# How to merge PDFs without uploading them anywhere

> Combine a contract, its annexes and a scanned signature page into one file, in the right order, without sending any of it to a server.

Most "free PDF merger" sites work the same way: you upload your files, their server stitches them together, and you download the result. That's fine for a recipe. It's less fine for a signed lease, a medical report or anything with a passport scan in it, because a copy of those files now sits on a machine you know nothing about.

Merging doesn't actually need a server. A PDF is a set of pages plus a table that says where each one lives, and a modern browser can rebuild that table on its own. That's what our [Merge PDF](https://pdfjade.com/merge-pdf) tool does: the files are read from your disk into the page you have open, combined in memory and handed back to you as a download.

## The quick version

1. Open [Merge PDF](https://pdfjade.com/merge-pdf) and drop in your files, or press *Choose PDFs*. You can add more later.
2. Use the up and down arrows next to each file to set the order. The file at the top becomes the first pages of the result.
3. Press *Merge PDFs*. The combined file is downloaded as `merged.pdf`.

That's it. On a laptop, merging ten ordinary documents takes a second or two.

## Getting the order right the first time

The most common mistake isn't technical, it's sorting. Files called `scan 1.pdf`, `scan 10.pdf` and `scan 2.pdf` come out of most folders in that exact (wrong) order. Two habits help:

- Rename files with leading zeros before you start: `01-contract`, `02-annex`, `03-signatures`.
- Add the files one by one in reading order when there are only a handful. It's faster than fixing the order afterwards.

If one of the files has pages in the wrong order inside it, merge first, then open the result in [Organize pages](https://pdfjade.com/organize-pdf) and drag the thumbnails around. Seeing the actual pages is far easier than reasoning about page numbers.

## What gets kept, and what doesn't

Text stays selectable, images keep their quality and each page keeps its own size, so a landscape spreadsheet can sit next to portrait letters without being squashed. Two things are not carried over: bookmarks and internal links from the original files. If your annexes relied on a clickable table of contents, add one again in your editor or accept that readers will scroll.

Password-protected files can't be merged until the password is removed, because their content is encrypted. If you know the password, [Unlock PDF](https://pdfjade.com/unlock-pdf) saves an unprotected copy you can merge, and [Protect PDF](https://pdfjade.com/protect-pdf) can lock the merged result again afterwards.

## Before you hit send

Open the merged file and flick through it once. Check the first and last page of each original document, since that's where order mistakes show. For anything formal, it's worth adding [page numbers](https://pdfjade.com/add-page-numbers) so people can refer to "page 14" in an email without ambiguity.

## Questions

### Is there a limit to how many PDFs I can merge?

There's no fixed limit. Your device's memory is the ceiling: dozens of normal documents are fine on a laptop, while hundreds of high-resolution scans may be slow on a phone.

### Can I merge PDFs on an iPhone or Android phone?

Yes. The tool runs in mobile browsers. Pick the files from the Files app or your downloads, reorder them and download the result.

Source: https://pdfjade.com/guides/merge-pdfs-without-uploading