Split and merge

Sometimes one scan holds two papers, or one paper ended up in three scans. Split cuts a document into parts; Merge with… joins documents into one. Both make new documents and work on your iPhone.

What it is

Split turns one document into two or more new documents. You choose where to cut.
Merge with… makes one new document from several, with every page in the order you pick.

Both are in the Edit menu of a document. Merging is also in the + sheet as Merge scans.

The pages keep their recognised text, signatures and notes. Your original stays in the vault unless you choose to remove it.

When to use it

You scanned a whole stack in one go and want each letter on its own.
A contract arrived in parts and you want it as one file.
You want to send only the pages that matter.
You want to move a page from one document to another: split it out, then merge it in.

Step by step

Split a document

Open the document and tap Edit → Split.
The pages are listed from top to bottom. Between each pair of pages there’s a Split here line.
Tap Split here where you want to cut. It changes to “Split after page 2” (for example). Tap it again to undo.
Add as many cuts as you need. The bottom of the screen sums up the result, for example “3 documents: pages 1–2, page 3, pages 4–6”.
To move the original to Recently deleted afterwards, turn on Remove original. Leave it off to keep it.
Tap Split into 3 (the number matches your parts).

Paperwise confirms with “Split into 3 documents”. The new documents are named after the original with “(1/3)”, “(2/3)” and so on, and are filed in the same folder.

Merge documents from a document

Open the first document and tap Edit → Merge with….
Merge scans opens with this document already picked as number 1.
Tap the other documents in the order you want them. Each one gets a number. Tap a document again to take it out.
Use the search field (“Search your scans”) to find a document quickly. Your picks are kept while you search.
To move the originals to Recently deleted afterwards, turn on Remove originals.
Tap Merge 3 scans (the number matches your picks). You see “Merged 3 documents”.

The new document is named after the first one, with “(merged)” at the end, and is filed in the first one’s folder. It opens straight away.

Merge from the + sheet

On the Vault, tap +.
Under Make from what you have, tap Merge scans.
Pick at least two documents, in order, then tap Merge 2 scans (or however many you picked).

Free and Pro

Split and merge are free.

Privacy

Split and merge run on your iPhone; no page is sent anywhere. New documents keep the protection of the ones they came from: if any source is an ID, a medical, bank or tax paper, the new document keeps that type and stays protected, and if any source is marked Never send to AI, the new document is too. Copies made this way are never named automatically by AI, even with Name and sort new scans on, because you didn’t add anything new.

Tips

Split needs at least 2 pages. A one-page document can’t be split.
To pull a single page out of a long document, put a cut before it and a cut after it. You’ll get three documents; merge the first and last back if you need to.
Remove original and Remove originals move documents to Recently deleted, where they stay for 30 days. You can restore them from there.

What if…

What if Split says it needs at least 2 pages?

The document has a single page, so there’s nothing to cut. To add pages first, use Edit → Add pages.

What if an imported PDF doesn’t appear in the Merge list?

Merge works with scanned documents. A file you imported from Files (PDF, image, Word, Excel or PowerPoint) is kept as a file. Open it and tap Make a scan, then merge the scan. See Merge scans and convert a file.

What if I removed the original by mistake?

Go to Vault → Recently deleted, tap the document and choose Restore.

What if the merge button stays greyed out?

You need at least two documents picked. The screen says “Choose at least 2 documents.” until you do.