While studying, many students and educators face problems related to keeping track of multiple documents and ebooks. On top of this, navigating through different sections is quite a daunting task. However, in this digital age, technology has made advancements and invented new features that let you extract pages from PDF files and merge them into one single file.
This not only improves the process of teaching, studying and collaboration but also lets students consolidate different study materials, resulting in a more personalised experience tailored to their unique requirements.
In this article, we will provide students with a step-by-step guide on merging PDF files and introduce situations where they should leverage this capability.
When should students opt to merge PDF documents?
There are several instances where educators assign different assignments and projects to the students. Sometimes, these assignments are quite lengthy and require students to merge them and consolidate them into one document. Further, a few reasons are listed below.
- When you are working in a team on a common project
If you are on a student team, then it is quite obvious that every member of your team will make different documents. Instead of submitting each document separately, you should merge PDF documents to enhance the overall presentation of your project and consolidate the inputs and work done by each student.
- Archiving information
There are tons of books, research papers, and e-files on one topic, and reading each one for a specific section is not easy. Hence, by combining different PDF files, you can have all the important sections in one place and easily access them whenever needed.
Significance of merging PDF files
For students, merging PDF files is quite advantageous in numerous ways, as listed below:
- It simplifies the process of sharing and storing files. Sending multiple PDF files is quite difficult as compared to sharing one single file.
- It allows you to combine any number of files and extract important pages from them. You can easily arrange them based on your needs.
- It will help you to save a lot of storage space because combined PDF files take less time to store than multiple PDF files containing 3D images, graphics, etc.
- It makes the printing process quite faster by eliminating the need to send multiple files individually.
Methodologies to join PDF files
Now that you understand the significance of joining PDF let’s discuss some of the methodologies that will help them merge pdf files.
Methodology 1: Using the manual approach
Using the manual approach to combine PDF files is quite useful when you have less number of documents. Here is the detailed step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Open the Word Editor of your choice, like MS Word or Google Docs
Step 2: Select the content from the PDF files one by one and paste that into the Word file.
Step 3: Rearrange the content and graphics. Additionally, you can format them by adjusting font size, etc.
Step 4: Save the file by clicking on “Save As” and choosing the format as PDF. If you are using an online Word tool, download it as a PDF file.
Methodology 2: Combine PDFs using Adobe Acrobat
Joining PDFs using Adobe Acrobat is a straightforward task and much easier than the manual approach. Here is the breakdown of steps to follow:
Step 1: Launch Adobe Acrobat Reader and Go to Tools > Combine Files.
Step 2: Click on “Add Files” and choose the files that you want to join together. Adobe gives you the flexibility to merge PDFs or a mix of PDF documents and other files.
Step 3: Organize the content by reordering files or deleting the content. To delete pages or remove any content, you can press “Delete” by selecting the specific page.
Step 4: Once you have completed the reorganisation, click “Combine Files”
Step 5: Save your file at the desired location on your computer by clicking on “Save”
Methodology 3: Using the native features of the Operating System (for Mac users)
If you are a Mac user, you can easily merge PDFs without downloading additional software.
Step 1: Open the PDF in Mac Preview.
Step 2: Select “File” > “Open” to open the first PDF file.
Step 3: Drag and drop the additional PDF files to the sidebar.
Step 4: Rearrange them if needed.
Step 5: Save the PDF file at the desired location.
Each methodology discussed here has its advantages such that it caters to users from different segments. If you do not have much time to extract information manually and combine them you can use tools like Adobe as they offer numerous formatting and security features which you can utilise while combining PDF files.
Tips and best practices
Generic tips
Before merging PDF files, it is necessary to arrange them in a specific order to streamline the overall process. Ensure that all the PDFs that you have chosen are compatible with the software you will be using to merge them.
Try to take a backup of the files to prevent accidental data loss. Once the merging process is complete, review the merged document to ensure all the pages are in the correct order and formatting is preserved.
Best practices
- Further, while you are joining PDFs, it is ideal to create a table of contents or index that can help you in future to look at the sections that you want to read.
- Additionally, you can add some descriptive file names to the merged PDFs that will make the retrieval and organisation process quite streamlined.
- Last, but not least, try to use updated software and tools to access the latest features and maintain consistency while merging PDFs to streamline collaboration and future processes.
Master the art of merging PDFs
Following the step-by-step guide to merge PDFs in different instances and following the best practices would empower you to create comprehensive and cohesive documents. This will not only help you achieve academic goals but also make the journey quite simple. Lastly, it will open up new levels of efficiency and organisation in your day-to-day educational activities.