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mikef80629261
New Participant
April 11, 2017
Answered

How do I print Multiple PDF files all at once

  • April 11, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 129744 views

I have Acrobat DC (The Full version)  I am looking for a way to go to a network share and select multiple PDF files and print them all at the same time.  The issue I am having is it opens a new instance of Acrobat for each PDF it prints locking my machine up from use until the printing is done.  Is there a way around this with Acrobat DC?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    Conceivably, within Acrobat itself, you could either use an action or probably better, Javascript, to go through a directory (whether locally stored or on a network share), open each PDF file, invoke printing with predetermined print parameters, initiate printing, and close the PDF file moving on to the next PDF file in the directory.

    However, this is a serial operation in term of opening the PDF file and generating the print stream. Once the print stream is generated, control is returned to Acrobat, i.e., Acrobat is not waiting for physical completion of printing, just the spooling to complete. And while this is happening, you cannot use Acrobat for any other tasks.

    Actually in the scenario you describe, there really is only one instance of Acrobat, but it is serving multiple windows serially!

              - Dov

    3 replies

    paulw54740691
    paulw54740691
    Participating Frequently
    January 30, 2020

    To print multiple pdf files at once, checkout the steps mention below:

    1. Open Adobe Acrobat 9   
    2. Click open Advanced and then go to Document Processing
    3. Now open batch processing
    4. In the Batch Sequences window, select Print All and click Run Sequences button
    5. Next click OK in Run Sequences Confirmation
    6. Now go to the folder containing PDF files and select the files you want to print
    7. Then click on the Select button
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      nathanaelv89059165
      New Participant
      March 22, 2018

      I simply combine all PDFs into one and hit print once. It make take a few minutes if there are a lot of files or many pages but it works.

      Abambo
      Community Expert
      AbamboCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 23, 2018

      The easiest solution is to use a printer capable of printing PDF files on its own.

      The second easiest would be to to just drop the files to a print server and the print server does the hard work. I'm sure there are solutions on the market.

      The third easiest would be combining the PDFs in a portfolio.

      This thread is however nearly a year old, so I would not bother too much answering this.

      ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
      Dov Isaacs
      Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
      Legend
      April 13, 2017

      Conceivably, within Acrobat itself, you could either use an action or probably better, Javascript, to go through a directory (whether locally stored or on a network share), open each PDF file, invoke printing with predetermined print parameters, initiate printing, and close the PDF file moving on to the next PDF file in the directory.

      However, this is a serial operation in term of opening the PDF file and generating the print stream. Once the print stream is generated, control is returned to Acrobat, i.e., Acrobat is not waiting for physical completion of printing, just the spooling to complete. And while this is happening, you cannot use Acrobat for any other tasks.

      Actually in the scenario you describe, there really is only one instance of Acrobat, but it is serving multiple windows serially!

                - Dov

      - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      M
      mikef80629261Author
      New Participant
      April 17, 2017

      Thanks Dov,

      Yep, I understand the situation with printing multiple PDF's and it serving multiple windows, I guess I'm more looking to get some help on setting up the predetermined print parameters, and or Javascript, so that I can get to that point.  Everything I've found online goes about halfway there, but doesn't lay it out step by step.  Understand that every situation is different, but it would be nice to have Adobe create a tutorial that walks people through this type of thing.  It seems alot of people have been asking for it, but not quite getting to the finish line.  Or create canned scripts that someone can just plug in and manipulate to suite their environment (Apologies if these already exist, but I have yet to find them).

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