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Jedit-inc
Participating Frequently
December 8, 2019
Answered

Export Multiple Page Ranges to seperate PDFs from 1 export

  • December 8, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 9213 views

Dear Community,

 

I have been using Indesign since CS2 and I have never came across this particular problem before. I am hoping someone here can help me. I have 7 seperate indesign documents each from a data merge. Each document has close to 300 pages. What I need is very simple but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to do it efficiently. I need to export multiple page ranges for each indesign document and have each range be a seperate pdf. Here's an example of what I mean.

 

Indesign Document:

1-2, 4-5, 7-16, 18-19, 21-30, 32-35, 37-38, 40-49, 51-52, 54-57, 59-74, 76-79, 81-82, 84-85, 87-92

 

I need a way to export so that basically the comma means *NEW PDF*. 

 

The only way I found so far to do this is to manually export the ranges 1 at a time which takes literally hours to go through each id file OR I found 1 plugin this morning that may do it called "extract Pages".

 

https://www.id-extras.com/products/extract-pages/

 

There's got to be an easier way right? I shouldn't have to spend $50 to do this seemingly insanely simple export. 

 

Any ideas guys?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Correct answer rob day

@rob day Thanks for the reply, I installed the script and ran it, it shows me all the settings to choose from that I need but when I want to generate the PDF it shows me this alert

 


The exportFile method needs a file path, which was not included in the code I pasted from jongware’s first post. Maybe this:

 

makeDialog();
var pp, pglist;

function makeDialog(){
    var theDialog = app.dialogs.add({name:"Choose a Preset", canCancel:true});
    with(theDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
        staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Export Preset:"});
        staticTexts.add({staticLabel:"Page Range:"});
        
    }
    with(theDialog.dialogColumns.add()){
        pp = dropdowns.add({stringList:app.pdfExportPresets.everyItem().name, selectedIndex:3, minWidth:80});
        pglist = textEditboxes.add({editContents:"", minWidth:350});
    }
    if(theDialog.show() == true){
        pp = app.pdfExportPresets.item(pp.selectedIndex);
        pglist = pglist.editContents.split(',');
        var path = app.activeDocument.fullName.path;
        for (i=0; i<pglist.length; i++){
            app.pdfExportPreferences.pageRange = pglist[i];
            app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.PDF_TYPE, File(path+'/pages_'+pglist[i]+'.pdf'), false, pp);
        }
        theDialog.destroy();
	}
}

3 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 9, 2019

Jongware said:

…I checked on my Windows machine and indeed it tries to store the files in the Scripts folder, which is inside a "protected folder" (a Microsoft "feature", so not a bug ...). …

 

Was this the Application folder of your Scripts panel?

Then I'd try to store the script in the User folder of the Scripts panel.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

W
waelfarouq
Participating Frequently
March 2, 2025

It's a bit late but here is an updated version that opens the pdf export window so you can adjust the settings for your export.


//DESCRIPTION:Export page ranges with single PDF Export Dialog
// Modified on 02-Mar-2025

pglist = prompt('Page list', '');
path = app.activeDocument.fullName.path;
pglist = pglist.split(/,\s*/);

// Ask the user to manually configure the export settings once
var pdfFile = new File(path + '/temp_export.pdf');
app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.PDF_TYPE, pdfFile, true); // Opens dialog once
pdfFile.remove(); // Delete temporary file

// Apply the same settings to the rest
for (i = 0; i < pglist.length; i++) {
app.pdfExportPreferences.pageRange = pglist[i];
var finalPdfFile = new File(path + '/pages_' + pglist[i] + '.pdf');
app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.PDF_TYPE, finalPdfFile, false); // Uses the same settings
}

A2D2
A2D2
Inspiring
April 29, 2025

Thank you for taking the time to revisit this Wael. I agree that a version that opens the export dialogue would be useful. However, I am afraid your script did not work for me with ID CS6 on a 700+ page doc which needed a PDF for each 20 pages. ID crashed and closed without giving an error. I tried this twice. First time: I tried to extract from page 40 onwards in batches of 20. Second time: I started my page list from 1 with no gaps in the sequence.

 

The script by @rob day worked for me very well. I pasted a list in the pop-up box "1-20, 21-40, 41-60..." and PDFs were exported to the working folder of the document. After each PDF is exported it is opened which means a lot of PDFs were opened!

 

Lastly, there is another thread in the community on this topic which has a Github sin-off:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/script-export-page-ranges-to-multiple-pdfs-fast-export-workflow/td-p/14849389

 

https://github.com/MoebiusSt/exportPageRangesToPDF.jsx

 

Jongware
Community Expert
JongwareCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 9, 2019

(Sorry, didn't mean to leave you hanging. I must be in a different time zone -- my original answer was done right before closing down for the night.)

I've found your bug -- and it's actually toted as a "feature". My Mac had no problems with the script but I get your error on my Windows 'chine as well. Apparently the default location to save in, if no path has been given, is the scripts folder. I didn't notice because my Mac automatically opened the files as they were created and I just glanced at them if the page ranges worked -- I *think* I assumed they were saved in 'the current folder', i.e., the one my test document was in. But InDesign did not do that. After a bit of lateral thinking I checked on my Windows machine and indeed it tries to store the files in the Scripts folder, which is inside a "protected folder" (a Microsoft "feature", so not a bug ...).

Fortuntately, the fix is easy -- just prepend the path of the current file. That leads us to this:

 

//DESCRIPTION:Export page ranges
// A Jongware Script 09-Dec-2019
pglist = prompt ('Page list', '');
exportPreset = '[High Quality Print]';
path = app.activeDocument.fullName.path;
pglist = pglist.split(/,\s*/);
for (i=0; i<pglist.length; i++)
{
	app.pdfExportPreferences.pageRange = pglist[i];
	app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.PDF_TYPE, File(path+'/pages_'+pglist[i]+'.pdf'), false, app.pdfExportPresets.item(exportPreset));
}

 

    Jedit-inc
    Jedit-incAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 9, 2019

    No worries at all. Thank you! This works perfectly! I really appreciate your help! 

    Jongware
    Community Expert
    JongwareCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 8, 2019

    It's quite contradictory to first say it will cost you hours of your time and then say you "should not have to spend $50" on a plug-in that will save you that much time ...

    But – fortunately your task is easy to script! This is all it takes -- copy your page range list and paste it into the prompt that appears, and you'll get your PDFs, named as "pages_1-2.pdf" etc.

    //DESCRIPTION:Export page ranges
// A Jongware Script 08-Dec-2019
pglist = prompt ('page list', '');
exportPreset = '[High Quality Print]';
pglist = pglist.split(',');
for (i=0; i<pglist.length; i++)
{
	app.pdfExportPreferences.pageRange = pglist[i];
	app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.PDF_TYPE, File('pages_'+pglist[i]+'.pdf'), false, app.pdfExportPresets.item(exportPreset));
}

     

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 8, 2019

      Agreed. I despise that attitude. $50 to save hours of work?

      Seems like a bargain to me.

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