Desktop Apps, Media & Simulation

pdf-doctor Merge & Organise PDFs Right From Nautilus

Select multiple PDF files in GNOME Files, right-click, and choose Merge. Reorder documents and select page ranges in a local GTK4 app, or merge from the command line.

Get started View source

Project snapshot · measured 2026-10-26

Key facts

Commits 22Last commit 2026-10-06 Source receipt ↗ Commits · 7 days 0 Source receipt ↗ Tickets closed 0 / 2 Source receipt ↗ Studies 1 Source receipt ↗

12-week commit activity

2026-10-26

Aug 3

Aug 10

Aug 17

Aug 24

Aug 31

Sep 7

Sep 14

Sep 21

Sep 28

Oct 5

Oct 12

Oct 19

View 12-week data table

Week starting	Commits
2026-08-03	12
2026-08-10	0
2026-08-17	0
2026-08-24	1
2026-08-31	1
2026-09-07	1
2026-09-14	0
2026-09-21	0
2026-09-28	0
2026-10-05	1
2026-10-12	0
2026-10-19	0

Key Features

Reorder PDFs and choose page ranges before merging.
Also offers a command-line mode and reports when page-selection tools are missing.

Stack

Python, GTK4/PyGObject, Nautilus Python extension, Poppler, Ghostscript, qpdf, pdftk

Why PDF Doctor

Merge documents from the file manager

Combine selected PDF documents without uploading them to a cloud service or assembling a command by hand. PDF Doctor adds a Merge entry to GNOME Files and also runs as a standalone GTK4 app or command-line tool.

Interface preview

GNOME Files — PDF Doctor Right-Click Context Menu

Selected documents

Q3_Financial_Report.pdf and Appendix_Charts.pdf

Context menu

Open With Document Viewer → Merge... → Compress... → Move to Trash

Illustrative interface mockup; this is not a captured screenshot.

Features

Right-Click Nautilus Integration

Subclasses Nautilus MenuProvider to add a native "Merge..." entry whenever 2 or more PDFs are selected.

Blazing Fast Engines

Uses system pdfunite (Poppler) or Ghostscript for full-document merges, and qpdf or pdftk for custom page ranges.

Custom Page Ranges

Specify page numbers or sub-ranges for each input PDF (e.g., 1-3, 5, 8-10) before merging.

Modern GTK4 Interface

Built with GTK4 and PyGObject for a responsive, dark-mode-native Linux app aesthetic.

Powerful CLI

Run headless merges directly from bash scripts with pdfdoctor --merge file1.pdf file2.pdf -o merged.pdf.

100% Offline & Private

No external servers or cloud services. All processing takes place entirely on your local machine.

Quick Installation

Install the CLI binary, desktop shortcut and optional Nautilus Python extension from a repository checkout:

git clone https://codeberg.org/ubunatic/pdf-doctor
cd pdf-doctor
./scripts/install.sh

Requires poppler-utils or ghostscript for full documents, qpdf for page ranges and optional python3-nautilus.

Project details

Stack

Python, GTK4/PyGObject, Nautilus Python extension, Poppler, Ghostscript, qpdf, pdftk

Source

https://codeberg.org/ubunatic/pdf-doctor ↗

Architecture

Layer composition

Terminal: CLI
Desktop: Linux, GTK4, GNOME Files
Inference / AI: —
Containers / VM: —
Web: —

Engineering story

pdf-doctor: the story behind the project

PDF Doctor brings PDF merging into GNOME Files. A user selects documents, opens the context menu, and can reorder them or choose page ranges. The app calls PDF tools already installed on Linux rather than embedding an engine.

Read the engineering story

Measurement source · 2026-10-26

Verification receipts

Commits: 22 · Last commit 2026-10-06
git -C <repo> rev-list --count HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<ISO-week-Monday> --until=<ISO-week-Sunday> HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<measured-date-6-days>T00:00:00 --until=<measured-date>T23:59:59 HEAD; git -C <repo> log -1 --format=%cs HEAD; ls <repo>/issues | grep '^[0-9].*\.md$'; grep -l -E '^\*\*Status\*\*: *(Closed|Done|Resolved|Fixed|Complete)' <repo>/issues/*.md | wc -l; ls <repo>/docs/studies/*.md
repositories behind spec project ids in ~/projects; private-repo filter is a safety net and matches no spec project today; missing repos reported separately; seven calendar days ending on measured date in the measuring host's local timezone; commit counts include all authors and merge commits reachable from HEAD · measured 2026-10-26
Commits · 7 days: 0
git -C <repo> rev-list --count HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<ISO-week-Monday> --until=<ISO-week-Sunday> HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<measured-date-6-days>T00:00:00 --until=<measured-date>T23:59:59 HEAD; git -C <repo> log -1 --format=%cs HEAD; ls <repo>/issues | grep '^[0-9].*\.md$'; grep -l -E '^\*\*Status\*\*: *(Closed|Done|Resolved|Fixed|Complete)' <repo>/issues/*.md | wc -l; ls <repo>/docs/studies/*.md
repositories behind spec project ids in ~/projects; private-repo filter is a safety net and matches no spec project today; missing repos reported separately; seven calendar days ending on measured date in the measuring host's local timezone; commit counts include all authors and merge commits reachable from HEAD · measured 2026-10-26
Tickets closed: 0 / 2
git -C <repo> rev-list --count HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<ISO-week-Monday> --until=<ISO-week-Sunday> HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<measured-date-6-days>T00:00:00 --until=<measured-date>T23:59:59 HEAD; git -C <repo> log -1 --format=%cs HEAD; ls <repo>/issues | grep '^[0-9].*\.md$'; grep -l -E '^\*\*Status\*\*: *(Closed|Done|Resolved|Fixed|Complete)' <repo>/issues/*.md | wc -l; ls <repo>/docs/studies/*.md
repositories behind spec project ids in ~/projects; private-repo filter is a safety net and matches no spec project today; missing repos reported separately; seven calendar days ending on measured date in the measuring host's local timezone; commit counts include all authors and merge commits reachable from HEAD · measured 2026-10-26
Studies: 1
git -C <repo> rev-list --count HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<ISO-week-Monday> --until=<ISO-week-Sunday> HEAD; git -C <repo> rev-list --count --since=<measured-date-6-days>T00:00:00 --until=<measured-date>T23:59:59 HEAD; git -C <repo> log -1 --format=%cs HEAD; ls <repo>/issues | grep '^[0-9].*\.md$'; grep -l -E '^\*\*Status\*\*: *(Closed|Done|Resolved|Fixed|Complete)' <repo>/issues/*.md | wc -l; ls <repo>/docs/studies/*.md
repositories behind spec project ids in ~/projects; private-repo filter is a safety net and matches no spec project today; missing repos reported separately; seven calendar days ending on measured date in the measuring host's local timezone; commit counts include all authors and merge commits reachable from HEAD · measured 2026-10-26
12-week commit activity
git rev-list --count --since=<Monday> --until=<Sunday> HEAD
12 latest complete ISO weeks; weekly values are from spec/metrics.yaml.