How to combine a Word document with a PDF on a Mac
Put a Word file and a PDF into one PDF on a Mac: turn the Word file into a PDF first, then merge the two in Finder or Preview. No upload needed.
The problem
A cover letter in Word and certificates as PDFs, and the application wants them as one file.
Can I merge a Word file and a PDF directly?
No. A PDF can only be merged with another PDF, so the Word document becomes a PDF first.
How do I turn the Word file into a PDF?
- In Word: File > Save As, and choose PDF as the format.
- In Pages, which opens Word files: File > Export To > PDF.
- Without either: open it in TextEdit and choose File > Export as PDF. Complex layouts may not look right.
More detail: Word to PDF on a Mac.
How do I merge the two PDFs?
Select both in Finder, Control click, and choose Quick Actions > Create PDF. Finder uses the order the window shows them in, so number the names first. See merge PDFs in order, or open one in Preview and drag the other into the thumbnail sidebar.
Our take
Put the document you wrote first. A reader opens the file to the first page; your cover letter tells them what the certificates behind it are for, while a certificate first leaves them guessing what they are looking at.
In Simply PDF
Simply PDF's Convert, with a key, turns Word, RTF and text files into A4 or US Letter PDFs, and its Merge, which is free, combines them with your other PDFs.
Questions
Can I merge a Word file and a PDF directly?
No. Save or export the Word file as a PDF first, then merge the two PDFs.
How do I turn a Word document into a PDF on a Mac without Word?
Open it in Pages and choose File > Export To > PDF. TextEdit's Export as PDF works for simple documents.