Combining two or more Word documents into a single PDF is very helpful in consolidating work or when dealing with multiple contributors working on a project. For instance, one of my friends reached out to me recently asking how he can combine his work, spread out in multiple Word files, into a single PDF document so that it is easier to distribute and share with his beta readers.
Thankfully, Word has a built-in “Insert” option for merging or joining Word documents, which you can then save as a PDF. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do this in detail. Let’s get started.
Before You Begin
- Back up the documents before combining or merging.
- When you combine documents, Word imports all images, tables, and other objects into the primary document. However, their positioning may change based on the primary document’s page setup and margin settings.
- Word retains as much formatting as possible when combining documents, but the style might not always match the primary document’s style. In that case, you have to manually update the formatting to match.
- Headers and footers might not automatically merge correctly. If that’s the case, you may need to adjust them manually after combining the documents and before making it into a single PDF file.
Combine Two Word Documents Into a PDF File
1. Press the Start button, search for Word, and click Open.
2. In the Word program, click the Open option on the sidebar.
3. Click the Browse button, select the first Word document, and click Open.
4. Once the document opens, place the cursor at the point where you want to insert the second document.
5. Go to the Insert tab. Click on the Object dropdown menu and select Text from file.
6. Select the second Word document and click Insert.
Note: You can import multiple files at once. Word will merge them in the order in which they appear in the “Insert File” window. So, make sure the order is right before selecting multiple files.
7. The above action combines the text and other objects from the second document into the first document. Go through the entire document and make sure everything is as it should be. Next, press the F12 key or select File > Save As.
8. Select a folder to save the file, enter a name in the “File Name” field, select PDF (*.pdf) from the “File Type” dropdown, and click Save.
That’s it. The Word documents are merged into a single PDF file. Open the File Explorer (press Windows key + E) and navigate to the folder where you saved the file to see the PDF file created by merging Word documents. Open the PDF file and ensure it is converted correctly.
Wrapping Up — Merge Word Documents to PDF
As you can see, merging Word documents and then saving it as PDF is a simple task. The best thing is, since you are using the built-in option, you don’t have to upload your documents to a third party and pray that they are safe and secure. Once you are done, always open the PDF file and make sure everything is as it should. If you see any formatting issues, correct them before saving it as a PDF file. If necessary, you can also convert the PDF document to Word format in the future.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I will answer.
