PDF Merge & Split Agent Skill

by claude-office-skills

Combine multiple PDFs or split into separate files

2k tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

353

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/claude-office-skills/skills --skill PDF Merge & Split

The instruction itself

27 sections, as written by the author

PDF Merge & Split

Combine multiple PDF files into one or split PDFs into separate documents.

Overview

This skill helps you:

Merge multiple PDFs into a single file
Split PDFs by page ranges
Extract specific pages
Reorder pages within a PDF
Create custom arrangements

How to Use

Merge PDFs

"Merge these 3 PDFs into one file"
"Combine document1.pdf and document2.pdf"
"Join all PDFs in this folder in alphabetical order"

Split PDF

"Split this PDF into individual pages"
"Extract pages 5-10 from this PDF"
"Split this PDF every 5 pages"

Reorder

"Move page 3 to the end"
"Reorder pages: 1, 3, 2, 4, 5"
"Reverse the page order"

Merge Operations

Basic Merge

## PDF Merge Plan

### Input Files
| Order | File | Pages | Size |
|-------|------|-------|------|
| 1 | cover.pdf | 1 | 50 KB |
| 2 | chapter1.pdf | 15 | 2.1 MB |
| 3 | chapter2.pdf | 22 | 3.4 MB |
| 4 | appendix.pdf | 8 | 1.2 MB |

### Output
- **Filename**: combined_document.pdf
- **Total Pages**: 46
- **Estimated Size**: ~6.7 MB

### Merge Options
- [ ] Add bookmarks for each source file
- [ ] Preserve original bookmarks
- [ ] Include blank page between files
- [ ] Optimize/compress output

Advanced Merge

## Advanced PDF Merge

### Custom Page Selection
| Source | Pages to Include | Insert Position |
|--------|------------------|-----------------|
| main.pdf | 1-10 | 1-10 |
| insert.pdf | All (5 pages) | After page 10 |
| main.pdf | 11-20 | 16-25 |
| appendix.pdf | 2-4 only | 26-28 |

### Output Configuration
- **Filename**: custom_merged.pdf
- **Page numbering**: Reset to 1 / Continue from original
- **Bookmarks**: Create from filenames / Preserve all

### Quality Settings
- Resolution: Original / Reduce to [X] DPI
- Compression: None / Low / Medium / High

Split Operations

Split by Range

## PDF Split Plan

### Source
- **File**: large_document.pdf
- **Total Pages**: 100

### Split Configuration
| Output File | Page Range | Pages |
|-------------|------------|-------|
| part1.pdf | 1-25 | 25 |
| part2.pdf | 26-50 | 25 |
| part3.pdf | 51-75 | 25 |
| part4.pdf | 76-100 | 25 |

### Naming Pattern
`[original_name]_part[N].pdf`

Split by Size

## Split by File Size

### Source
- **File**: huge_report.pdf
- **Total Pages**: 500
- **File Size**: 250 MB

### Target
- **Max file size**: 25 MB
- **Estimated splits**: ~10 files

### Output
| File | Pages | Actual Size |
|------|-------|-------------|
| report_001.pdf | 1-52 | 24.8 MB |
| report_002.pdf | 53-98 | 23.2 MB |
| ... | ... | ... |

Split by Bookmark

## Split by Bookmarks/Chapters

### Source Structure
- large_manual.pdf
  - Chapter 1: Introduction (p.1)
  - Chapter 2: Setup (p.15)
  - Chapter 3: Usage (p.45)
  - Chapter 4: Advanced (p.120)
  - Appendix (p.180)

### Split Output
| File | Chapter | Pages |
|------|---------|-------|
| ch1_introduction.pdf | Introduction | 1-14 |
| ch2_setup.pdf | Setup | 15-44 |
| ch3_usage.pdf | Usage | 45-119 |
| ch4_advanced.pdf | Advanced | 120-179 |
| appendix.pdf | Appendix | 180-end |

Extract Specific Pages

## Page Extraction

### Source
- **File**: contract.pdf (20 pages)

### Pages to Extract
- [x] Page 1 (Cover)
- [x] Pages 5-7 (Terms)
- [x] Page 15 (Signatures)
- [x] Page 20 (Appendix A)

### Output
- **File**: contract_key_pages.pdf
- **Pages**: 6 total (1, 5, 6, 7, 15, 20)

Page Operations

Reorder Pages

## Page Reorder Plan

### Current Order
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

### New Order
1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 8, 7, 9, 10

### Changes
- Page 3 ↔ Page 4 (swapped)
- Page 7 ↔ Page 8 (swapped)

Delete Pages

## Page Deletion

### Source
- document.pdf (25 pages)

### Pages to Remove
- Page 3 (blank page)
- Pages 12-14 (outdated section)
- Page 25 (draft watermark)

### Result
- New page count: 20
- Output: document_cleaned.pdf

Insert Pages

## Page Insertion

### Base Document
- main.pdf (10 pages)

### Insertions
| Insert | After Page | From |
|--------|------------|------|
| Cover page | 0 (beginning) | cover.pdf |
| Diagram | 5 | diagrams.pdf (page 2) |
| Appendix | 10 (end) | appendix.pdf |

### Result
- New page count: 14

Rotate Pages

## Page Rotation

### File: scanned_doc.pdf

### Rotations Needed
| Page(s) | Current | Rotation | New |
|---------|---------|----------|-----|
| 3 | Portrait | 90° CW | Landscape |
| 7-9 | Upside down | 180° | Correct |
| 15 | Landscape | 90° CCW | Portrait |

Batch Processing

Batch Merge

## Batch Merge Job

### Task: Merge PDFs by Project

### Folder Structure

/reports/

/project-a/

report1.pdf

report2.pdf

/project-b/

summary.pdf

details.pdf


### Output
| Merged File | Sources |
|-------------|---------|
| project-a_combined.pdf | report1.pdf, report2.pdf |
| project-b_combined.pdf | summary.pdf, details.pdf |

Batch Split

## Batch Split Job

### Input
- /monthly_reports/ (12 files, each ~50 pages)

### Operation
- Split each file into 5-page chunks

### Output
- /monthly_reports_split/
  - jan_001.pdf, jan_002.pdf, ...
  - feb_001.pdf, feb_002.pdf, ...
  - ...

Tool Recommendations

Free Tools

PDF24: Web and desktop, full featured
ILovePDF: Web-based, easy to use
PDFsam Basic: Desktop, open source
Preview (Mac): Built-in, drag and drop

Professional

Adobe Acrobat Pro: Industry standard
Foxit PDF Editor: Full featured
Nitro Pro: Good for business

Command Line

pdftk: Classic, powerful
qpdf: Fast, scriptable
pdfcpu: Modern Go-based tool

Limitations

Cannot perform actual file operations (provides guidance)
Password-protected PDFs need password first
Very large files may need chunked processing
Some PDFs with restrictions cannot be modified
Merging different page sizes may cause issues

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3k tokens

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take claude-office-skills/pdf merge & split from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

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