If you need to combine multiple PDF files into a single document on Windows 11, there are several methods available to you. You can choose to use a free desktop application, a web-based service, or even execute a command via Command Prompt to merge the PDFs.

Windows 11 doesn’t include a built-in feature for merging PDFs, so you’ll need to rely on third-party tools for this task.

Using a Free Desktop App

The simplest way to merge PDFs with a graphical interface on Windows 11 is by using a third-party application. There are several options to choose from, but for this guide, we’ll look at using PDF Merger & Splitter. This free app allows you to both merge and split PDFs with ease.

To get started, open the Microsoft Store, type PDF Merger & Splitter into the search bar, and press Enter. Select the app from the results and click Get to install it.

Once installed, open the app and click Merge PDF.

If you need to extract specific pages from a PDF and save them as a new file, you can choose the Split PDF option instead.

On the next screen, click Add PDFs to open the folder containing the PDFs you wish to merge. Select all the files, and if some PDFs are located in different folders, click Add PDFs again to select additional files.

After adding the files, you can adjust the order in which they appear in the merged document. To rearrange the files, click a file in the list and use the Move Up or Move Down options at the top. If you want to remove a file, select it and click Remove.

If you'd like to preview a file before merging, select it and click the Preview button.

When you’re ready to combine the PDFs, click Merge PDF at the bottom of the app.

A Save As window will pop up. Navigate to the location where you want to save the merged file, type a name in the File Name field, and click Save. Since the Save as Type is already set to PDF, you don’t need to adjust anything.

Once the merge is complete, the app will give you three options:

Copy Folder Path: Copy the folder path where the merged PDF is saved. Open File: View the merged PDF. Close: Exit the window.

Using a Website

If you only need to merge a few PDFs and don’t want to install anything, an online PDF merger is a quick and convenient solution. However, I recommend avoiding this method for confidential files, as uploading your PDFs to a website could pose a security risk.

Popular online tools include Adobe Acrobat (online), iLovePDF, and Smallpdf. For this example, we’ll walk through how to use Adobe Acrobat.

Visit the Adobe Acrobat website. You don’t need to log in to use the site. Click Select Files to upload your PDFs, or simply drag and drop them onto the webpage.

Once your files are uploaded, you can rearrange their order by dragging them in the list. If you want to remove a file, click the trash icon next to it. To add more PDFs, click Insert Files.

Next, click the Merge button at the top to start the merging process.

Once the PDFs are combined, you’ll see a preview of the final document. To download the merged file, click the large Download button on the left. If you're logged into an Adobe account, you can also choose to Get a Link to the file.

Remember that Adobe Acrobat may delete your file after a certain period if you’re not signed in, so it’s a good idea to download it promptly.

Using Command Prompt If you prefer a more technical approach, you can use Ghostscript, a free tool that works with Command Prompt to merge PDF files.

To get started, visit the Ghostscript website, download the tool, and install it on your PC. Then, open Command Prompt (press Windows + S, type Command Prompt, and choose Run as Administrator).

In Command Prompt, type the following command, replacing PATH with the full directory where your PDFs are located. If the path includes spaces, enclose it in double quotes.

bash

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cd PATH

Next, enter the following command, replacing Combined.pdf with your desired output file name, and File1.pdf and File2.pdf with the names of the PDFs you wish to merge. You can add more files if needed.

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gswin64c -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=Combined.pdf File1.pdf File2.pdf

This command instructs Ghostscript to merge the files without pausing between pages and to save the output as Combined.pdf.

After executing the command, you’ll find the merged PDF in the same folder where your original files are located.

Now you have multiple ways to combine PDF files on your Windows 11 system. Whether you prefer using a desktop app, an online tool, or a command-line approach, there’s a method for everyone. Additionally, you can also combine images into a PDF using similar tools if needed.