How to open several PDFs at once on Mac
One window, as many documents as you like. Each tab in Verso keeps its own place, zoom and undo history.
Working from more than one document at a time is normal: the contract and the schedule, the report and the data behind it, the form and the instructions for filling it. Tabs mean all of them live in one window rather than burying your desktop in copies of the same app.
Tabs and recent documents is free and always will be. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing is watermarked.
Opening several at once
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Select them together
In Finder, select as many PDFs as you like and drag the whole selection into the Verso window. Each one opens in its own tab, in the order you selected them.
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Or open them as you go
⌘+O and a drag-and-drop both add a tab rather than replacing what you already have open. -
Move between them
Click a tab, or use ⌘+⇧+] and ⌘+⇧+[ to step through them the way you would in any other tabbed Mac app.
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Close what you have finished with
⌘+W closes the current tab. Verso warns you first if it has unsaved changes.
What each tab remembers
| Kept per document | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The page you were on | Stepping away to check a second document never loses your place in the first. |
| The zoom level | A plan you are reading at 200% stays at 200% while a report next to it stays fit-to-width. |
| The undo history | Undo in one document never reaches into another. |
| The sidebar pane you had open | Thumbnails in one, the outline in another, search in a third. |
When tabs are the wrong answer
If the two documents are versions of the same thing and you want to know what changed, tabs make you do the comparing. Compare Versions does it for you: it lines the two up page by page and shows the differences in the text and visually. That is the right tool for the contract that came back with “a few small edits”.
The home screen shows the documents you opened recently, each with a preview of its first page. Recognising a document by sight is much faster than recognising it by a filename someone else chose.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open more than one PDF at a time on a Mac?
Yes. Verso opens as many as you like, each in a tab in one window. Drag a whole selection in from Finder and they all open at once.
Do tabs slow things down?
No. Pages render as you scroll rather than all at once, so a long document in a background tab is not doing work you cannot see.
Does each tab remember where I was?
Yes — its page, its zoom, its undo history and the sidebar pane you had open. Switching away and back changes nothing.
How do I put two documents side by side?
For reading, open two windows. For finding out what changed between two versions, use Compare Versions instead — it lines the pages up and shows the differences rather than leaving you to spot them.
What happens if I close a tab with unsaved changes?
Verso warns you before it closes and gives you the chance to save. It also will not quietly overwrite a file that changed on disk behind your back.