Merge PDF files without uploading them: how to do it
Most online PDF tools receive your documents on their servers. Here is how to merge, split or create a PDF without your files leaving your device, and how to check it yourself.
Updated on
In short. When you drop a PDF on a typical merging site, the file goes to a company's server, which processes it and sends it back. It does not have to be that way: a tool can do the same work in your browser, on your device, without sending anything. That is how our free tools work: merge PDFs, split and reorder a PDF and convert images to PDF. And you can check it yourself by cutting your connection.
What happens when you "drop" a PDF online
On most sites, dropping a file means uploading it. Your document travels to a server, often abroad. There it is copied, processed, and kept for a while before being deleted: an hour, a day, sometimes longer, depending on what the site promises.
For a leaflet, it hardly matters. For what people merge most often, it does:
- payslips and employment contracts;
- bank statements and tax returns;
- invoices, with your customers' names and addresses;
- copies of identity documents;
- medical or insurance files.
If these documents concern your customers or employees, it is their data you are handing to a third party, not only your own.
Three ways to keep your files with you
| Solution | How it works | For whom |
|---|---|---|
| A tool that works in the browser | The page does the work on your device; nothing is sent | An occasional need, with nothing to install |
| Installed software | The program runs on your computer | Daily use, very large files |
| The tools of your device | On a Mac, the Preview app combines and reorders PDFs | Mac users |
Watch the wording: "online", "secure" or "files deleted after one hour" do not mean that nothing is sent. Look for a clear sentence such as "your files never leave your device", then check it.
How to check that a tool sends nothing
The simplest test needs no technical knowledge:
- Open the tool's page.
- Cut your Internet connection: flight mode, or Wi-Fi off.
- Drop your files and start the processing.
If the tool still works, your files went nowhere: they had no way out. If it shows an error or waits forever, it needed a server.
To go further, open your browser's developer tools (F12 key on a computer), "Network" tab, then start the processing: with a tool that works on the spot, no upload appears in the list.
Merging PDFs without uploading, step by step
- Open our Merge PDFs tool.
- Drop your files, or choose them on your device.
- Put them in order with the arrows, or by dragging.
- Click "Merge and download": the combined file is saved to your downloads.
No account, no email address, no size limit set by us: nothing goes through our servers.
And for other needs
- Extract a few pages, remove some, turn them the right way up: Split and reorder a PDF shows the pages, lets you sort them, then gives you one PDF or one file per page.
- Put photos of receipts or screenshots together: Convert images to PDF places one image per page, in A4 or at the size of the image.
Limits to know
- A password-protected PDF must first be unlocked with the software that created it.
- The work uses your device's memory: for files of several hundred pages, a computer does better than a phone.
- These tools do not compress PDFs and do not change their text.
In Yoda Bill
Your invoices do not need to be assembled by hand: Yoda Bill creates them as PDFs with their QR-bill, sends them by email and tracks payments. Your data is hosted in a data centre in Switzerland.