How do I merge, split or remove pages from a PDF for free?
On a Mac, Preview does all of it: open the PDFs, choose View > Thumbnails, and drag pages from one sidebar into the other to merge (drag a whole PDF from Finder to add it all); select pages and press Delete to remove them, and drag thumbnails to reorder. Preview saves changes automatically, so duplicate the originals first. On Windows, PDFsam Basic is a free, open-source app that merges, splits, rotates and extracts pages on your own computer with no watermarks and no size limits, so nothing is uploaded. In a browser, Adobe's free merge and split tools and iLovePDF both work without installing anything; Adobe deletes the file unless you sign in to save it, iLovePDF deletes processed files within two hours, and its Premium plan is 500 INR a month or 2,900 INR a year. Rule: Preview or PDFsam for anything confidential, an online tool for a brochure you would happily email to anyone.
Apple's steps for merging: show thumbnails, drag pages between documents or drag a whole PDF from Finder, and duplicate the originals first because Preview saves automatically.
A free, open-source desktop app that splits, merges, rotates, mixes and extracts pages on your own computer, with no watermarks and no size limits; nothing is uploaded.