How to Merge Scanned Receipts Into One PDF for an Expense Claim
To send your receipts as one PDF, scan or photograph each receipt as its own PDF, rename the files so they sort by date, then drop them all into PDF Merge, check the order, click Merge PDFs and download merged.pdf. That single file is what you attach to your expense claim.
The merge itself takes under a minute. Most of the effort is in the preparation: getting clean scans, putting them in an order your finance team can check easily, and keeping the final file small enough to email or upload. This guide walks through each part.
Step 1: Get each receipt into a PDF
PDF Merge only accepts PDF files. Photos (JPG, PNG) and other formats are skipped when you add them, so each receipt needs to be a PDF first. Your phone can usually do this for you.
On an iPhone or iPad
Apple's Notes and Files apps both have a Scan Documents option. It uses the camera, finds the edges of the paper and lets you adjust the corners before you keep the scan. In Files, tap the More button, choose Scan Documents, capture the receipt, tap Done, then pick where to save it. Check that the saved file is a PDF before you move on.
On Android
The Google Drive app has a scanner: tap the camera icon, frame the receipt, then crop, rotate or switch to grayscale if needed. When you save, Drive lets you choose between .pdf and .jpg. Pick PDF.
With a flatbed scanner
Scan each receipt to PDF. The resolution setting (DPI, or dots per inch, which is how much detail the scanner captures) has a big effect on file size. Receipts are mostly small printed text, so you rarely need the highest setting. Try a lower one on a test receipt and zoom in: if the amounts and dates are still easy to read, use that setting for the rest.
A note on scanning one receipt per file
Phone scanners let you add several pages to one scan. That works, but keeping one receipt per file makes the next steps easier: you can rename each one by date, spot a missing receipt at a glance, and reorder them in PDF Merge. PDF Merge reorders whole files, not individual pages inside a file, so separate files give you more control.
Step 2: Name the files so they sort by date
Most expense policies and finance teams want receipts in date order, and it makes your claim much faster to check against the spreadsheet or form. Put the date at the start of each file name, written year-month-day so it sorts correctly:
2026-09-02-taxi-airport.pdf2026-09-02-hotel-deposit.pdf2026-09-03-lunch-client.pdf2026-09-04-train-return.pdf
Writing the date as year-month-day (2026-09-02) rather than day-month-year (02-09-2026) means your computer's file list sorts them in the right order automatically. Adding a short description after the date helps you match each file to a line on your claim form.
If two receipts are from the same day, number them: 2026-09-02-01-taxi.pdf, 2026-09-02-02-hotel.pdf.
Step 3: Merge them in PDF Merge
- Open PDF Merge. Drop your receipt PDFs onto the dashed box, or click it to open a file picker. You can select several files at once and add more later by clicking the box again.
- Check the list. Each file shows its name and size. Anything that isn't a PDF is skipped and won't appear.
- Put the files in date order with the ↑ and ↓ buttons. The file at the top becomes the first pages of the merged document. If you named your files by date, this should already be close.
- Remove anything you added by mistake with the ✕ button on its row.
- Click Merge PDFs. The button shows how many files will be joined and needs at least two.
- Click Download merged.pdf.
Then open merged.pdf and scroll through it. It takes a few seconds and catches a receipt in the wrong place or a blank page from a bad scan. If something's out of order, press Reset, add the files again, fix the order and merge once more. The download button always gives you the most recent merge.
Before you attach it, rename merged.pdf to something your finance team will recognize, such as expenses-2026-09-trip-lahore.pdf or whatever naming your company's policy asks for.
Your receipts stay on your device
The merge runs in your browser using the open-source pdf-lib library. Your PDFs are read from your own disk, combined in the page and handed back as a download; they aren't uploaded to our server. Receipts often show card digits, addresses and travel details, so that's one less copy of them stored somewhere else.
Step 4: Keep the file size down
Expense systems and email both have size limits, and a pile of high-resolution scans adds up fast. For reference, Google says the attachment limit for personal Gmail accounts is 25 MB, and Microsoft says the default limit for Exchange (business) email in Outlook is 10 MB, counting the message and attachments together. Your company's expense portal may have its own limit, so check it if the upload fails.
If the merged file is too big, the fix happens before merging, not after:
- Scan at a lower resolution. This is the biggest saving for flatbed scans. Re-scan the largest receipts (check the sizes shown in PDF Merge's list) at a lower setting.
- Use grayscale. Receipts rarely need color. Google Drive's scanner offers a grayscale option, and most flatbed scanners do too.
- Shrink receipt photos before converting them. If you photographed receipts rather than scanning them, trim the edges with Image Crop and reduce the file size with Image Compress, then turn them into PDFs. A max width of around 1200 to 1600 pixels is often plenty for a receipt to stay readable, but zoom in and check that the amounts are clear.
Keep your original scans in a folder until the claim is approved, in case you need to redo the merge or a receipt is queried.
When a merge doesn't work
- A file doesn't show in the list. It probably isn't a PDF. Convert it first.
- The merge doesn't finish. The most likely cause is a password-protected or encrypted PDF, which the tool can't open. This sometimes happens with e-receipts or invoices downloaded from an account. Open it in your PDF reader with the password, save an unprotected copy, and try again.
- You only need one page from a longer PDF. PDF Merge includes every page of every file and doesn't split or delete pages. Export just the page you need from your PDF reader first.
- Very large batches are slow. All the work happens in your browser tab, so very large files are limited by your device's memory. Merging smaller, compressed scans avoids this.
If your claim also needs a signature or a note
Some expense forms need to be signed or have a reference number written on them. Once you have your merged file, you can draw your signature onto it with PDF Sign, or type a date, a cost-center code or a claim number onto any page with Add Text to PDF. Do the merge first, then sign or annotate the final file, so you only do it once.
If your company's portal lets you upload several separate receipts and doesn't ask for one file, you don't need to merge at all. But when the instructions say "attach a single PDF", rename by date, merge, check, and send.
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