More times than I can remember I’ve encountered situations where I need to split, merge or just reduce a PDF’s file size (optimizing). Fortunately I have had Adobe Acrobat (not reader) available the large majority of the time. Unfortunately, however, the PDF’s I’m generally working with are in collaboration with other people who don’t have Acrobat—let alone know how to use it.
Using ILovePDF.com and PDF-Tools.com, it’s never been easier to split, merge and optimize PDFs online. It’s free, available anywhere you have internet access and easy enough for those less tech-savvy to use. In today’s how-to I’ll show you a quick way to split, merge and optimize (reduce file size) PDFs online.
Merging PDFs
One of the most common functions you’ll find yourself in need of when handling PDFs is merging. Let’s say, for example, you fill out some PDF documents and need to send them to someone. You could send them separately, but that means extra work for you and your recipient. Just merge them! Head over to ILovePDF.com to get started.
ILovePDF.com
Select the Merge PDF files option and select the PDFs you would like to merge into one single PDF.
Merge PDFs
Once you’ve selected your files they’ll be displayed with the option to remove one or more using the small “X” icon. Once you’re ready, click the Merge PDFs! button.
Merge PDF Button
You’re only able to upload 10 PDFs at up to 8MB each. That should be plenty for most people though and is better than most other options on the web.
Your PDFs will begin uploading, displaying their progress for each individual PDF along with your upload speed, total upload progress and remaining time at the bottom of the page.
PDF Merging Progress
PDFs will be merged in the order they’re named. The order they’ll be merged will be displayed before merging.
Once the PDF has been processed, you’ll get a download link (the download started immediately for me) that is valid for 15 minutes. You can optionally delete the file immediately once you’ve downloaded it.
PDF Download
To share the PDF, use the provided unique download URL. If the person(s) you’re sharing the merged PDF with are unable to download within the 15 minutes, download it to your computer and upload it to a service like drop.io for free.
Merging More Than 10 PDFs
If you need to merge more than ten PDFs, you can merge several PDFs in batches, then merge those larger PDFs into your full PDF document. Just make sure you merge them all in the correct order. For example, you would merge PDF pages 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 into three larger PDFs. Then go back and merge those larger PDFs into one main PDF in the correct order.
If you have PDFs that are larger than 8MB, you won’t be able to upload them. Most PDFs are quite small but if images are included, they can be rather large sometimes. After merging in batches, it’s possible each batch will be larger than the 8MB limit. Use the optimization steps below to reduce their file size as necessary.
Splitting PDFs
Splitting a PDF into multiple individual PDFs, separated by pages, is basically the same procedure as merging. Navigate to ILovePDF.com’s Split PDF page and select the PDF you would like to split, located on your local system.
You’ll be given the option to split the original PDF by a range of pages (or multiple ranges) or just extract a singular page.
Split PDF
Click the Split PDF! button and, like the merging process, your PDF will be uploaded and splitting completed. Once processed, you’ll be provided a unique download URL for your files (the same as merging).
PDF Optimization
If you need to merge PDFs in batches or split a single large PDF, it’s possible it will exceed the 8MB file size limit. If that’s the situation, it’s possible you’ll be able to reduce the PDF file size without compromising visual quality. To get started, head over to PDF-Tools.com.
PDF-Tools.com
Select the first option in the right column, the PDF Optimization Tool.
PDF Optimizing Options
The interface may seem a little intimidating, with options you’re not familiar with, but not to worry – it’s all very simple and won’t destroy your PDF.
For this example, I’ve merged eight PDFs using ILovePDF.com’s merge tool. The resulting PDF is 13.4MB. If I needed to then extract a page, or merge it with more pages, it would be too big to use with the merge tool again. Fortunately, I can optimize the PDF without compromising visual quality.
I’ll start by selecting the PDF on my local system and clicking the load PDF button to the right. The PDF will be uploaded and the other options will become available once the upload as completed.
Next, we’ll select the optimization settings, starting with Image Options.
Optimize Images
I’ve selected to convert the document to CMYK because I’ll be printing it. CMYK is for print, RGB is for computers. If you’re unsure, just leave it on No conversion. Next, I’ve set the image downsampling such that if an image is above 150 DPI it will downsample to 96 DPI. I’ve applied this to color, monochrome and bitonal images. If you’re unsure, the default will probably work fine for you. Downsampling means the image resolution will be reduced, which will reduce the PDF file size.
If you optimize the PDF and it looks worse, you can raise the DPI settings to leave more image resolution.
I’ve left the compression options and won’t get into those settings as they’re more advanced. Tabbing over to the Font Options, I’ve left it at the defaults. Tabbing over to the Structure Options, I’ve also left it at the defaults. If the PDF would only be used on the web, you could checkmark Linearize.
Optimize Fonts and Structure
Once you’re done changing the optimization settings, click the Optimize button. In most cases, you probably won’t even need to change any settings at all. After optimizing the PDF you’ll be shown the original size and the optimized size. You’ll also be able to download the file using the Save As.. button.
Save Optimized PDF
The PDF went from 13.4MB to 2.1MB without loosing significant visual quality!
Conclusion
So there you have it! Incredibly simple ways to split, merge and optimize PDFs on the web for free, any time, any where. If you use tools similar to these, share them and your thoughts with us in the comments below. Thanks!
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