How I Safely Merge and Split PDFs Without Sketchy Web Tools
A Simple, Safer Way to Merge and Split PDFs
Ever felt uneasy uploading important PDFs to random online tools? Same here. I didn’t want to risk sharing sensitive files with sketchy services, so I made a small script that handles merging and splitting—no data leaves your hands.
It runs on Google Colab. No installs. No surprises. Just your files, your control.
How it works:
You upload your PDFs directly into the Colab page.
To split: you pick a range of pages (like pages 2 to 5), and it gives you a new file with just those pages.
To merge: you pick which PDFs to combine, and it gives you one neatly merged file.
The final files are ready to download in a click—and nothing gets stored online permanently.
Colab does temporarily store uploaded files in its memory while the session is active, which is why the script includes a clean-up step (os.remove) to delete the files after you're done. For even more privacy, running the script locally on your machine is ideal—nothing leaves your computer at all.
Simple steps, clear instructions in the notebook, and no coding needed to use it.
Here’s the script if you want to try it: PDF Tool
Let me know if you run into any trouble—or if you’ve had your own PDF privacy worries.