How do I extract pdfs from a portfolio in bulk without running into an issue with similar file names

Report · Jul 20, 2023

Hello,

Recently, I bulk converted several hundred emails from Outlook into a PDF portfolio. I now want to have each of the individual emails as a separate pdf file instead of all sharing the same portfolio.

When I try to extract from the portfolio and save to a folder I sometimes run into an issue where a popup tells me there is a file name already in use. There is no option to rename the file automatically, such as adding a (1), (2), etc to the end of the filename, I can only overwrite the file or cancel the extraction. This happens most often if there are several replies or forwards using the same email subject. However, sometimes Adobe will successfully extract and automatically rename the files, adding a (1), (2), etc to the end of the filename, without issue.

Please help me identify what is causing this intermittent error and how to resolve it.

Thank you.

Report · Jul 31, 2023

Hi TorranceCA,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the delay in response.

As mentioned above, the filename is updated automatically when extracting from the portfolio. However, sometimes it does not happen. Is that correct?

If yes, would you mind sharing the screen recording of both workflows to better understand the issue?

Does this start recently, or it happens intermittently?

Share the Acrobat and OS versions. We will try to replicate the behavior on our end.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Report · Jul 31, 2023

Thank you for the response,

Unfortunately I am unable to provide you with a screen recording due to the nature of my work. However, this is an issue both my colleagues and myself have experienced intermittently for some time. We are all using Windows 10 Pro, build 10.0.19045 and Adobe Acrobat Pro version 2023.003.20244

Report · Aug 04, 2023

I've attached a screen capture of the issue. Hopefully it can help with troubleshooting, or at least help clarify the issue. This is a portfolio of about 80 pdfs that I want to extract into individual pdf files. It works fine for the first few files, then I receive the error about a file name already existing for “Re: Subject D”.

However, before reaching that point it successfully extracted the multiple “Re: Subject C” files which had identical names, one of which was even had an identical sender, and automatically appended the name with a (1) , (2) , (3) , etc…

Please help me figure out why this is happening and how to resolve the issue. Alternatively, if there is a way to mass convert hundreds (sometimes thousands) of outlook emails into individual pdfs without the intermediate step of converting them as a portfolio and then extracting from that portfolio I would greatly appreciate that information.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Report · Aug 09, 2023

As another update, I found this discussion which seems to have an identical issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/when-i-extract-pdfs-from-a-portfolio-in-bulk-not-...

Unfortunately their solution did not work for me.