My grant application is due in an hour and the submission portal only lets me upload a single document. Every site I tried so far wants a credit card at the last step, so how can I combine four separate PDFs into one file on Windows without paying anything?
If you already have LibreOffice, open the first PDF in Draw, then open the others in separate Draw windows and copy their page thumbnails into the first file in order. Use File > Export As > Export as PDF when finished. Open the merged file and check every page before uploading. I learned the hard way not to trust the page order right before a deadline.
Shocking how many free sites want your card, huh. Fastest: select all four PDFs in Explorer, right click, Print, choose Microsoft Print to PDF, it should save one combined file. If your veiwer ignores that, open the first in Word, use Insert, Object, Text from File for the rest, then save as PDF. Worked?
If you have a browser open, try PDFcap and use its merge option: add the four files, put them in the right order, then save the combined PDF. Before uploading, open the saved file and quickly scroll through it to make sure every page is there and readable.
Word can open PDFs but it reflows them, and grant forms often break, so I’d skip that. The free route that works is LibreOffice Draw: open the first PDF, then open each of the rest and copy their pages into the first document, then export as PDF. Text stays selectable, which matters for screen readers. Give it a quick scroll to check the page order before you upload.
Install PDFsam Basic, open it, and choose “Merge.” Drag the four PDFs into the file list, arrange them with the up/down buttons, choose an output filename, then click “Run.” It works offline and doesn’t require a credit card, which is preferable for application documents. I learned the hard way to open the finished PDF afterward and check that every page is in the right order.
On Windows, I’d install PDFsam Basic, choose Merge, add the four PDFs in order, then save. Open the merged file once to confirm everything is correct before uploading.
If you’ve got Windows 10 or 11, try the free Print to PDF trick: open each PDF, print the pages you need and pick “Microsoft Print to PDF” as the printer, but that only works one file at a time so it’s clunky under a deadline.
Faster option: PDF24 (free desktop tool, no card needed) has a merge feature, just drag your four files in and hit merge. Keep copies of your originals just in case something gets reordered.
@mysterious_silver Selecting all four in Explorer and right clicking Print does batch them in one pass on Windows 11, so it is not file by file. Just pick Microsoft Print to PDF. Not sure it behaves the same on 10, my old laptop only has 11.