How to merge several PDFs into one with iLovePDF
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You have three or four separate PDFs and someone asks you to send them as a single file. It happens all the time: a quarter of invoices, the chapters of an assignment, the pages of a contract scanned one by one. Merging them takes less than a minute, it is free, there is nothing to install and no sign-up. I will walk you through it, and at the end I will tell you something important about what happens to your files once you upload them.
Go to iLovePDF
Open your browser and go to i love p d f.com. If it comes up in another language, you can change it from the top right corner. This is the home page, with all the tools: compress, convert, split. The one we want right now is the first one, Merge PDF. And there we are, inside it.
Select your PDF files
Now click the big red button that says "Select PDF files". Your computer's file window opens. Here is a trick that saves time: you can pick several at once. Click the first one, hold down the Control key, and keep clicking the rest. If they are next to each other, click the first, hold Shift and click the last.
Put them in the order you want
Look at what comes up: each PDF appears as a card, with its name and its first page. And here is the part almost nobody knows: the order of these cards is the order they will end up in. If you want to change it, drag a card and drop it where you want it. Always check this order before moving on, because afterwards you cannot change it without starting over.
Click "Merge PDF"
Once they are in the right order, click the red button on the right that says "Merge PDF". It takes a few seconds, depending on how heavy the files are.
Download the merged PDF
And that is it. This screen appears with the download button: click there and the merged PDF is saved to your downloads folder. Notice the small icons next to it too: you can save it straight to Google Drive or Dropbox, and one of them creates a link to share it without having to email the file.
What happens to your files
And now the important part, which almost no tutorial mentions. Your files are uploaded to a server so they can be processed, and they are deleted automatically after a few hours. For everyday documents that is fine. But if what you are merging is genuinely sensitive, like medical records or contracts with bank details, think twice: for that you are better off with a program that works on your own computer, without uploading anything.
Other useful tools
Before we finish, look at this part down here, because it will save you time. From here you can chain another tool onto the file you just made, without uploading it again: compress it if it is too heavy to email, add page numbers, or split it back up if you merged too much. One click and you carry on working on the same document.
And that is all: several PDFs turned into one, free, in under a minute and with nothing installed. Remember the two things that matter: check the order of the cards before merging, and think about which documents you upload.
Common questions
Is it safe to upload a contract or documents with personal data?
It depends how sensitive it is. Files travel encrypted, are processed on the iLovePDF server and are deleted automatically after a few hours. For notes, invoices or a CV there is no problem. For medical records, contracts with bank details or other people's documents, you are better off with a program that runs on your own computer and uploads nothing. If you upload it anyway, click the bin icon when you are done to wipe it from the server there and then.
Is there a limit on the number of files or their size?
The free version lets you merge around 20 to 25 files at a time and caps the size of each one. If you go over, the site tells you before it processes anything. A simple way round it without paying: merge in two batches, then merge the two results.
Will my pages end up out of order?
Not if you check the order first. The cards that appear after uploading are in the exact order the files will be merged in, and you can drag them around. The usual mistake is hitting Merge without looking: once merged, changing the order means starting from scratch.
Can I merge PDFs on my phone?
Yes. The site works the same in a phone browser, though dragging cards around to reorder them is noticeably more awkward on a small screen. If you do this often from your phone, the iLovePDF app is worth it. For a one-off, the browser is fine.
Do I need to sign up or pay?
No. Merging PDFs works with no account and no payment. The paid version removes the size and file-count limits and lets you process several batches in a row, but for merging a handful of documents you do not need it.
Does merging lose quality?
No. Merging does not re-compress anything: it takes the pages from each file and puts them one after another, as they are. The result weighs roughly what the originals added up to. What does reduce quality is compressing, which is a different tool.
