How to join 2 PDF files page by page?

Hello. I know how to do what you are trying to do as I wanted to do exactly the same thing for translation comparison purposes showing the source language on the left (odd numbered page) and the target language on the right (even numbered page) when viewing two pages side by side in the same PDF file. You need a version of Acrobat (or alternative PDF software) that allows for splitting a PDF into single pages (by page) and then merging those single page PDFs back into one file. The following method is relatively simple and quick to split both language files into their separate pages and then re-merge the individual page files back into one file so that they are aligned as just described above - but the setup of the respective filenames and the prefix/suffix of the split file names is important in terms of both numeric prefix and alphabetic suffix. Once the filename setup is done correctly, the software basically takes care of the rest for you automatically (larger files obviously take longer to split and merge). For good housekeeping I also recommend setting up a temporary "working" folder as the destination for the software to temporarily store the split files (just to keep those files separate from other folders). Once the split PDF files have been re-merged into a single "side by side" file in the desired order, you can delete all the individual split "working" files.

For my example the source language will be Japanese and the target language will be English. So when the final merged file is done and I am viewing two pages side by side the Japanese source text will be on the left (odd numbered pages) and the English translation will be on the right (even numbered pages).

1. Ensure the source file name "root" and the target file name "root" are the same - for example "Document" - and then add suffixes so that the source text file would be higher in alphabetical order than the target text - in my example I will use "JA" (i.e. Japanese) for the source text and "JE" (i.e. from Japanese to English) for the target text - therefore my source document will be "Document JA" and my target document will be "Document JE" and the "JA" file will come ahead of "JE" in alphabetical order

2. In Acrobat open the source PDF "Document JA" - go to "Tools" then "Organize pages" and click "Split" - select "split by page" and select "1" so each page is split separately - then click "Options" and select the temporary "working" folder (using "browse") where your split files will be temporarily located - also in the "add text" box put two zeros "00" and click the option that this is added "in front" of the file name of each split file - so once split the first page will show as "001_Document JA" and page 2 will be "002_Document JA" and so on - then click "ok" and before proceeding click "process multiple files" and select the target document "JE" file - so you should be prepped to process TWO files - the source and target together - then click "Split"

3. If you watch your "working" folder you will see each file appearing after being split - so it will first produce "001_Document JA" and "002_Document JA" ... and then it will process the second file ... "001_Document JE" and "002_Document JE" and so on

4. Once the split process has finished you should sort the files in your "working" folder in alphanumeric order so it should show from the top as "001_Document JA" then "001_Document JE" then "002_Document JA" then "002_Document JE" and so on (this assumes both documents have the same number of pages and the layout of the source document and translated text are similar)

5. Once the files are in the correct alphanumeric order in the "working" folder select them all and then right click or use Acrobat (or similar PDF software) to "merge/combine all files into one single PDF file" (important: do not merge as a collection or portfolio of individual PDFs) - they should all be merged into a single file so once done you can use the display feature of showing two pages side-by-side

6. Once the merge process has finished be sure to first SAVE the resultant file - check the side-by-side display to ensure you are seeing page 1 JA (left) next to page 1 JE (right) and then page 2 JA (left) beside page 2 JE (right) and so on (using my JA source / JE target example for simplicity)

7. If your merged file is good then you can delete all the split individual files from your temporary "working" folder - or just delete the folder completely (unless you want to repeat the process for new files) - just remember if you're going to use the same "working" folder again make sure it is completely empty before starting the "split" process again as otherwise you'll end up with lots of mixed files which will be in 001/002 order

It seems like a big job but the only thing you really need to be careful about in the preparation stage is that the respective source and target documents have a similar layout and the same number of pages, you carefully name them as explained above so both files are easy to recognize but also easy to distinguish in terms of the source / target language using the alphabetic order suffix (e.g. JA and JE) and then in the split options ensuring the resultant split files are automatically numbered 00# as the prefix for the final alphanumeric sort in the "working" folder before selecting all split files to be re-merged into one file.

After a few goes it becomes really easy and fast if you've done the correct filename and folder setup. Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers,

Graeme

Hey, it's an InDesign forum, after all... [EDIT: uups, seems it's not ]

I believe try67's script is awesome, however, here's zero budget solution, too.

Just a bit more manual work, as it happens.

Not a big deal, if this is something you need to do just occasionally.

1. Create new indd doc with non-facing pages and page size identical to your pdfs page size.

2. Place your original pdf. Better use Scott Zanelli's MultiPageImporter2.5.jsx script (can be found here) or anything similar to place multipage pdf into ID.

3. Save indd file, say, Original.indd.

4. Rinse and repeat steps above with your Translated pdf, save as Translation.indd. Both docs must have the same page size and equal page count!

5. Go to this thread, install script from the post 27 (the last one).

6. Run that InterleaveDocs script with both your docs (original and translated) open.

7. New merged document is created, both originals closed by script.

Not yet!

8. With your new merged doc open, go to Page Setup, change Start Page #: 2 and check Facing Pages ON.

9. Now you can export new pdf with Original and Translation side by side, just don't forget to enable Spreads on export...

That's it.

To always show both pages next to each other (regardless of the configuration of your Acrobat or Adobe Reader), you would need to use an "imposition" tool that would allow you to combine both source pages on one target page. If this is something you need to do on a regular basis, it may be worth investing in such a tool. The one that I've used for probably 15 years is Quite Imposing Plus (http://www.quite.com).

It can be done using a script, like this one I've developed: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Combine Even-Odd Pages

Yes, There's only one way you can do, is that split pages the translated file and the original file and give a appropriate (page number wise) file name and than do combine the both files of split pages accordingly (i.e., if the translated split file name is 1 than the original file name should be 1a or 1.1).

Thanks.

You can open both PDFs in Acrobat and go to Tools> Organize Pages, (if they open as tabs, you can drag one tab away from the other to view both PDFs at the same time), you can drag page one of the translated PDF to the page 2 position of the original PDF, and repeat for all of the other pages, save to a new name and then go to File> Properties> Initial view> Page Layout> Two-up facing, save. It's not automatic, but pretty straight forward.