Batch Merging PDFs on a 1 to Many Basis
Let’s say you have a multitude of PDF files, all which need an additional single page PDF file (this can work for multiple page PDF files too) appended to the end of them. You could individually open each PDF file in Adobe Professional, choose Document, then Insert Pages and proceed to manually process each one. But let’s be honest, that’s just a ridiculous amount of time to invest in a process which should be able to be accomplished through automation. Luckily, if you have Adobe Professional, you can easily set up the appropriate routine yourself in about 10-15 minutes and then process as many files as necessary in a relatively short amount of time.
The steps below outline the entire process for you, based on Adobe Professional 8.
After opening Adobe Professional, start by going to:
Advanced -> Document Processing -> Batch Processing
In the pop-up that appears click New Sequence:
In the next popup, type your desired sequence name, and click “OK”. This can be any name you choose, however I prefer to use something that makes sense to me such as “CombinePDFs” or “Batch1toMany”.
After clicking “OK”, you will receive another window, here you will need to start by clicking the button labeled “Select Commands…”
After clicking Select Commands, you will be shown the Edit Sequence window.
In this window, on the left-hand side, scroll down until you find “Insert Pages”. Highlight Insert Pages, then click “Add >>” in the middle of the window, and it will appear in the right-hand column.
Now highlight Insert Pages in the right-hand column, then click the Edit button in the middle.
In the new window that appears, choose the file desired to be appended to the end of the document (this is your “1”).
In the next window, choose Location: After, and Page: Last. You could also opt to place it before the first, after the first, before the last, before or after any certain page number, etc… but for this example we are simply appending it to the end of the document.
After configuring the placement of the document to be inserted as you require, click ok.
Next you’ll need to configure your Source and Destination folders (or where the original files are currently located, and where you want the new files to be placed once merged). For standard choices, I typically like to create a main folder just for the project (something to the effect of ProjectName) and then create an “In” and “Out” folders inside of the main folder. Obviously then placing all of the original documents in the “In” folder and choosing to have the merged files placed in the “Out”. I then also place the file being appended to all of the original files in the main project folder itself. This way everything is in one standard location if I ever need to reference them in the future.
Once this step is completed, you can also configure additional options by clicking on the appropriate “Source File Options” and “Output Options” buttons. Source File Options allow you to choose which file types to run the batch process on (eg. you can select files other than PDFs to actually have converted to PDFs before appending the desired file); while Output File Options let you choose naming conventions and other PDF formatting choices.
Now that all of the routine is created, you can click OK to return to the main Batch Sequences screen.
So now anytime you want to run your newly created batch sequence, all you have to do is open Adobe Professional, navigate to Advanced -> Document Processing -> Batch Processing, highlight your new sequence then click Run Sequence. Within a matter of minutes (depending on how many files you are merging) you will have appended your additional page to all of your original PDFs.
