Combining Multiple PDFs into One

Reposted from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/combine-pdfs-in-5-seconds-with-macs-preview/49675

1. Open PDFs

The first thing that you want to do is to open both PDFs that you want to combine in Preview.

2. Show the PDF thumbnails.

Click on the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner and select “Thumbnails” on each PDF.

A tray will open on the lefthand side of Preview, showing you the individual pages of your PDFs.

3. Click and Drag the Pages

Select the thumbnails of the PDF that you want to combine from one file—use Command-A to select them all at once—and then simply drag these thumbnails pages onto the thumbnails of the other PDF. Shazam! You’re done! Simply save the file, and go about your life.

N.B. It’s important to drag the thumbnails onto the other thumbnails and not below the very thin line that appears at the end of the thumbnails. If you do the latter, you will still only have two files.

How to Make Preview Your Default for PDFs

1) In a Finder window highlight a file of the kind you want to change the application to open that kind of file. (ex. a PDF)

2) While that file is highlighted, select File > Get Info or press command (apple or propeller icon) + i to get a file information window.

3) In the lower part of the info window there is an "open with" menu with a list of applications.

4) If your application is already in the box then it is the default application for opening that kind of file and you don't need to do anything more.  Close the get info window.

5) If the application showing in the menu is not the one with which you wish to open the file then select a new application (such as Preview). If your application does not appear there then select the "other..." and track down the application (usually in the Applications folder at the main level of the computer).

6) If you wish to change all files of this type to open with this application in future, make sure the "change all" button is selected.

7) Close the get info window.