Introduction

When building an online course, teachers often work extensively with PDF files, such as:

• Merging multiple lesson files into one document
• Splitting worksheets or exercises from a large file
• Compressing PDFs to ensure fast uploads and smaller file sizes

If done manually using professional software, this process can be:

• Costly
• Complicated
• Unnecessary for basic teaching needs

The good news is that there are now many free tools that allow you to merge, split, and compress PDFs in just a few minutes, making them ideal for teachers and course creators on Ourdemy.

1. When Do Teachers Need to Merge, Split, or Compress PDFs?

Before introducing the tools, let’s take a quick look at some real-life teaching scenarios 👇

🔹 When to merge PDFs:

• You have multiple small lesson PDFs and want to combine them into one file
• You want to merge textbooks, worksheets, and reading materials
• You want to create one complete document for an entire module

👉 Ideal for uploading as one lesson resource on Ourdemy.

🔹 When to split PDFs:

• The lesson file is too long
• You want to separate each lesson into individual files
• You want to extract only the exercise pages for students

👉 This helps learners study step by step, without feeling overwhelmed.

🔹 When to compress PDFs:

• The file size is too large
• Uploading takes too long
• Students take a long time to download the file

👉 This is especially important when uploading materials to an online learning platform like Ourdemy.

2. Recommended Free Tools for Merging, Splitting, and Compressing PDFs

Below are some of the most popular, easy-to-use tools that are well suited for teachers:

👉 The next section will provide detailed instructions on how to use each tool in the context of creating online course materials.

3. Detailed Guide to Using PDF Tools for Teachers

3.1. iLovePDF – The “Go-To” PDF Tool for Teachers

iLovePDF is one of the most widely used PDF tools today, especially popular among teachers and online course creators thanks to its ease of use, multilingual support, and no installation required.

🔹 Most commonly used features for teachers:

• Merge PDF Combine lesson files, worksheets, and reading materials into one single PDF
• Split PDF Split a large file into smaller ones by:
  • Individual pages
  • Page ranges (e.g. pages 1–5, 6–10)
• Compress PDF Reduce file size to:
  • Speed up uploads
  • Make downloads easier for students

🔹 How to use iLovePDF for lesson materials (step by step)

Example: Merging multiple lessons into one PDF to upload to Ourdemy

1. Open iLovePDF → select Merge PDF
2. Upload all lesson PDF files
3. Drag and drop to arrange them in the correct lesson order
4. Click Merge PDF
5. Download the completed file

👉 This file is ideal for:

• Uploading as a single summary lesson
• Providing module-based study materials on Ourdemy

🔹 When should you use iLovePDF?

• You are a beginner teacher with limited technical skills
• You need to process files quickly before uploading
• You prefer a simple interface with minimal steps

3.2. Smallpdf – Minimalist and Ideal for Quick PDF Tasks

Smallpdf offers similar features to iLovePDF but focuses on a clean, minimalist user experience, making it suitable when you only need to handle one or two files quickly.

🔹 Key features for teachers:

• PDF compression (especially effective for large files)
• Page-based PDF splitting
• Merging a small number of PDFs

🔹 How to use Smallpdf to compress lesson materials

1. Select Compress PDF
2. Upload the lesson file
3. Choose a compression level (Basic is usually sufficient)
4. Download the compressed PDF

👉 Very useful when:

• Slides contain many images
• PDFs exported from PowerPoint are too large
• Uploading to Ourdemy is slow

🔹 Notes when using Smallpdf

• The free version has daily usage limits
• Best used for short documents or quick edits

3.3. PDF24 Tools – Completely Free with No Limits

PDF24 is an excellent PDF toolkit for teachers who teach long-term, because it is:

• Free to use
• No watermark
• No account required

🔹 Notable features:

• Merge PDFs
• Split PDFs
• Compress PDFs
• Reorder pages
• Rotate or delete unnecessary pages

🔹 How to use PDF24 to divide materials by lesson

Example: Splitting one textbook file into multiple lesson files

1. Select Split PDF
2. Upload the textbook file
3. Choose splitting options:
   • Single pages
   • Page ranges
4. Download each lesson file

👉 Ideal for:

• Breaking content into smaller sections
• Uploading each lesson separately on Ourdemy
• Helping students learn step by step without overload

🔹 When should you prioritize PDF24?

• You teach multiple courses
• You frequently work with PDF files
• You want a long-term solution without worrying about limits

3.4. Canva – Editing and Redesigning PDFs for Better Learning Materials

Canva is not a pure PDF tool, but it is extremely powerful for editing and visually enhancing learning materials.

🔹 How Canva supports teachers:

• Upload PDFs and edit page by page
• Add icons and illustrations
• Make worksheets and handouts clearer and more engaging
• Export clean, well-designed PDFs

🔹 How to use Canva for lesson materials

1. Upload your PDF to Canva
2. Adjust the layout if needed
3. Add icons and illustrations
4. Export the updated PDF

👉 Best suited for:

• Reading materials
• Worksheets
• Text-based lessons on Ourdemy

Conclusion

You do not need expensive software to handle PDFs when teaching online.

With free tools such as iLovePDF, Smallpdf, PDF24, and Canva, teachers can easily:

• Manage lesson materials efficiently
• Standardize course content
• Optimize the learning experience for students on Ourdemy