Merging a number of smaller PDF files into a bigger one can be very helpful in unifying and ordering information. One special case when this is very handy is when trying to merge PDF files resulting from a scanning process – some scanners generate a PDF file for each page! Hence, to assemble a scanned document into a single file, files should be ordered correctly and only then merged. Most probably, a compression would also be needed to reduce the size of the resulting file to a more manageable one.
Fortunately, there are online platforms allowing to merge PDF documents into one file through a very simple succession of steps. Thus, the files would typically need to be dragged to the corresponding section in the browser, they could be added from a location on the local storage (by browsing to this location or indicating the path), or the files could be emailed or even added from a cloud storage (Dropbox/ Google Drive). Consequently, when the conversion is complete, the document could be downloaded locally, could be sent by email, or could be added to the cloud storage account.
Benefits of Using an Online PDF Merging Tool
There are a number of advantages associated with using online tools to perform merging operations:
- expensive software is avoided. In earlier days, licensed software was the main means to achieve document conversion or to perform other kinds of operations with PDFs. While this option is still viable and has its advantages, for someone who only needs to make a few conversions from time to time, this can prove too expensive to justify the investments.
- flexibility – the rate of utilization of an online service can be easily scaled. There are normally different subscription options tailored to different rates of utilization.
- computing resources are outsourced – the user uploads and downloads files, while the entire processing is done by the servers powering the platform. This spares computing resources locally and saves lots of time (especially for bigger files). In fact, for a bigger file, more computing resources could be allocated automatically on the servers, representing another form of adaptation/ dynamic flexibility. The result is that processing is typically fast, regardless of the device used.
- cross-device compatibility. Web pages often only need a browser to run and all operating systems and devices support browsers. Hence, this is a good way to ensure that the same service would be operational on any device/OS and that the same performance could be expected.
- intuitive interfaces – web tools are known for their intuitive interface – the simplicity/minimalism of the design is meant to offer the user a smooth experience (due to a clean interface) but also to make the service load/run faster.
All these listed above can explain very well the growing popularity of online document processing/ conversion services, a trend that is likely to persist.
