PDF has become one of the most pop text file formats for distributing selective information , and for good reasons : Everyone can read PDFs for free , you do n’t ( by and large ) require to worry about whether or not the recipient has particular fonts installed , and you have control over precisely how the recipient role will see the papers ’s contents . On the other hand , PDFs are largely scan - only to the receiver . sure as shooting , if you have Adobe Acrobat or a utility such as PDF Pen , you have the power to make change to a PDF , and even Mac OS X ’s Preview software can tot canonical annotations , but for the most part , PDF is a stable format .
Interestingly , the most common petition I see from lecturer for “ PDF - redaction power ” is n’t how to in reality falsify the cognitive content of a PDF file . Rather , it ’s how tocombineseveral PDFs into one . Although you’re able to do this with commercial software package , I ’ve found two free ( donations request ) solutions : Monkeybread Software’sCombine PDFs 2.1 ( ) and Fabien Conus’PDFLab 2.0.3r2 ( ) . My colleague Christopher Breen recommended Combine PDFs back in December 2005 , and it ’s still a near choice ; however , PDFLab has since become more compelling .
Both utility work similarly : You drag out multiple PDF file onto the app program ikon or into the app window . you’re able to rearrange pages , if trust , or remove pages you do n’t desire . In Combine PDFs , you choose an inner written document name and source name for the leave file cabinet , and then flick on Merge PDFs ; in PDFLab , you just come home on Create PDF . With either app , you then choose the name and localization of the ensue file . You cease up with a unexampled PDF that admit all the source data file ; if the original PDFs were searchable , the resulting PDF will be , too . ( Interestingly enough , when you combine one or more protected PDFs — PDFs can be protect to ask a password for viewing , printing process , copying , or redaction — using either utility , the resulting PDF loses that trade protection . )
However , each app has advantages over the other . Combine PDF ’s biggest advantage is that it ’s easier to reorder private pagesbetweenPDFs — you just drag pages up or down in the lean . ( With PDFLab , it appears as though you could do this , but whenever I tried to move a page from within one reservoir PDF to another , it would n’t let me . ) you’re able to also view a straightaway preview of any pageboy in a written document by twice - clicking on that Sir Frederick Handley Page — a utilitarian feature article when deciding which pages in a PDF to keep or delete ( or , as note below , rotate ) . Combine PDFs also include a numeral of “ Box ” option in its PDF Options bill of fare ; unfortunately , the developer does n’t explain what these choice do , and I happen no divergence in the resulting merged PDFs when using any of them .
PDFLab , on the other hired hand , has an loose - to - read scene — each PDF file is listed with its Page aggroup below it — and more features . you’re able to add vacuous pages to your final papers ( for exercise , as “ spacers ” between the root PDFs ) ; twinned single pages ; choose a range of pages to include in the final PDF ( instead of having to cancel private pages manually ) ; choose to include only odd- or even - numbered page in the resulting PDF , or automatically bring out two PDFs , one with odd and one with even pages — options useful for printing two-fold - sided sheets on single - side printers — and even interleave two document together . you’re able to also use PDFLab to split a undivided PDF file into multiple papers , resulting in one PDF document for each page in the original . PDFLab can also mechanically scale Sir Frederick Handley Page to equip your preferred paper size , can retain source PDFs ’ draft , and even tot up a unexampled outline to the last product that represent the combined PDF .
PDFLab also provides a routine of feature for influence with individual PDF file . you may add word encoding or — take on you have the correct password — remove it ; or add a text or image water line . at last , PDFLab is also considerably quicker , especially on Intel Macs .
Both applications countenance you rotate single documents ; this can be ready to hand if your seed PDF documents do n’t all use the same orientation . And both can also be used to “ extract ” single Page , or groups of Page , out of a PDF — for example , if you just ask to grab a three - page subdivision from a larger e - Word of God .
Keep in mind that either of these public utility company may have problems with particular PDF files ; for model , those that utilize unusual PDF feature film . However , in my examination , both worked well , even with protected PDF files and even successfully carrying Adobe Acrobat annotations over to the resulting incorporated filing cabinet . The only glitch I encountered was when joining PDFs with varying pageboy size using Combine PDFs ; in one representative , one of the page in the resulting written document was stretched oddly .
If you postulate the ability to reorder pageboy within a particular PDF papers , Combine PDFs can do it . But if you do n’t need that feature , PDFLab is the elbow room to go .
compound PDFs 2.1 works with Mac OS X 10.1 or later ; it is not a ecumenical binary . PDFLab 2.0.3 process with Mac OS X 10.3.9 or by and by and is a Universal binary .
UPDATE 3/13/2007 : clause corrected to indicate that Combine PDFs lease you preview individual pages of a PDF .
