Just 4 hours ago I was figuring out how to do this.... I thought it could be done in the native Mac Apps, but I didn't found out... But now I now better, another reason to use a Mac; thanks a lot!
I was not aware of the Quick Action option to merge multiple PDFs together into a single one, so that alone made this video worth watching. Thank you! Something I’ve often done is select multiple pages in a PDF via the thumbnails, then drag the selected pages into a Finder window. That will automatically create a new PDF with only the pages I selected. From there it’s a pretty straightforward process to rename the file in Finder.
Thank you Gary. Another useful Macmost video. I'm surprised you didn't mention dragging and dropping a pdf file into an open preview pdf file. I've been doing that for years, now you enlightened me on some other ways.
Super-useful as always, Gary-thanks! 👍 I love the variety of ways you show us, so there's a quick and easy way to get the PDFs just the way i want them every time.
This is a game-changer, but you knew that. I just spent two weeks rebuilding a multi-page document to be printed. Let me just say, had I seen this a few weeks ago, I would have been done with the printing and the dicuments would have been in the hands of people I needed to get them to, moving my time frame fro,m behind to on time. I tell you this , not for sympathy but to underscore just how valuable what you do with your channel really is for the restof us. Thank you once again and constantly.
Compositing documents from individual song lyrics sheets into set lists is available to me in a separate app that uses pdfs, so it refreshing and useful to see that an in-house method is at hand. They’re always being rejigged for ongoing set lengths and venue types so flexibility to retain original elements is key to the process. Great work Gary.
Love your style, you get right to the meat and potatoes! I can not stand videos that just talk and stall only to give you some info. You are very thorough
Thanks a lot, Gary, that was very instructive! A few years ago, I tried to create this exact fonction using Automator, and the results were not always consistent. Now, I know why it always works! ;-)
Thanks a lot! In addition to the very useful knowledge you give us, I would like to appreciate your style in which you do it. Learning from your videos you have the impression that you are using the advice of a good friend who knows and respects you.I think many will agree with me that the sound of your voice has a very great impact on this reception of your advice. Thank you so much Gary. 1:10
This is an excellent video. For some years now, I have been writing my autobiography. It is over 1000 pages long with 900+ linked photos. I use affinity publisher and I have the source in 5 separate publisher files, each producing its own pdf. I then use the quick action to combine the PDF’s preserving the page numbers in publisher. Publisher also now supports cross field references for pages and captions. Had it not been for the quick feature, I would have had to manually manage the PDF’s via preview.
Also, there is a PDF option in Automator to shuffle (interleave) PDFs, which can come in handy if, for example, you use software that doesn't handle odd/even pages well. You can then print to PDF the odd, then the even, and then shuffle them.
This is why I use PDF for everything. They're so easy to work with in macOS. Last month I scanned in a chapter from a library book, but because of the way I had to position the book on the scanner, all the pages were upside down. The scanning software allowed me to combine all the scans in a single PDF file, but it didn't allow me to change the images. So I used Preview to rotate each page so they're all now oriented correctly. It's all so easy on a Mac!
I've not tried recently but historically found that using the drag and drop option in Preview had some page limits. It worked fine for a few page by page copies, but after a while stopped working.
Lots of great techniques, thanks! But I also tried your suggestion to re-order my Quick Actions via Customize and was unable to drag any actions. I tried deselecting some of the extensions and got "Settings Error / Extension process / Extensions(2548) exited." Rebooting does not change the behavior. The actions all work. It's just management of them that fails. I'm running Sonoma 14.3.1.
Gary, your video is incredible and helped so much but I am still so stuck trying to figure out how to do it on multiple folders at once, spent hours to no avail! Is there a way to use Automator to do the action on each subfolder and collate pdfs *only* from that subfolder into a new one without having to go one by one? At the moment I am just getting one pdf sandwich that takes all the docs from all the subfolders when what I need is a combined pdf for each subfolder (I have hundreds of them so not fun to go one by one). Do you have a video that expands on this? THANK YOU SO MUCH!
That seems like a pretty unique situation. Usually people are just merging two or a few PDFs. You'll have to keep experimenting and trying things to see if you can make something that works for you.
Great explanation as always! Is there a way to set a key command to merge these in the finder? I use the two finger click all the time and a key command would be awesome. Just can’t figure out how to assign it anywhere.
You have to point and click to select them anyway, so it is easier to just do one more click for the Quick Action than to switch to the keyboard and do something there anyway.
True but it's a two finger click, then scroll to the quick actions - then choose the right one. I still prefer keyboard shortcuts. Is there any way to assign one? I've tried with Keyboard Maestro and within the MacOS - can't seem to get one to work@@macmost
Hi Gary, When you say "You can click and drag or when you said you can change the order of the actions in "quick action" by clicking and holding and dragging the command to the top"What do you mean by saying CLICK. I am using a mouse instead of the trackpad and I tried moving create pdf to the top and it does not move. Do you know why? Thanks and as always, GREAT video). I am using Sonoma 14.3.1.
Not following you, but if you want to set the order in the resulting PDF to file B, C, A then click file B to select it. Command+click C to add that. Command+click A to add that. Then use the Quick Action.
Hay Gary, thanks for all your videos! At the moment I have a strange problem. I have 13 pages documents which I turned into pdf files by exporting them one by one. Than I tried to merge them according to your instructions and that gave me a pdf file of 50 pages (335 Mb). The first 30 pages are okay but the last 20 are a lot of ??? Like this: PK
What about PDF files that have a structure detailed on the left bar, with chapters and so on, allowing you to skip to a section - can one copy a whole section? Play around with the sections?
@@macmost Of course, I will. I just thought this could have been covered in your excellent video. One gets PDFs with different properties as to internal structure, not just the basic, clean ones you make yourself. This also has to do with limitations set by the creator of a PDF. I am currently looking at a 1000-page dictionary, and trying to see if I can mess it up, as an experiment.... But the issue of pre-defined internal structure of chapters etc is relevant, as are links to other parts of the PDF document - maybe for a future, advanced, video?
Is there a way to do the opposite, in bulk? I have a mail merged, personalized letter that I need to break apart into 80+ individual PDF files. I know how to do it one at a time. Last time I did this I used your mail merge script. Now mail merge is included in Pages so I used it instead.
I don't know of a way to easily do it. Hopefully this is a one-time thing and you can just spend a few minutes dragging each page from the Preview sidebar to a Finder window.
In the Files app, tap the three-dots button at the top. Then tap Select. Then select the PDFs. Then Tap the three-dots button at the bottom. Then tap Create PDF.
In older versions of Mac OS any items you highlighted and then opened would all be automatically merged into a PDF, one step forwards ,2 steps back, adobe is much the same
I think you mean that Preview would open them all in the same window. It didn't merge them, it just allowed you to look at several documents in one window.
@OK my mistake, But you could then save them all as one PDF, by selecting all then save as and having them open was really handy when using the OS to print files .Also you can change the page order before saving.
![I Replaced ALL my ADOBE APPS with these [free or cheaper] Alternatives!](/img/n.gif)
Just 4 hours ago I was figuring out how to do this.... I thought it could be done in the native Mac Apps, but I didn't found out... But now I now better, another reason to use a Mac; thanks a lot!
Just another "why didn't someone tell me?" episode. And Gary tells you. Things I didn't know since 10.1.
Excellent. One can even decide the order of the files. Thank you, Gary.
I was not aware of the Quick Action option to merge multiple PDFs together into a single one, so that alone made this video worth watching. Thank you!
Something I’ve often done is select multiple pages in a PDF via the thumbnails, then drag the selected pages into a Finder window. That will automatically create a new PDF with only the pages I selected. From there it’s a pretty straightforward process to rename the file in Finder.
thumbs up for Gary guys, he is the best in MacOS world
Thank you Gary. Another useful Macmost video. I'm surprised you didn't mention dragging and dropping a pdf file into an open preview pdf file. I've been doing that for years, now you enlightened me on some other ways.
Another example of how versatile MacOS is as well as Preview.
Another example: Try to convert a .ps or .eps file to .pdf file in macOS Sonoma.
Thanks very much. Gary, for this informative video! This is essential learning.
I've always liked Preview. Cool tips.
A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️
Thank you Gary! macOS will never cease to amaze me. I always learn something new when watching your videos 👍💔
Gary, as always, it was an excellent presentation, and I did it the old-fashioned way. Now, this insight will make my editing much more productive.
Wow! You are brilliant! Thx!!!
As usual, a very useful tutorial. Many thanks!
Perfect Demo For me! Thanks
Super-useful as always, Gary-thanks! 👍 I love the variety of ways you show us, so there's a quick and easy way to get the PDFs just the way i want them every time.
G. / I just saw you yesterday and stumbled upon your channel today .... You da man ! 😶
This is a game-changer, but you knew that. I just spent two weeks rebuilding a multi-page document to be printed. Let me just say, had I seen this a few weeks ago, I would have been done with the printing and the dicuments would have been in the hands of people I needed to get them to, moving my time frame fro,m behind to on time.
I tell you this , not for sympathy but to underscore just how valuable what you do with your channel really is for the restof us. Thank you once again and constantly.
Compositing documents from individual song lyrics sheets into set lists is available to me in a separate app that uses pdfs, so it refreshing and useful to see that an in-house method is at hand. They’re always being rejigged for ongoing set lengths and venue types so flexibility to retain original elements is key to the process. Great work Gary.
Love your style, you get right to the meat and potatoes! I can not stand videos that just talk and stall only to give you some info. You are very thorough
Very informative and helpful! Thank you!
Thank You Gary! always informative!
I love this tip. TY
You can also drag a pdf file from the finder and directly drop it into the preview thumbnail pane.
Thanks a lot, Gary, that was very instructive!
A few years ago, I tried to create this exact fonction using Automator, and the results were not always consistent. Now, I know why it always works! ;-)
Thanks for teaching us to drag and drop in preview !
Super helpful! Thanks a bunch
Thanks a lot! In addition to the very useful knowledge you give us, I would like to appreciate your style in which you do it. Learning from your videos you have the impression that you are using the advice of a good friend who knows and respects you.I think many will agree with me that the sound of your voice has a very great impact on this reception of your advice. Thank you so much Gary. 1:10
Gary, these techniques are so helpful. Thanks for sharing.
So helpful; I knew of only one way (dragging a file into the thumbnails) to do this. THANKS!!!!
Excellent, simple and to the point explanation
You show us the coolest features…I had no idea about this. Thanks
Great Tips. Thanks !
This is an excellent video. For some years now, I have been writing my autobiography. It is over 1000 pages long with 900+ linked photos. I use affinity publisher and I have the source in 5 separate publisher files, each producing its own pdf. I then use the quick action to combine the PDF’s preserving the page numbers in publisher. Publisher also now supports cross field references for pages and captions. Had it not been for the quick feature, I would have had to manually manage the PDF’s via preview.
Wow. Another great video!
Any advise on apple products including SW from you have been amazing - thanks my friend.
Also, there is a PDF option in Automator to shuffle (interleave) PDFs, which can come in handy if, for example, you use software that doesn't handle odd/even pages well. You can then print to PDF the odd, then the even, and then shuffle them.
thanks that was super helpful!
Wonderful tips Gary. Thanks.
thank you so much for the video!!
Amazing! Thanks!
Thank you
Thank you !
This is why I use PDF for everything. They're so easy to work with in macOS.
Last month I scanned in a chapter from a library book, but because of the way I had to position the book on the scanner, all the pages were upside down. The scanning software allowed me to combine all the scans in a single PDF file, but it didn't allow me to change the images.
So I used Preview to rotate each page so they're all now oriented correctly.
It's all so easy on a Mac!
Thanks man.
thank you so much!
Another great video! Thanks, Gary.
it was a helpful video
Thank you so much. A new one way. The long way now I know lots of words thank you.
Gary is amazing as always!
Great tool!! Once again, thanks!
As allways...greats tips.... 😇☀
You sure know yer way around a Mac!!
You are a real legend
Thanks, Gary. Since Adobe decided to prostitute itself, I’ve been relying on Preview. Very helpful to learn more about its functions.
Adobe did what?
I almost didn't watch this one because I already knew all this…or so I thought. Turns out I didn't. Thank you for the new tips!
very useful
thanks
I love you man. Making college easier for me haha
I've not tried recently but historically found that using the drag and drop option in Preview had some page limits. It worked fine for a few page by page copies, but after a while stopped working.
Fabulous
Lots of great techniques, thanks! But I also tried your suggestion to re-order my Quick Actions via Customize and was unable to drag any actions. I tried deselecting some of the extensions and got "Settings Error / Extension process / Extensions(2548) exited." Rebooting does not change the behavior. The actions all work. It's just management of them that fails. I'm running Sonoma 14.3.1.
I have been using 3rd party software for the last 2 year to do this. I had no idea it could be done natively within Finder.
Gary, your video is incredible and helped so much but I am still so stuck trying to figure out how to do it on multiple folders at once, spent hours to no avail! Is there a way to use Automator to do the action on each subfolder and collate pdfs *only* from that subfolder into a new one without having to go one by one? At the moment I am just getting one pdf sandwich that takes all the docs from all the subfolders when what I need is a combined pdf for each subfolder (I have hundreds of them so not fun to go one by one). Do you have a video that expands on this? THANK YOU SO MUCH!
That seems like a pretty unique situation. Usually people are just merging two or a few PDFs. You'll have to keep experimenting and trying things to see if you can make something that works for you.
Great explanation as always! Is there a way to set a key command to merge these in the finder? I use the two finger click all the time and a key command would be awesome. Just can’t figure out how to assign it anywhere.
You have to point and click to select them anyway, so it is easier to just do one more click for the Quick Action than to switch to the keyboard and do something there anyway.
True but it's a two finger click, then scroll to the quick actions - then choose the right one.
I still prefer keyboard shortcuts. Is there any way to assign one? I've tried with Keyboard Maestro and within the MacOS - can't seem to get one to work@@macmost
@@sampurkin6838 Since it is a Quick Action and that isn't in the menu bar, there's no easy way to assign a keyboard shortcut.
Hi Gary, When you say "You can click and drag or when you said you can change the order of the actions in "quick action" by clicking and holding and dragging the command to the top"What do you mean by saying CLICK. I am using a mouse instead of the trackpad and I tried moving create pdf to the top and it does not move. Do you know why? Thanks and as always, GREAT video). I am using Sonoma 14.3.1.
Not following you, but if you want to set the order in the resulting PDF to file B, C, A then click file B to select it. Command+click C to add that. Command+click A to add that. Then use the Quick Action.
Gary-Does merging using the finder also work with Monterey or Ventura?
I can't remember exactly when they added that Quick Action. Look and see.
I have it on my 2013 running Big Sur 😂
Hay Gary, thanks for all your videos!
At the moment I have a strange problem.
I have 13 pages documents which I turned into pdf files by exporting them one by one. Than I tried to merge them according to your instructions and that gave me a pdf file of 50 pages (335 Mb). The first 30 pages are okay but the last 20 are a lot of ???
Like this:
PK
Mmmm my message did not show al the symbols I copied in.
Sorry sorry sorry I already know what happened. The last document was not a pdf but still a pages document.
🔥
Tô Read pdfs do you recomend to use preview or other app ?
Why use anything other than Preview?
What about PDF files that have a structure detailed on the left bar, with chapters and so on, allowing you to skip to a section - can one copy a whole section? Play around with the sections?
You'll need to experiment and see.
@@macmost Of course, I will. I just thought this could have been covered in your excellent video. One gets PDFs with different properties as to internal structure, not just the basic, clean ones you make yourself. This also has to do with limitations set by the creator of a PDF. I am currently looking at a 1000-page dictionary, and trying to see if I can mess it up, as an experiment.... But the issue of pre-defined internal structure of chapters etc is relevant, as are links to other parts of the PDF document - maybe for a future, advanced, video?
Is there a way to do the opposite, in bulk? I have a mail merged, personalized letter that I need to break apart into 80+ individual PDF files. I know how to do it one at a time. Last time I did this I used your mail merge script. Now mail merge is included in Pages so I used it instead.
I don't know of a way to easily do it. Hopefully this is a one-time thing and you can just spend a few minutes dragging each page from the Preview sidebar to a Finder window.
Create info. thx
How do you? How do you do this on the iPad Pro?
In the Files app, tap the three-dots button at the top. Then tap Select. Then select the PDFs. Then Tap the three-dots button at the bottom. Then tap Create PDF.
In older versions of Mac OS any items you highlighted and then opened would all be automatically merged into a PDF, one step forwards ,2 steps back, adobe is much the same
I think you mean that Preview would open them all in the same window. It didn't merge them, it just allowed you to look at several documents in one window.
@OK my mistake, But you could then save them all as one PDF, by selecting all then save as and having them open was really handy when using the OS to print files .Also you can change the page order before saving.
create PDF does not work for me
Very useful, thanks!
Very useful! Thanks 🙏🏻