Naming and sorting PDFs before merging

Use leading zeros and date formats so your files are easy to recognise and put in order before you merge.

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Free: up to 5 files, 20MB total

Use leading zeros to sort correctly

Name your files with leading zeros so they sort in the right order:

Without leading zeros, file 1, file 10, and file 2 sort as 1, 10, 2 (wrong). With leading zeros, 01, 02, 10 sort as 01, 02, 10 (right). This matters especially if you have more than 9 files.

A worked example

Let's say you have three contracts: Contract-1.pdf, Contract-10.pdf, and Contract-2.pdf. In a folder view that sorts alphabetically, they appear as Contract-1, Contract-10, Contract-2. That is not the order you want. Rename them:

Now they sort in the right order: 01, 02, 10. If you later need Contract-11 to Contract-20, they will also slot in correctly.

Use date format YYYY-MM-DD

For files by date, use the format YYYY-MM-DD (year, month, day with leading zeros and hyphens). This ensures they sort in date order:

This also makes it easy to spot the dates at a glance.

After you choose files, check the list

After pressing Choose files and selecting your PDFs, a list appears on the screen. Read the order of files in the list. The order of the list depends on how your browser and file picker hand the files over, so it may not match what you expect. If it is not in order, use the ↑ and ↓ buttons to reorder them, or drag files by the ☰ handle. Do not assume the tool has sorted them: check the list yourself and fix it if needed.

What this does not do

The tool does not sort files for you. It does not promise any particular order for the files you select. It does not rename files. You must name them with the right scheme, choose them, read the list to check it, and reorder with the buttons if needed. Bookmarks and form fields may not carry over from the originals; the tool does not add page numbers or renumber pages if a file has its own numbering.

More about merging PDFs

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