I need to combine about 60 scanned PDF files into one document for a client submission tomorrow, and I’m stuck choosing between ilovepdf and sejda. Has anyone merged files that large with either, and did one choke or hit limits faster?
Honestly with 60 scans I’d skip the web tools, upload limits always seem to bite right at the deadline. On my Mac I just drag them all into Preview and export, handles big drawing sets fine. If you’re on Windows, merging in smaller batches of 15 or so usually gets through without choking.
@reid21 Batching is what I’d do too, I’ve had uploads stall at the worst moment. On my old laptop I’d also shrink the scans first, smaller files just queue faster, not sure if it’s the same on Mac.
Had the same thing last month with a batch of scanned invoices. Sejda’s free tier has a page count limit that can trip you up on something that big, while ilovepdf handled the volume fine for me but took a while to upload. If both choke, I would just try combining them in smaller batches first, like 20 at a time, then merge those results together.
I learned the hard way when making my bakery catalogues that uploading 60 heavy scans will just hit a paywall on both of those sites. My tip is to use standard built-in software like Mac Preview and just drag them together in the sidebar. Avoid relying on browser programmes for massive file merges right before a deadline because they usually freeze.
@SneakySteel I’d take the safer route and merge in batches of 15 to 20, then combine those smaller PDFs. With scanned files, the page count matters less than the total file size, so check the final PDF opens properly and the pages stay in order before sending it.
When I had to merge dozens of scanned patient records, both of those hit file limits on me quite quickly. I found PDFcap handled big jobs much better on my slow office machine. You can just drop all sixty files into pdfcap.com and combine them in one go without it choking.
For 60 scanned files, I would check the total GB and page count first, since scans make the upload size the real limit. I’ve had better luck splitting a big merge into 2 or 3 chunks, then merging those locally with PDFsam Basic or Acrobat, especially when a deadline is close. Sejda’s desktop app is worth trying if the files are private or uploads crawl, tbh.
60 files is manageable for both usually. I find Sejda handles larger total sizes better, ilovepdf has timed out on me around the 100MB mark before. Either should work for normal scans though, just start early in case one chokes halfway through.
@Wallabies That 100MB timeout matches what I see with batches of scanned claims, the upload usually dies first, not the merge itself. I split into chunks of 20 and then join the 3 results with PDFsam Basic on my work PC, so nothing has to leave the machine. Check the total size before you start.
i haven’t merged 60 at once myself but i do combine a bunch of lease and receipt scans for my rentals. check the free limits on both first since scans add up quick. i’d try batches of 15 or so on ilovepdf, sejda was fine for smaller jobs last time. not sure if it’s the same on mac.
I do merges like this for coworkers at work all the time. Honestly, with 60 scanned files I’d skip both browser tools, they throttle file size on the free tiers and uploading that many scans takes forever anyway. Sejda also caps how many tasks you can run per hour. I just use PDFsam Basic, it’s free, runs offline, and nothing chokes no matter how big the files get.