Renaming multiple pdfs by using text from within the document

[tejk35431607]

Morning all,

Apologies if this questions been asked before but I've only just recently begun using Acrobat DC.

I wanted to know if there was anyway i could rename hundreds of documents by using text from within the file? Currently I have to click open the file, read the name of the file and then rename the document. Not only is this mind-numbing but is also open to human error so wanted to see if anyone had a better solution for this?

Your help would be much appreciated.

Regards

Tej

[try67 · Accepted solution]

First of all, I moved your question from the Reader forum to one of the Acrobat forums, where it belongs.

The answer is yes, if you have Acrobat Pro, but you can't actually rename the files, you can save a new copy under the new name.

[arturo_zindel]

Hi-

Thank you for your response as I'm wondering the same thing. Could you explain step by step how one would go about doing this in an automated way? Saving a new copy would work perfectly for my use-case.

Thank you.

[try67]

The first question is where is the new name coming from. Is it the value of a text field, for example? Some static text on the page? Something else? Also, if you want to run it on multiple files you will need Acrobat Pro. Do you have that version?

[arturo_zindel]

Thanks - to expand:

I have a PDF form with 8 fields:

<title>

<first name>

<surname>

<Address 1>

<Address 2>

<Address 3>

<Address 4>

<customer number>

I also have a spreadsheet with those 8 fields filled in for several hundred customers. e.g.:

<title>     <first name>     <surname>     <address1>    <address2>     <address3>     <address4>    <customer number>

Mr.           John                 Smith              1 Home Ln     New York         NY                    USA               0000012345

Mrs.         Jane                 Doe                 2 Street          Boston             MA                   USA               0000098765    

...etc.

What I want to do is the following:

1) Create a PDF consisting of the form with the fields filled in from the spreadsheet: So there should be 1 PDF per customer in the spreadsheet.

2) Name each of the spreadsheets as per the customer number - so for instance, the PDF containing the form filled in with Mr. Smith's information would be called 0000012345.pdf - so in response to your first question, the name of the form should be the field called <customer number> for each form.

As per your second question - yes, I've got Acrobat Pro DC.

Thank you for the help!

[try67]

OK, this is a bit more complicated than what I had originally thought. This process is called a Mail Merge. There's a built-in command in some versions of the Adobe PDFMaker plugin for Office that lets you do it, but it doesn't let you specify the file names using the dynamic data, as far as I recall. So you can either first do the merge and then use a separate Action to rename the files (I can explain how to do the latter, if you wish), or you can do it all in a single go using a script, like this (paid-for) tool I've developed that has exactly these functions: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Mail Merge and Email PDF Files

[arturo_zindel]

Thanks try67  - that makes sense. I'll have a look at your tool and very well might purchase it to help me with this. I'll get back to you shortly.