pages, form fields stay fillable, layers keep their on and off settings, and file attachments come along.

Reorder, rotate or remove pages after merging

Open Menu › Pages › Organize pages to see every page as a thumbnail. Select pages with click, Ctrl/⌘-click or Shift-click, then rotate, delete, duplicate or move them, insert a blank page, or insert pages from another file. All of it can be undone, even after you save.

The Organize pages grid with page thumbnails, three selected, and the page toolbar above

How to split a PDF or extract pages

Menu › Pages › Extract pages… copies the selected pages into a new document. Tick Extract pages as separate files to get one file per page, and Delete pages after extracting to take them out of the original at the same time.

Menu › Pages › Split document… cuts the whole PDF into parts by number of pages, by file size, at each top-level bookmark, or before each page you selected in Organize pages. In the browser every part downloads as its own file, so a 13-page scan split one page per file gives you 13 downloads.

The Split document dialog set to one page per file, creating 13 files from 13 pages

Want the pages as pictures instead of PDFs? Converting a PDF to JPG turns each page into an image at the resolution you choose.

Before you close the tab

  • Save first. The browser version has no autosave or crash recovery. It does warn you before you leave with unsaved changes.
  • Too big to email? Menu › File › Reduce file size… shrinks the merged file.
  • Sending it outside your company? Redact account numbers and names after merging, so one pass covers every source file.
  • Need a summary of the result? Save it, then ask the Chat with PDF panel.
  • Merging the same files every week? pdfcraft-cli combine a.pdf b.pdf --out combined.pdf does it from a script; the command-line tool is on the download page.

There is no file count or page limit to hit. Combine files takes any number of files, and the ceiling is the memory your browser gives the tab. If you regularly merge hundreds of large scans, the desktop app handles that with your computer's full memory.

Merge your PDFs

Drop them on Combine files. They stay on your computer.

Open the editor