A

Anonymous

Answered

How can I merge even and odd pages of a PDF?

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
May 9, 2011
5 replies
98573 views

I've got a document scanner that only scans one side

This is a problem when I have 2 sided documents

Let's say I have 20 pages - all double sided

I can scan all odd pages first in one go - I get one pdf generated pages 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19

Then I can scan all even pages 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20

Is there any quick way I can merge both pdfs to give me 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... 20?

Thanks a lot

Micro

Correct answer Bernd Alheit

i just think adobe are silly not to provide it as standard??

You can scan double sided pages with Adobe Acrobat.

P

Pixel34351217jbqw

Participant

Certainly! You can use a PDF merging tool to combine the two PDFs. There are online tools or software like Adobe Acrobat that allow you to merge PDFs easily. Just upload both files and create a single PDF with sequential pages. Hope that helps!

C

Chanel34737403osji

Participant

But how do I do it with seqential pages?

O

Orgest Demiri34350028akjd

Participant

I have a document scanner that scans only one side, causing an issue when dealing with double-sided documents. For instance, if I have 20 double-sided pages, I can scan the odd pages (1, 3, 5, ..., 19) and then the even pages (2, 4, 6, ..., 20). Is there a fast method to merge these two PDFs into a single document with sequential page numbers (1, 2, 3, ..., 20)? Appreciate your assistance!

F

Fedor Sadovnikov

Participant

Try this https://deftpdf.com/alternate-mix-pdf

J

jbaitis

Participating Frequently

Exit Acrobat, and put the following in a file in your Javascripts path somewhere, e.g. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Javascripts\CollatePages.js

// Complements: Planet PDF (http://www.planetpdf.com/)

// Modified by Jeff Baitis for Acrobat 9 compatibility

// Improved Collate function with status bar.

// Add a menu item to reverse all pages in the active document

app.addMenuItem({ cName: "Reverse", cParent: "Document", cExec: "trustedReversePages();", cEnable: "event.rc = (event.target != null);", nPos: 0 });

app.addMenuItem({ cName: "Collate", cParent: "Document", cExec: "trustedCollatePages();", cEnable: "event.rc = (event.target != null);", nPos: 0 });

trustedReversePages = app.trustedFunction(function()

{

app.beginPriv(); // Explicitly raise privileges

var t = app.thermometer;

t.duration = this.numPages;

t.begin();

for (i = this.numPages - 1; i >= 0; i--)

{

t.value = (i-this.numPages)*-1;

this.movePage(i);

t.text = 'Moving page ' + (i + 1);

}

t.end();

app.endPriv();

})

// Collating pages

/*

Title: Collate Document

Purpose: User is prompted to select document to insert/collate.

Author: Sean Stewart, ARTS PDF, www.artspdf.com

*/

trustedCollatePages = app.trustedFunction(function()

{

app.beginPriv(); // Explicitly raise privileges

// create an array to use as the rect parameter in the browse for field

var arRect = new Array();

arRect[0] = 0;

arRect[1] = 0;

arRect[2] = 0;

arRect[3] = 0;

// create a non-visible form field to use as a browse for field

var f = this.addField("txtFilename", "text", this.numPages - 1, arRect);

f.delay = true;

f.fileSelect = true;

f.delay = false;

// user prompted to select file to collate the open document with

app.alert("Select the PDF file to merge with")

// open the browse for dialog

f.browseForFileToSubmit();

var evenDocPath = f.value;

var q = this.numPages;

var t = app.thermometer;

t.duration = q;

t.begin();

// insert pages from selected document into open document

for (var i = 0; i < q; i++) {

var j = i*2;

this.insertPages(j, evenDocPath, i);

t.value = i;

t.text = 'Inserting page ' + (i+1);

}

t.end();

// remove unused field

this.removeField("txtFilename");

app.endPriv();

})

For those looking to apply this script in Adobe Acrobat X. Replace two instances of "Document" with "Edit". They are in the top lines that start with app.addMenuItem.

M

Miranda M

Participant

I have a similar problem, except I cannot scan my doc. I had to create it for book printing in MSWord with image/watermark. I am under deadline and working on less than ideal software. What I have is -- Odd and even pages = different image background w/text flowing over them.

It looks like my options are either pay $50 for the script --and although I agree with previous post that someone should be paid for their script, 50 bucks is a bit much, don't you think? My opinions aside, I can't afford it.

or Learn scripting. The instructions above kindly provided are gibberish to me. The software files on this pc are locked anyway.

or break up one of them and insert the 20 pages, one at a time.

Are these really all the options?

M.Maher

G

gkaiseril

Inspiring

Collating PDFs using JavaScript by Sean Stewart.

You will still need to run the script through the Acrobat JS console.

This assumes you have a full version of Acrobat and not just Reader.

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

In the scan dialog of Acrobat you can specify double sided scanning.

C

CKHarwood

Participant

This answer, as written, implies something that I presume the writer did not intend. A bit more detail might help, as well as an acknowledgement that this does not answer the original poster's question about how to interleave two existing PDFs:

Automatic document feeder (ADF) scan, short document

If your entire document fits into your document feeder, then you can scan the whole thing in two passes. Load the document in correct page order into your ADF with the face forward (either face-up or face-down depending on your scanner). In Acrobat, go to File > Create and create a new PDF from your ADF scanner. This will scan every odd-numbered page of your document. Check the page order afterward just in case the scanner shuffled a sheet or two out of order.

After scanning Acrobat will prompt you to complete the scan, to add pages, or to begin scanning the reverse sides. Before selecting an option on this prompt, reload the document into your ADF. Keep the pages in the correct order and load them into your ADF with the back forward (scanning the opposide side of the document). Load the whole document, even if the back page is blank, or else Acrobat will interleave the pages incorrectly. Select Scan reverse sides from the prompt window in Acrobat. You scanner will scan pages in reverse order (pg. 11, 9, 7, etc.) but will interleave these pages into your PDF correctly (from bottom to top). Acrobat will display your completed PDF.

Automatic document feeder (ADF) scan, long document

If your entire document does not fit into your document feeder then you have to scan it in chunks. You will scan all the front pages in multiple passes before scanning any of the back pages.

Load the first section of your document in correct page order into your ADF with the face forward (either face-up or face-down depending on your scanner). In Acrobat, go to File > Create and create a new PDF from your ADF scanner. This will scan every odd-numbered page of that section. Check the page order afterward just in case the scanner shuffled a sheet or two out of order. You do not need to keep track of which pages are in each section; just keep the document in order.

After scanning each section Acrobat will prompt you to complete the scan, to add pages, or to begin scanning the reverse sides. Before selecting an option on this prompt, load the next section of your document with the face forward. Select Scan more pages. The option will tell you what page of the document would come next. Continue scanning face-forward sections of your document unti, every sheet has gone through.

At this point your should have your entire document in correct order again, with the prompt window from Acrobat ready for a selection. Before making a selection, take a section of pages from the back of the document and load it into your ADF with the reverse-side forward (scanning the opposide side of the document). Load the last page of the document even if the back of that sheet is blank, or else Acrobat will interleave the pages incorrectly. Select Scan reverse sides from the prompt window in Acrobat. You scanner will scan pages in reverse order (pg. 11, 9, 7, etc.) but will interleave these pages into your PDF correctly (from bottom to top).

After scanning each section of reverse sides, Acrobat will prompt you t either complete the scan or continue scanning reverse sides. Before selecting an option on this prompt, load the next section of your document with the reverse-side forward. Continue loading sections from the back of the document forward, but with the pages of each section still in the correct order. (If the Scan reverse sides option says you are at the "reverse of page 42" then the last page of your section should be page 43, and so forth.) Select Scan reverse sides to continue. Acrobat will continue interleaving pages correctly.

Acrobat will not prompt you after the final section of reverse-page scans. It already knows how long the document is because it scanned the whole thing from font to back already, and it knows that each sheet only has two sides. It will take you directly to the PDF when the scans are complete.

Automatic document feeder (ADF) scan, exceptionally long document

It might be wise in some cases to break your document into large sections, scan each section front-to-back, and then merge the resulting files with one another in correct order. It may even be wise to store long documents in sections a separate files. This reduces the impact of a minor error during scanning.

B

Brad23081034vz7u

Participant

I would downvote this if possible. This is not an acceptable answer. Becasue Adobe software is so bad, the latest version of Acrobat produces the error message "Color mode not supported" when scanning from a 1-year old HP LaserJet.