Batch-printing many PDF-files

[ThomasBB83]

Hi,

In our workflow we have hundreds of PDf-files in many different subfolders we need to print on a monthly basis. We COULD print them manually... but that would be expensive, time-wise. So I figured I would make an action in Acrobat Pro X that would do the trick.

And it works... except for one thing - the "Add folders" adds ALL supported files in the sub-folders, which makes it a bit useless for our purposes. I can't see any way to sort by filetype or any way to tell it to only add specific extensions.

Is there any easy way to do this? I'm open to scripting - perhaps Illustrator might be better for this purpose?

BR

Thomas

[try67]

You're lucky you have Acrobat X and not XI, because in your version you can

limit the Action to process only PDF files.

I believe it's in the File Type Options or the Action (or something

similar). Make sure you untick everything in that list and it will only

process PDF files. This feature was removed in XI, sadly...

[ThomasBB83]

I can't find any where to select the filetypes:

I did read somewhere, that the ability to select filetypes was removed.. but I'm almost certain that it was removed in Acrobat X and not XI.

[try67]

No, it's still there in X. You need to select "A folder on my computer"

under "Start with", and then you'll have an Options window, I believe.

[ThomasBB83]

That's true actually. The only problem with this, is that I need to define a specific folder. The foldername will change each time we'll run the action, so I'm not sure this is the right way to go.

Also, using this way we won't have the chance to remove files we won't like to have printed.

Ideally, I would love a combination of the two:

1. A box that allows me to tell Acrobat to only select PDF-files

2. A popup that allows me to select the source-folder (along with the subfolders)

3. A list of the files in question, with the ability to move or remove files and a "Print"-button

[try67]

I don't think that what you want is possible. You can either select a

folder, and the file-types, or you need to select all the files you want to

process manually.

Also, this can't be done with a script because at the moment the script

executes a non-PDF file is already converted to PDF.

[ThomasBB83]

That's odd.. I honestly can't believe that I'm the only person in the world, that would like an easy way to batch-print PDF-files straight from Acrobat.

Guess I'll have a look at Illustrator and see what I can conjure up.

Thanks for the answers!

[hirerobert]

I do this daily...If you have Adobe 9 or older the process is alot eaiser for some reason Adobe made this feature more difficult, y? i don't know but here you go...

Acrobat X

Acrobat X replaces "Sequences" with "Actions", and unfortunately doesn't include a built-in "Print All" Action. So you will need to create one.

1. Choose File > Action Wizard > Create New Action

2. Fill in the "Create New Action" dialog box as shown below.

3. Click the Save button.

4. Give the Action a name, such as "Print" and click the Save button.

5. Now each time you want to batch print PDF files with Acrobat X, just File > Action Wizard > Print, and follow the on-screen prompts.

[ThomasBB83]

Hi hirerobert,

I already tried this (as seen above), but the problem with this approach is that it prints all compatible files in the selected folder (including jpg, tiff and more, as far as I remember).

We ended up using Fiery Command Workstation (via drag 'n' drop). It's not optimal, since it requires a fiery-compatible printer.

[try67]

In Acrobat X you can tell it to process only PDF files, but this feature

was removed in Acrobat XI, unfortunately.

[Bernd Alheit]

It may be possible with VBScript and Acrobat.

[jamesw98942494]

To sort the files for printing by file name, it is better to use Print Conductor which is a superb Batch Printing Software that lets you to carry out PDF Batch printing.

I have been using it for quite some time and let me tell you that it is the best Batch Printer available. It helps me save money time-wise as it is very easy and quick to use with very easy to make settings.

Also it will solve your problem as it sorts documents by type or  file name. You can preview them before printing, and/or print a subset of the documents in the list.

I would recommend Print Conductor to any one who wants a quick, reliable and easy solution to Batch Text Printing. Check out the Features of Print Conductor here -  http://www.print-conductor.com/how-it-works/

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[Guest]

Thanks james for recommending PrintConductor. I almost save an hour using this for my office Batch Printing PDF. It really is fast and the Drag and Drop feature is really the best. Earlier i used to manually open each PDF and send the print Command. I think it is the best printing management software available .

[Candygun]

Another good software product (that I use) for batch printing PDF files is SilentPrint. Find out more and download it from here... http://silentprint.com or from SilentPrint - Overview.

[Guest]

PrintConductor‌ is the best Bulk PDF Printing software currently. It lets you select the folder containing all the files and it will print all the files of a specific format or all the formats depending on your choice. Best choice for a  Bulk PDF Printing software.

[brianl36520294]

We had DC and DC pro on the same machine.

Users shared same machine so we only allowed access to Pro for single user.

This killed ability for batch printing.  Error message read .... "This file cannot be printed.  Please try opening the file with the correct application and printing from there."

We discovered it was trying to open Pro even though all default associations were for reader.

After playing with a few reg keys we found the keys that pointed to Pro and not to open when printing.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AcroExch.Document.DC\shell\Print\command &

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AcroExch.Document.DC\shell\Printto\command

The values should point to AcroRD32.exe IE Reader not AcrobatDC IE Pro.

The values for the default key should look something like this.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe\" /p /h \"%1\""

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe\" /t \"%1\" \"%2\" \"%3\" \"%4\""

[melinac25513786]

Or just get Bluebeam Revu, you'll get a lot more for the money (in terms of functions and speed) + Bluebeam studio (cloud service) and a better user interface (Adobe's new interface is horrific.