Compiling a PDF file

Have you ever had two or more PDFs that you wished were all together in one file rather than in two or more files? Just this week, I created several PDFs from Google documents I had in my Google Drive, and I wanted to merge them together with some PDFs I had downloaded to my Drive from third-party sources. I thought I had a quick remedy or work-around, but it turns out there is an easier way to accomplish this: PDF Mergy.

PDF Mergy is a web app that provides a simple way to merge PDF files. You can either select the files you want to merge from your computer or drop them on the app using drag and drop. Let’s say you have two PDF documents about the Civil War from different sources. You are preparing a lesson for your students, and you would like to merge the contents of each PDF you have for easier access and organization — simply us PDF Mergy to combine them into a single file.

Here’s how to use PDF Mergy

Begin by locating or using a document in your drive and right click on it:

• A menu will open
• Select “Open” with and choose from the sub-menu
• Select “PDF Mergy”
• A new window will open on your browser. You will now be prompted to select files from your computer or your Google Drive (you can mix and match/drag and drop)
• Use drag and drop to arrange the files in the desired order you would like them to appear in the new document
• Once you have selected all of the files you would like to merge, simply select the blue “Merge” button to the right of the list of files
• After PDF Mergy finishes combining the files, you will be prompted to save it to your computer and/or your Google Drive (I would recommend saving it to both)
• From there, you can share with your students through Google Classroom and/or a variety of other remote learning platforms

As for the security of your documents, below are the statements directly from Mergy:

Security
In order to process your files, they are uploaded to a remote server. The files are uploaded and stored only for the purpose of being merged. Some minutes after processing them all files are deleted permanently from the remote system. We use a secure SSL connection for any data transfer. We never share your files with any third party nor will we ever store them beyond the extent technically necessary to deliver our Services. We use Google’s Cloud Platform to host our Services.

Children’s Privacy
Our Services are not intended for and may not be used by children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 and we do not target our Services to children under the age of 13. Educators that have the authority to act on parent’s behalf, may allow students under 13 to use our Services, if such use is for educational purposes, and if this use ensures that students will not provide any personal information. If you have questions about our Service, please contact us at mb@w69b.com

PF Mergy is a great tool to solve that age-old hurdle of combining PDF content into one document. Furthermore, think of the organization benefits for both you and your students to have related material in one document rather than two or more. Imagine all of the resources you can pull together to add to the materials section of Google Classroom without overwhelming students with each individual piece of content!