A great way to make information exchange more reliable and efficient is to combine files into a single polished PDF file. The technique is simple but powerful, harnessing many of the PDF format’s best qualities. Before we show you how to combine files, we’ll touch on a few of the reasons why combining and then sharing your files as PDF can help you exchange information more reliably.
- One viewer required. Delivery as a PDF file removes the uncertainty you have when sharing an assortment of files from different applications. Apart from the potential issues in distributing files across Windows, Mac and other platforms, even sharing common Microsoft Office formats can create major headaches. For example, a Microsoft Office 2003 user can’t view documents created in Microsoft Office 2007 without installing an update. PDF gives you confidence that your documents will be viewable, since PDF viewers are so widespread across all platforms.
- Smaller files. Generally speaking, PDF files tend to come out smaller than Microsoft Word, Excel and many others because, when converted, a lot of the formatting and structure is left behind, making for lighter files. Smaller size means faster, cheaper and more efficient delivery.
- Instantly searchable. When files like HTML, DOC, Excel and other text-based documents are converted to PDF, they remain just as searchable. When you combine a collection of files together — for example, all those related to a particular project or client — recipients can search all the contents at once because they are delivered as the one file.
- Easy to navigate. When you have combined files with a decent file-combining tool (one that auto-generates bookmarks in the PDF), you make it easy for your recipients to get to each document inside the PDF with a simple click of the mouse.
Less toing and froing. A really simple rule of thumb when distributing files via email is: the more of them you have, the more likely you are to miss or overlook or misplace them when sending or receiving. If you reduce your attachments to just one file, you greatly increase the likelihood that you won’t be toing and froing with colleagues, trying to work out what’s missing and what isn’t.
How to combine files to PDF
Nitro PDF Professional has pretty handy tools that let you convert files (reports, spreadsheets, charts, presentations, etc.) to PDF and then combine them — all in the one task. Here’s how to do it.
- Select your files to convert and combine from a folder. (Tip: Use Ctrl+click to select multiple files at once.)
- Right-click and click Combine supported files in Nitro PDF.
- Once the files have loaded in the Combine Files dialog, arrange them in the order you would like them to be combined.
- Choose your output settings.
- Click Create.
- When prompted, name the PDF file.
That’s it, you’re done. One extra thing to note is, if you already have Nitro PDF Professional open, you can use the Combine File dialog directly from there. You can open it by clicking on the Combine Files button on the Home tab.
How to combine PDF files
One thing I thought I would highlight separately is that the Combine Files functionality works just as well on PDF files. This means you can merge PDF files together quickly and easily. To do it, just follow the same steps outlined above.
And another thing …
For more information on this functionality, see our combine PDF page. If you rarely need to combine PDF files and don’t want to fork out for Nitro PDF Professional, then you might like to bookmark the PDF Hammer site. The simple online free PDF editor lets you combine PDF files together and rearrange their pages.
Tags: combine PDF, nitro pdf professional, pdf tips & tricks
One Comment
Great info. Thank you