Simple PDF joiner to Join PDF Files on Mac

I have been quite busy in the last week or so and haven’t had much time to write blog posts. However, today I want to share a simple utility I created to solve an annoying problem - joining PDF files on Mac.

The Problem

Recently, I needed to combine multiple PDF files into a single document. Like many people, I started searching online for PDF joining tools. What I found was frustrating - most tools were either:

1. Web-based applications requiring file upload (privacy concerns)
2. Free tools with aggressive upselling tactics
3. Expensive commercial software with way more features than needed

Then I discovered something interesting - macOS actually has a built-in PDF joining utility! It’s located at:

/System/Library/Automator/Combine PDF Pages.action/Contents/MacOS/join. What my utility does is that it adds a nice interface on top of it and you can just it like this:

Join two PDF files:

pdf-joiner file1.pdf file2.pdf

Join multiple PDF files with a specific output path:

pdf-joiner -o merged.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf

Join all PDF files in a directory:

pdf-joiner -o merged.pdf /path/to/directory/*.pdf `-o`: Specify the output file path. If not provided, the output will be saved as `joined-pdf-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS.pdf` in the current directory.

The latest binary can be downloaded from here and installed in /usr/local/bin and can be used as the examples above show the usage.

Hope this tool also helps you join as many PDF files you want without any issues and for free.