How to merge PDF files with PDFSam on Linux – Easy Steps

Need to merge two PDF documents on your Linux PC? See PDFSam; is an excellent tool that gives users incredible power to modify and edit PDF documents on Linux. Here’s how to use it to merge PDF files.

Install PDFSam on Linux

Before PDFSam can merge PDF documents, the application must be installed on your system. The PDFSam application is compatible with a wide variety of Linux operating systems. These operating systems are Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, Fedora, and OpenSUSE.

You will need to open a terminal window on the Linux desktop to install the application. To do that, press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, you can open a terminal window by searching for “Terminal” in the application menu.

Once the terminal window opens, the installation can begin. Follow the installation instructions below that apply to the Linux operating system you are currently using.

Ubuntu

If you are using Ubuntu, you will need to download the official PDFSam DEB package on your computer. You will be able to download this file to your computer using the wget download command below.

wget https://github.com/torakiki/pdfsam/releases/download/v4.2.6/pdfsam_4.2.6-1_amd64.deb

After downloading the latest PDFSam DEB package on your computer, you can install it using the fit to install command below.

sudo apt install ./pdfsam_4.2.6-1_amd64.deb

Debian

Those using Debian can install PDFSam using a downloadable DEB package. To get the latest DEB package on your computer, use the wget command below.

wget https://github.com/torakiki/pdfsam/releases/download/v4.2.6/pdfsam_4.2.6-1_amd64.deb

After downloading the latest version of PDFSam on your computer, you can begin the installation. Using the dpkg command then install the DEB package on your computer.

sudo dpkg -i pdfsam_4.2.6-1_amd64.deb

With the DEB package installed on your computer, you will need to correct any dependency issues that may have occurred during the installation process. To do that, use the apt-get install -f command below.

sudo apt-get install -f

Arch Linux

On Arch Linux, PDFSam is available for installation. However, not from the official website. Instead, you will need to configure the application through the Arch Linux user repository.

Use the pacman command below to configure the “git” and “base-devel” packages on your computer to get started. These packages must be configured to interact with the AUR.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

After configuring the two packages, use the clone de git command to download the latest version of the Trizen AUR helper. Trizen will help make PDFSam work much easier than manual installation.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.or/trizen.git
cd trizen/
makepkg -sri

With the Trizen AUR helper configured on your Arch Linux system, the PDFSam application can be installed. Using the trizen -S command then make the app work.

trizen -S pdfsam

Fedora

PDFSam works on Linux. However, only Fedora 33 has a package available. Therefore, if you are using Fedora 34 or later, you will have to download the standalone version of the application.

Note: You must have Java installed on Fedora for the standalone version of PDFSam to run on your system.

Download the latest version of PDFSam on your Fedora system using the wget command below. Then extract it into your home folder with tar.

wget https://github.com/torakiki/pdfsam/releases/download/v4.2.6/pdfsam-4.2.6-linux.tar.gz
tar xvf pdfsam-4.2.6-linux.tar.gz

Run the PDFSam application on Fedora with:

cd ~/pdfsam-4.2.6-linux
java -jar pdfsam-basic-4.2.6.jar 

OpenSUSE

For PDFSam to work on OpenSUSE, you will need to add a third-party software repository. To get it working, head over to the PDFSam OpenSUSE Software Page. Then select the “1-Click Install” button to configure it.

How to combine PDF files with PDFsam on Linux

Paso 1: Open PDFSam on the Linux desktop. You can start the application by searching for “PDFSam” in the application menu.

Paso 2: With PDFSam open, find the “Merge” button and click it with your mouse. When you select this button, the PDFSam combination menu will appear on the screen.

Paso 3: Inside the merge menu, you will see a message that says “Drag and drop PDF files here.” Open the Linux file manager and find the PDFs you want to merge.

Paso 4: After adding all the PDF files to the PDFSam merge menu, take a look at the merge settings. These settings, while not required, can help you add value to the PDF files you are merging.

Paso 5: Now that you have chosen your merge settings, find the “Run” button at the bottom of the PDFSam page and select it. The application will create a new PDF from the files you have added to the merge menu when you choose this button.

When the merge process is complete, PDFSam will create a new PDF file called “PDFsam_merge.pdf”. This file is in your home directory. To access it, start the Linux file manager and select the “Start” icon to access the PDF file.