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Andre286942332nk8
Participating Frequently
March 3, 2023
Question

Convert entire Excel workbook from Windows Explorer

  • March 3, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 12850 views

Hello,

I have Acrobat DC, Excel 365 and Windows 10 on my system.

Instead of opening multiple Excel files one by one to convert them to PDF files using the Acrobat DC add-in in Microsoft Excel 365, I select all of the files I wish to convert to PDF in Windows Explorer, right-click and select "Convert to Adobe PDF format" option. I have checked the "Convert entire Excel workbook" option in the Acrobat preferences because some of my Excel files have more than one worksheet, and I always wish to convert them all. This setup was working very well for me.

However, recently (I do not have a precise date, but I would estimate that the change happened during the last month), this procedure has stopped converting all of the worksheets in the Excel files with multiple worksheets; it only converts the first worksheet of every workbook.

I can still convert all of the worksheets if I open each Excel file individually, use the Acrobat DC add-in and manually select all of the worksheets, but it is very teadious.

Has something changed? Maybe Microsoft has updated Excel 365 and Acrobat has not accounted for this change yet? Is there a way make the system work like it did before?

Thank you for looking into this,

Andre

3 replies

L
Larcywo
New Participant
September 19, 2024

If you're looking to convert an entire Excel workbook straight from Windows Explorer, it's pretty straightforward. Right-click on the file, choose “Open with,” and then select Excel. Once it’s open, you can save it in any format you like by going to “File” and then “Save As.” From there, pick the format you want from the dropdown menu.
For a smoother experience, check out Excel Templates and Spreadsheets. They can be handy if you’re dealing with complex workbooks and want to streamline things. Overall, it's all about finding the best method with your workflow.

A
Andre286942332nk8Author
Participating Frequently
October 1, 2024

Hi Larcywo,

Thank you for showing interest in my issue. I am however trying to convert an entire Excel workbook directly in Windows Explorer using the "Convert to PDF" tool (option available with a right-click) instead of having to open the file in Excel and then performing the conversion. This allows quicker conversions when many Excel files are involved; I don't need to open then one by one.

I am now using Adobe Acrobat Pro version 2024.003.2112|64-bit, and the direct conversion of an Excel File (Excel version 2409, build 18025.20104 Click-to-run) from Windows Explorer (Windows 10, version 22H2, 19045.4894) still only converts the worksheet I was on when I last saved the Excel file instead of converting all the worksheets within a file.

I am often dissapointed because I am always hoping that new releases of Acrobat Pro will solve my problem, but to no avail...

A
Andre286942332nk8Author
Participating Frequently
March 9, 2023

Hello again,

After further testing, it appears that it is the latest update(s?) of Acrobat DC which cause(s) the Excel "Convert to PDF" to not covert all of the Excel worksheets within an Excel workbook to the PDF format. I tried the conversion using the right-click option in Wondows explorer with earlier version of Acrobt DC, and it worked as it did before, i.e. all of the worksheets were converted into 1 pdf file. I believe that something was tweeked in the latest Acrobat DC update(s?) which is causing the problem. I would appreciate if someone could confirm my findings and fix the Acrobat DC conversion tool.

Thank you,

Andre

    Abambo
    Abambo
    Adobe Expert
    March 5, 2023

    Combine does combine the different worksheets.

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    A
    Andre286942332nk8Author
    Participating Frequently
    March 6, 2023

    Thank you for your response Abambo,

    I am not sure I understand. I do wish to combine all the worksheets from one Excel workbook into 1 PDF file. Like I said, I can do this from the the Acorbat Add-in within Excel, but I wish to do this using the "Convert to Adobe PDF format" option in Windows Explorer like I could before.

    Is there a "Combine" settings that I do not know about that could help me with my problem? If yes, where can I find this setting?

    Thanks again,

    Andre

    ls_rbls
    ls_rbls
    Adobe Expert
    March 10, 2023

    ++Adding to the topic,

     

    Using the "Combine Files" tool and "Convert to PDF" plugin (that are run in Adobe Acrobat),  printing a document file to a PDF using the "Adobe PDF" virtual printing driver (from any OS application), or employing "Save As" directly from a Microsoft Office program , or using the PDFMaker COM Add-in with both, Microsoft Office or through the Microsoft Windows built-in File Explorer (formerly known as the Windows Explorer), may render entirely different results. However, all of the import/export methods may rely heavily on the Acrobat Distiller customization preferences.

     

    In which case, it is better if, before you export any Microsoft Office documents, to run the Microsoft Excel's built-in Accessibility Checker and let the wizard detect issues; it will offer the user with  options to fix the detected accessibility (or any other) issues. Once you apply the recommended fixes and save the file, you should customize a printing profile in the Acrobat Distiller program (Acrodist.exe) before you continue to experiment with any PDF conversion method(s).

     

    Customizing the Acrobat Distiller will allow you to embedd and subset font type foundries that could be missing, downsample, compress or retain image color profile settings from the original source document, reduce file size or optimize the PDF document, in addition to customizing the page dimensions to fit workbook spreadsheets in a desired page type.

     

    In Microsoft Windows, you may invoke the Acrobat Distiller by clicking on the Windows(logo on your keyboard) Start button, and type in the search bar "acrodist" =>> select "Adobe Acrobat Distiller" app from the context menu =>> "Open".

     

    See official Adobe Help Center guidance here: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/creating-pdfs-acrobat-distiller.html

     

    See also screenshots below:

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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