Merge 2 Pdf Files In Adobe Reader

[Jenn Smotherman]

IfI open the Tools tab in Adobe Reader DC and click on Combine Files, I am taken to an Adobe website. Am I required to move my documents online to use the Combine Files feature? I thought the Adobe Acrobat PDF Pack I just bought would let me use more features within the desktop app I already have downloaded.

Not exactly. What Adobe has done is a cheesy way to make you want to get a "pay for" version. In other words, they show you the tools exist, but if you want to use them, you have to upgrade from the free Reader to either the Standard (for PCs), or Pro (for Macs and PCs).

I did upgrade. I paid for the Acrobat PDF Pack. Now when I click on Combine Files, I am taken to an Adobe website where it has a place to "Drag and drop files to merge into one PDF." I want to be able to use this feature when I don't have internet access.

Acrobat PDF Pack is an online service, so yes, in order to use it you must have internet access, and must upload your files to the cloud. If you don't want (or can't) do that, opt for Adobe Acrobat itself, which is a local application. However, it still requires internet access to function, at least from time to time as it needs to validate your subscription or activate the product, so you can't use it on a completely air-gapped machine.

Thank you for the clarification. I did not understand what the PDF Pack upgrade was actually getting me. I thought it was unlocking features within the existing Adobe Reader on my computer, not giving me access to a cloud service.

Thank you for the clarification. I did not understand what the PDF Pack upgrade was actually getting me; I thought it was unlocking features within the existing Adobe Reader on my computer, not giving me access to a cloud service.

- some things work by going to the online site directly. For example, combining files. I think many in software development see "on the web" as the natural place for everything, rather than an extra layer of inconvenience and nuisance.

None of those things can work in Reader. You might be able to trigger those commands from it, but the action conversion or editing is done purely online. To be able to do it locally you have to have Acrobat.

Thank you for your help. I did not understand what the PDF Pack upgrade was actually getting me. I thought it was unlocking features within the existing Adobe Reader on my computer, not giving me access to a cloud service.

I purchased PDF Pack solely to be able to combine PDF files. I understand that with my plan, this can only be done on the browser and not in the desktop app. However, I am being prevented from combining files at this link. I have tried the link on multiple browsers. I have signed out of my account, cleared my cache and cookies, and signed back in. I have tried combining a wide variety of documents, not just the ones I need to combine for my job. My OS is up-to-date. I tried everything the forums suggested, to no avail. I tried everything that the tech support chat person suggested, again to no avail, and was told to go to the forums.

I installed what I think might be a different version of Adobe reader on my desktop. I was then able to combine files online. This makes no sense. What makes even less sense is that after combining some files, I went to do the last few (since you can only do 12 at a time and I need 16) and I now cannot combine files again. I just don't get it.

Update: now it is letting me combine files again. I am not sure what's going on but I got the work done. I want to express my utter disappointment in Adobe's support for this issue. It doesn't seem like I am the only one who has had it if the forums are any indication, and it didn't seem like anyone else got a solid answer either. The forums were of little help and the online tech support chat just directed me back to the forums. Old-fashioned and cost-ineffective though it may sound (god forbid), I think a phone tech support line would be really helpful, but there's only a phone line for sales.

I can understand the frustrating experience you had through this. While going through the description given above, I did try to replicate the same at my end. There seems to be some intermittent issue with the Document Cloud site because of network connection. Will cross check with the team, to know whats causing this issue.

About your customer support experience I would like to add-on, that Document Cloud PDF service is an online subscription which is only supported on Forums. This is why you have had a bit struggle to get in touch with Phone/Chat support team.

If you are experiencing the issue with combining PDF as stated above, please ensure that you type in the file name for the new file that will be created in the "Enter new file name" field provided just before the cancel button at the top right corner. Once the file name is entered, the Combine button will be enabled.

Being able to combine PDF files is helpful in an office environment where various documents are collected, scanned and then collated into one document for clients or data history purposes. Merge PDF files, two or more, by using the Adobe Acrobat Reader Combine PDF function. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the cloud-based version of Adobe Acrobat Pro. Both make it easier for documents stored in the office's cloud network to merge. PDFs can't be combined in Reader alone; they need the tools found in either Acrobat version.

Open the primary document that will become the foundation for the combined PDF in Adobe Acrobat. The primary document may already be a saved PDF file or it may be a different source file. For example, you may have a Word document that must be resaved as a PDF document before you can work with it in Acrobat. Additionally, a scanned document might automatically save as a JPEG file. This would also need to be adjusted and saved as a PDF to allow Adobe to merge PDF files.

When you have the primary PDF document open, select "Tools" in the top tab in Acrobat to open a menu. Locate and select "Combine Files." This prompts you to find the file you want to attach to the primary document. For the sake of this example, call it the secondary document. Choose the secondary document and click the button to "Add Files." The two files are merged, with the primary document being the first set of pages and the secondary document pages following those of the primary's document. Save the new document under a new file name for easy searching.

As the Adobe name suggests, Acrobat allows things to jump around. This means you can take the merged documents and rearrange pages to make the document more efficient for your presentation needs. For example, assume you scanned a client's contract into Acrobat and saved it as Doc1. However, the scanner is only capable of scanning front sides, while the contract is printed on both sides of the page. Scan the back pages in as a second PDF called Doc2. Merge the two PDFs into one merged PDF.

With the merged document open, open "Tools" and select "Organize Pages." You will see a small preview thumbnail of the pages on the right. Grab the page you want and insert it after the page it should follow. For example, if the merged document page that is currently page 9 should be page 2, drag and drop page 9 in between pages 1 and 2. Page 9 is inserted and the page numbers are reordered. Keep the original document on hand if possible to keep track of pages as they are renumbered to prevent confusion.

With more than 15 years of small business ownership including owning a State Farm agency in Southern California, Kimberlee understands the needs of business owners first hand. When not writing, Kimberlee enjoys chasing waterfalls with her son in Hawaii.

Hi, I have a form created in Adobe LiveCycle, and I need to be able to take this form and merge it with some PDF forms. When I go try to "Combine Files into PDF" It says the XML form cannot be combine. Is there a way around this? Using the "Create a Portfolio" is not an option.

Hi,

to explain why you cannot combine the XFA PDF with others:

Assembling PDFs only works with the same "type" of PDF.

The most common form of PDFs is what I call the Print-PDF. That is what the majority of PDFs out there are.

Then there are special variants such as XFA PDFs. These need a plug-in in Adobe Reader or Acrobat to render them in their final form while being opened.

Because these two are so different, it is not possible to combine them in Acrobat.

You can "flatten" your XFA PDF (it will not be a form with editable fields afterwards) and create a Print-PDF. Then you can combine them.

To flatten them you could for example use the "Microsoft Print as PDF" (which probably works better than converting to Word).

Dynamic Interactive Forms cannot be combined with other PDFs. You will need either LiveCycle Assembler or LiveCycle Output to flatten the interactive form, and then it can be merged with other non interactive pdfs.

If you don't have LiveCycle, one thing you can do in Acrobat is print the form to the Adobe Printer, which will create a non interactive version of your form, and this PDF could be combined with other PDFs.

what type of interactive form are you trying to combine? The following document outlines the constraints and rules around combining Form based PDFs. See chapter 4 in this documentation here: _US/livecycle/11.0/ddxRef.pdf for LiveCycle Assembler.

I was able to figure out how to combine an XML "pdf wrapped" file and a regular pdf without losing the editable boxes. Open both files you want to combine. Highlight all the pages of the XML document, right click, and select "Extract Pages". Extract them all into a new document. Then just select the pages and drag them to the other pdf doc. Any editable form fields will still be there.

3a8082e126