Merge thesis chapters into one PDF

Assemble all your sections in the right order, then merge them into one submission file.

Drag & drop PDF files here

or

Free: up to 5 files, 20MB total

Standard thesis file order

One common order for a thesis is below. Check the order your institution or supervisor asks for, and follow that instead if it differs.

  1. Title page
  2. Abstract
  3. Table of contents (if you include it)
  4. Introduction and chapters
  5. References or bibliography
  6. Appendices (if any)

Export each section as its own PDF file, in the order above. This tool merges whole files, so each becomes one block in the result.

Name your files so they sort correctly

Use a naming scheme with leading numbers that keeps the right order:

Folder views list names alphabetically, so numbers and a consistent scheme make the files easy to find and check. After choosing them, read the list and reorder if needed.

Page count and size check

Before you merge, count the pages in each section and add them together. A worked example: title page (1) + abstract (2) + introduction (8) + chapter 1 (15) + chapter 2 (12) + references (3) + appendix (5) = 46 total pages. The free merge allows up to 5 files and 20MB in total per merge. This example has 7 files, so it needs two merges. Check the total file size too: batching gets around the 5-file limit, not the 20MB limit (see why).

Batching for more than 5 files

The 7-file example above needs two merges. First merge the title page, abstract, introduction, chapter 1 and chapter 2 (5 files) into thesis-part-1.pdf. Then merge thesis-part-1.pdf with the references and the appendix (3 files). Keep thesis order in each merge.

Page numbering and internal references

Each PDF file keeps its own page numbering. If chapter 1 has pages labeled "1, 2, 3" and chapter 2 has pages labeled "1, 2, 3", they stay that way in the merged file: chapter 1's "page 3" is followed by chapter 2's "page 1", not chapter 2's "page 4". A table of contents built before merging will not update either: the merge does not touch the text, so check every page number it lists against the merged file.

What this does not do

It does not edit text, renumber pages, or build or update a table of contents or index. It does not compress files, so the merged size is about the sum of the original sizes. Password-protected PDFs stop the merge. Bookmarks, form fields and the document title may not carry over. Always open the merged file and flip through it before you submit to check that the order is right and nothing is missing.

More about merging PDFs

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