Adding Repeated Comments to PDF using PDF Creator

[Guest]

I work for a municipality where i take pictures of vacant homes everyday. We have to lable the photos we take with case#, address, date, time initials, and type of stucture the building is. We take dozens of photos of each property and takeing the time to write this information out on the first page of the pdf and then copying it to the top of all the other pages takes time that seems to be a waste. I know it can take 30sec but those 30sec add up when you are inspecting and photographing dozens of properties and creating multiple cases. I didn't know if there was an easier way to do this where i would just have to lable the first page and it would automatically label all subsequent pages after. I have attached an examlpe from one of the cases I have done recently.

Any help would be great!

Thank you.

[Thom Parker]

Yes, there are a few ways to do this. Here are just a few suggestions

All involve scripting. 

1)  Use a script to copy the comment annotation you create on the first page to every page. This is pretty simple and can be implemented as an automation script, or just run from the console window. 

2)  Full automation, Use a script to collect all the info, put an annotation with the info on the first page and the copy it to all the other pages. 

3) Create a Page template with fields for all this information. There are a couple of ways a template like this could be used.

    a) merge your image PDF with the template PDF.  then with a push of a button the template would be overlaid onto all the images pages. Fill it out in one location and it copies to all locations. This could also be done automatically without the merging. 

    b) Use the template PDF to import the image files as well as add all the info. The efficiency of this depends on your exact process.

[Thom Parker]

Here's the simple solution.

1) select the comment with all the text

2) Run this script in the console window

var oProps = selectedAnnots[0].getProps();
for(var pg = 1;pg<this.numPages;pg++)
{
    oProps.page = pg;
    this.addAnnot(oProps);
}

You could also make a command or automation script with this code. 

You'll find a tutorial here on how to use the console window:

https://www.pdfscripting.com/public/Free_Videos.cfm#JSIntro