How to Merge Your CIN Front and Back Into One PDF
Many portals want your national ID card as a single PDF with both sides, not two separate photos. Here's the fast way to do it.
A lot of Moroccan administrative and concours portals ask for your CIN (national ID card) as one file containing both the front and back, usually as a PDF — not as two separate image uploads. If you've only got two photos, one of each side, here's how to combine them properly.
Why portals want it this way
A single combined file is easier for reviewers to check at a glance, and it prevents the common mistake of forgetting to upload the second side. Portals that request this format will usually reject two separate image files even if both sides are individually clear and well-sized.
The steps
- Take (or find) clear photos of both sides. Flat on a table, good lighting, no glare from the card's laminated surface, no fingers covering corners or text.
- Crop each photo to just the card itself — not the desk or table it's sitting on. This keeps the file size down and looks more professional.
- Merge both images into a single PDF, front page first, back page second, using a merge-images-to-PDF tool.
- Check the resulting file size. A two-page PDF from two decent photos often lands in the 1–3 MB range before any extra compression — if the portal caps it lower (500 KB–1 MB is common), compress the merged PDF as a final step.
A shortcut worth knowing
If you don't need the two sides as truly separate pages and the portal accepts a single image, you can also lay both sides side-by-side or stacked in a single image and skip the PDF step entirely — but check the portal's instructions first, since most explicitly ask for a PDF with two pages, and submitting a single merged image when a two-page PDF was expected can also cause a rejection.
Common mistake to avoid
Sending the front and back as two attachments to the same upload field, hoping the portal treats them as one document. Most upload widgets only accept a single file per field — the second file either overwrites the first or gets silently dropped. Always merge into one file yourself before uploading, rather than relying on the portal to combine them.