How to add, insert and rearrange pages in a PDF on a Mac

With PDF Unlimited (free)

1. Pick the spot

   Open the PDF and select the page that should come before the new pages. Pages mode, with its grid of thumbnails, makes this easiest.

2. Insert a blank page

   Choose Tools > Insert Blank Page (⌥⌘N). A blank page appears after the selected one, the same size as its neighbor.

3. Or insert pages from another PDF

   Choose Tools > Insert Pages from File… (⇧⌘I) and pick one or more PDFs. Their pages go in after the selected page.

4. Duplicate a page

   In Pages mode, Control-click a page and choose Duplicate. The copy lands right after the original.

5. Rearrange

   Drag thumbnails in the Pages grid to change the order. Select several to move them together.

6. Save

   Save the file, or choose File > Duplicate first if you want to keep the original order too.

With Preview, built into macOS

1. Select a page

   Open the PDF in Preview, choose View > Thumbnails, and select the page you want to appear before the new page.

2. Insert

   Choose Edit > Insert, then Page from File or Blank Page. Apple says the new page goes in after the current page.

3. Reorder

   Drag thumbnails to a new position in the sidebar. To move pages between PDFs, show thumbnails in both and drag from one to the other.

Adding pages or combining files

Inserting pages is for when you have one main document and something needs to go inside it: a signed page that belongs in the middle of a contract, a cover sheet, a blank page so double-sided printing lines up.

If you have several whole documents to join end to end, File > Combine PDFs… (⌥⌘O) is faster. You pick the files, put them in order and get one new PDF. See how to combine PDFs on Mac. You can also drop a PDF straight onto the Pages grid to merge it in at that spot.

Getting the order right

Pages mode is a grid of every page, big enough to read, which makes long documents much easier to sort than a narrow sidebar. A few habits help:

• Zoom out so the whole document fits, then move whole sections at once by selecting several pages.
• Fix sideways pages while you are there. Control-click and choose Rotate Left or Rotate Right. More in rotate a PDF.
• Remove the pages you do not need with Delete Page. See delete pages from a PDF.
• Made a mess? ⌘Z undoes each move, one at a time.

Why add a blank page

It sounds odd, but blank pages are useful. A blank page after a cover keeps chapters starting on the right-hand side when printing double-sided. A blank page at the end gives reviewers space for notes, and with a text box you can turn it into a quick cover note or a separator page.

Going the other way

Need fewer pages rather than more? Select them in Pages mode, Control-click and choose Extract to New PDF to save them as their own file. Our guide to splitting a PDF covers that in detail. And if the final file is too big to email after adding scanned pages, compress it.

Questions