Merge PDF Tool

A simple and user-friendly tool to merge multiple PDF files into a single document.

Table of contents

• Screenshots
• Features
• For users
  • System requirements
  • Quick start
• For developers
  • Requirements
  • Installation & Setup
• How to use
• Context
• License

Screenshots

Features

• Select PDF files
• Drag and drop files into the application window
• Reorder files before merging
• Remove individual files or clear the entire list
• Choose the output folder for the merged PDF
• Rename the final PDF file before saving
• Display helpful error messages for common issues:
  • At least two PDF files are required for merging
  • Only PDF files are supported
  • The selected output folder must exist
  • A file must be selected before it can be removed
• Built with Tkinter (a standard GUI library in Python)

For users

System requirements

• Windows 10 or newer
• No installation required

Quick start

1. Go to the "Releases" section of this repository and download the latest .zip file.
2. Unzip the downloaded ZIP file (Right-click on the downloaded file and select "Extract All").
3. Open the extracted folder.
4. Double-click "Merge-PDF-Tool.exe" to start the application. It may take a few seconds to launch.

For developers

Requirements

• Programming Language: Developed and tested with Python 3.11.
  Download Python at: https://www.python.org/downloads/

• Python Packages: See requirements.txt for all dependencies.

Installation & Setup

1. Download the project

Option A: Clone via Git

git clone https://github.com/vans-codelab/Merge-PDF-Tool
cd Merge-PDF-Tool

Option B: Download ZIP from GitHub
Download ZIP from GitHub and extract it. Then navigate to the extracted folder with the following command:

cd <path-to-extracted-project-folder>   

2. Create a virtual environment and activate it

Windows:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

macOS/Linux:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install required packages

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the application

python main.py

How to use

• Add files → Click "Add File" or drag & drop PDFs into the field.
• Reorder → Hold & drag a file to change its position.
• Remove → Use "Remove" buttons to delete individual or all files.
• Choose → Rename the output file and select the folder where it will be saved.
• Merge → Click "Merge" to combine the files into a single document.

Context

While I was looking for a PDF merging tool, I thought: Why not create my own?

I wanted to build an offline tool, that is simple and user-friendly. Designing and implementing the tool was both a fun and rewarding challenge. Especially integrating a drag-and-drop functionality and handling error cases were some of the more challenging tasks. Overcoming them added a lot of value to the overall project.

As a result, the project evolved into a practical offline tool that may also be useful for others who are looking for a simple way to merge PDF files locally.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.