How to Merge PDFs on Linux — Browser Tool and pdftk/pdfunite
Merge PDFs on Linux using a free browser tool, pdftk, or pdfunite. Multiple methods for every Linux workflow.
Merge PDFs on Linux with a free browser tool or native command-line utilities. FixMyPDF's Merge PDF tool works in any Linux browser, while pdftk and pdfunite handle CLI workflows.
Method 1: Browser-Based Merging
Open Firefox or Chrome. Navigate to fixmypdf.in/tools/merge. Click "Add Files" to select multiple PDFs. Drag to reorder. Click "Merge PDFs". Download the combined file. Works on all Linux distros — no package install needed.
Method 2: pdfunite (Poppler)
pdfunite is part of the Poppler PDF library. Install with sudo apt install poppler-utils. Then: pdfunite file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf merged.pdf. Simple and fast for straightforward merging in specified order.
Method 3: pdftk
Install with sudo apt install pdftk (Debian/Ubuntu) or flatpak install flathub com.github.jkoropala.pdftk-java. Then: pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output merged.pdf. pdftk also supports extracting specific page ranges during merge.
Merging with Page Selection (pdftk)
pdftk can merge while selecting specific pages: pdftk A=file1.pdf B=file2.pdf cat A1-5 B output merged.pdf — takes pages 1-5 from file1 and all pages from file2. Useful for building compound documents from partial sources.
Choosing Between Methods
Browser tool: best for quick one-off merges with visual reordering. pdfunite: fastest CLI for simple ordered merges. pdftk: most flexible for page selection, rotation during merge, and scripted workflows.
Preserving Bookmarks and Metadata
pdftk preserves PDF bookmarks from source files during merge. pdfunite may not preserve all metadata. If your source PDFs have bookmarks (table of contents entries), pdftk is the better CLI choice.
Scripting Merge Workflows
For automated monthly report assembly on Linux servers, write a bash script using pdfunite or pdftk. The browser tool is for interactive use; CLI tools are for automation.
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