How to use it
- Add one or more PDFs. Each appears as a row with its page count, and its pages are added to the end of the page list. You can add more files at any time without losing edits you have made.
- Put the files in order with ↑ and ↓, and set a page range for any file you only need part of.
- Check the page list. Each card shows the page number it will have in the export, its source file, and its original page number. Drag cards or use the buttons to move, rotate, or remove pages.
- Click Export PDF. With several source files the download is named
merged.pdf; with one, it is named after that file with-pagesadded.
Common jobs:
- Extract pages: add one PDF, type a range such as
4-7, export. - Fix a scanned document: add it, rotate the upside-down page, remove the blank one, export.
- Assemble a bundle: add a cover letter, a form, and supporting documents, order the files, drop pages you do not need. For sensitive bundles, see how to merge PDFs without uploading them.
Page ranges
| You type | Pages used (10-page file) |
|---|---|
all or empty | 1 to 10 |
2-4, 9 | 2, 3, 4, 9 |
8- | 8, 9, 10 |
-3 | 1, 2, 3 |
3-1 | 3, 2, 1 |
Page numbers are positions in the file (the first page is 1), not the numbers printed on the pages. An invalid range is marked on that row, with a message, and export stays disabled until it is fixed.
What is preserved
Pages are copied as PDF objects by pdf-lib, an open-source library. Their content streams, fonts, images, and vector graphics are carried across without rasterising, downsampling, or re-compressing, so text that was selectable stays selectable and vector drawings stay sharp. Rotation is written as the page's rotation setting; the content itself is not redrawn. Page sizes are kept, so mixed sizes stay mixed.
The page previews are separate: they are drawn with PDF.js purely for display and are never used to create the export. Switching previews off does not change the output, and saves memory on large documents.
What does not carry over
| Feature | In the exported file |
|---|---|
| Password-protected or encrypted PDFs | Cannot be opened here at all; they are rejected with a message |
| Digital signatures | Not valid afterwards — any change to a signed file breaks its signature, by design |
| Interactive form fields | May appear but stop working, because the document-level form structure is not copied |
| Bookmarks and outline | Not carried over |
| Page annotations (comments, highlights, links) | Generally kept; links that point to other pages may no longer work |
| Accessibility tags and reading order | Not preserved; the export is an untagged PDF |
| Attachments, document-level scripts, metadata | Generally not carried over |
For everyday documents this rarely matters. For signed agreements, fillable forms, or accessible PDFs, check the result — or use the software that created the document.
Removing pages is not redaction
Removing a page leaves it out of the export, but nothing on the remaining pages is changed: hidden text, content outside the visible area, and annotations on those pages come across as they were. Merging does not sanitise anything either. To remove sensitive information from a page, use a dedicated redaction feature and check the result. Why this catches people out.
Privacy and local processing
Your PDFs are read into this browser tab, and both the export (pdf-lib) and the previews (PDF.js) run inside it. Both libraries are served from this site. The tool has no upload code, and the result exists only in the tab's memory until you save it.
You can check this with your browser's network panel while you work — see how to verify a client-side tool. Exporting also works offline once the page has loaded, which shows the processing is local — although offline use by itself does not prove what a page does when it is online. The preview component is fetched from this site the first time you add a PDF, so if you go offline before that, pages show "Preview unavailable" but still export normally.
Device limits
There is no limit set by us, but each added PDF is parsed and kept in memory until you remove it, and the export is assembled in memory too. Previews add a rendering engine and small images of each page; switch them off for very large files. Phones have much tighter memory limits than desktops and may reload the tab. If that happens, work with fewer or smaller files and join the results in a second pass.
The export does not deduplicate fonts or images shared between source files, and does not compress anything, so the output is roughly the size of the pages you keep. Reducing file size is a separate job.
Troubleshooting
- "… is password-protected or encrypted"
- The file is encrypted, which includes some PDFs that open without a password but restrict printing or copying. If the file is yours, save an unprotected copy in software that knows the password, then add that copy. Bank statements and payslips are common examples.
- "… could not be read as a PDF"
- The file is damaged, incomplete, or not really a PDF. Open it in a PDF reader; if it opens there, try printing it to a new PDF and adding that.
- A range is outlined in red
- It uses a page that does not exist or has a typing error. The message on that row explains which.
- A preview says "Preview unavailable"
- PDF.js could not draw that page. The page is still included in the export; the preview is for display only.
- I was asked to confirm a file-order or range change
- Your edits would be partly undone. Moving a file after you have moved pages between files regroups the pages by file (removals, rotations, and the order within each file are kept). Changing the range of a file whose pages you removed or reordered replaces that file's pages with the new range (rotations are kept; other files are unaffected). Choose Cancel to keep everything as it is.
- The signature on my signed PDF is no longer valid
- Expected: any change to a signed file invalidates the signature. Assemble first, then sign the final document.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use it on a single PDF?
- Yes — to extract a range, delete pages, rotate pages, or change their order.
- Can I reorder the files and the pages?
- Yes. Order the files in step 1, then fine-tune individual pages in step 2 by dragging or with the move buttons.
- Does it reduce quality?
- No. Pages are copied as PDF objects rather than re-rendered, with no downsampling or re-compression.
- Does it remove personal information?
- Do not rely on it. Page content comes across as it was; see removing pages is not redaction.
- Can it compress the PDF?
- No. The output is roughly the size of the pages you keep.
- Is it free, and do I need an account?
- It is free, with no account or sign-up.
Sources
- Adobe, PDF 32000-1:2008 (reference copy of ISO 32000-1): page objects and the
/Rotateentry (7.7.3.3), encryption (7.6), interactive forms (12.7), digital signatures (12.8), and tagged PDF (14.8). - pdf-lib (MIT licence), used to copy pages and write the export.
- PDF.js by Mozilla (Apache 2.0 licence), used only to draw the page previews.