Free Adobe Acrobat alternative?

[mae]

I need to combine a few PDF files together into one file. My understanding is that you can do this if you have Adobe Acrobat, and I googled on the Web and I did see some free downloads of other software that will let you have this capability. Any suggestions? (At this point, I do not want to purchase Adobe Acrobat.) Thx.

 

[lopdog]

I recommend PDF Combine 1.01, download from http://www.pdfcombine.com/.
It is shareware, but you should be able to do what you need. If you only have a few documents (10 or less) you can also try the free online merge tool MergePDF. A few of my pdf-files didn't merge correctly, but most of them did.

 

[kimsland]

PDF Combine Demo version limitations

1. You can only use 50 times in the trial version;
2. A Red watermark in the created PDF files;

Info from here: http://www.globalpdf.com/pdfpg/help/help.html

 

[lopdog]

You're right. I hate it when they add that ugly watermark, but that's how shareware works, right?

mae: where do you get your pdf-files? If you create them yourself you probably have a free/commercial PDF printer. They often have an option called "Append" that lets you print a document into an existing .pdf file.

If you don't have a pdf printer you could try Bullzip pdf (http://www.bullzip.com). This freeware pdf printer lets you create pdf-files from any printable document.
A not-so-elegant way to merge pdf-files would be to open your pdf-files and print them to the same file with the "append" option checked.
I'll keep looking for that freeware pdf merge tool, though.

 

[kimsland]

This one was free 8 days ago: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/about/caisdata-software-01/
Where were you then

 

[lopdog]

OK, I think I found one that works: PDFsam (PDF Split and Merge) from http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FK8TRDD8. I found a lot of broken downloads from SourceForge.net, but this link from megaupload should work. Filesize is 5.6 MB.
This is freeware, no watermarks, no limitations. Worked fine on my Vista x64.

 

[kimsland]

Why use mega when you can just download this open source from the home site: http://www.pdfsam.org/?page_id=32

 

[lopdog]

I tried that, but none of the files worked. I got an error message (see attached image).

I found a lot of broken downloads from SourceForge.net, but this link from megaupload should work. Filesize is 5.6 MB.

For some reason I only got a 2.32 MB file from that page.

 

[Route44]

Have you tried Foxit? I'm not sure if it does everything you need since I only use the free PDF reader but even the full version is no where near the bloatware Adobe is.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/2713-foxit-reader.html

 

[mae]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I don't know how I'd survive without Techspot : )

Since I only had a handful of PDF files to merge, I used lopdog's recommendation of the online tool, MergePDF. That definitely worked to seemlessly merge my documents. However, now I am having trouble uploading them onto the Website where my application is being submitted. I don't know if it is just my slow dial-up service or problems with the Web site. In any case, thanks for the link. It definitely worked to merge my PDF files, without watermarks.

@mae: where do you get your pdf-files? If you create them yourself you probably have a free/commercial PDF printer. They often have an option called "Append" that lets you print a document into an existing .pdf file.

I scanned my documents from my Canon printer/scanner and saved them in PDF format. But, I could not save them all together in one document. At least, it appeared this was not an option.

 

[SNGX1275]

Another possible alternative would be to convert them out of pdf to something else, like Word, then pasting them together. Then you could even convert back to pdf if you wanted.

 

[Tedster]

go to sourceforge.net if you want to look for free open source software.

 

[Bobbye]

Yeah Route44! I can't believe this thread got all the way up to 9 posts before FoxIt was mentioned!

For the uninformed, FoxIt has a free version that will do everything the Adobe Reader does, without the bloat!

There are also 'suites' available for more intensive PDF work.

 

[lopdog]

FoxIt is one of the best pdf-READERS, I use a portable version on my USB stick, but can it be used to merge documents without watermarks? I thought not, that's why I didn't mention it. But I might be wrong, haven't tried.