Action Wizard help

Question

I have multiple section PDFs (for example: Front 1, Front 2, Mid 1, Back 1, Back 2) that I’d like to automatically combine into a single, password‑protected PDF. I’m looking for a way to streamline this process and would appreciate any help or recommendations.

Ideally, the solution would allow me to:

Select a source folder containing multiple PDFs
Combine the PDFs into a single file (with the ability to adjust the sort order if needed)
Set the document view to:
- Page view only
- Two‑up (cover page)
- Magnification set to “Fit Page”
Apply a password to the final PDF
Minimise prompts, aside from optionally adjusting the PDF order before merging

The intention is to save the workflow so that I can reuse it per project, each time applying a project‑specific password.

If anyone has experience setting something like this up (for example via Acrobat actions, scripting, or another tool), I’d be grateful for your guidance.

PDF Automation Station · Answer

This can be done with a combination of the Action Wizard and scripting, or scripting only. The Action to combine the files would run on one PDF only (a one-page blank PDF) and insert all pages of all other files, then delete the first page as the last step. You would need to name the paths to all files you are inserting in a script. If you name the files strategically it would be easy to run a loop script. If not, you could create a simple .bat file or Powershell script in the folder containing PDFs to produce a text file with all the files named then read the text file in the action. Or you could run a separate action first on this folder that reads and stores the file names. Since this process only operates on one file you don’t really need an Action. You just need a script that you can run from a toolbar button. Since you need job-specific passwords you will have to create a Security Policy thenchange the password before running the process. If you are interested in hiring me to build this for you, reach out to me privately, or web-search my handle.

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