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ThomasBB
Known Participant
November 20, 2012
Question

Combine PDF-files using Indesign?

  • November 20, 2012
  • 3 replies
  • 13798 views

Hi,

Is it possible to combine, lets say 15, PDF-files using Indesign and some scripting magic?

I know it's easily done in Acrobat Pro, but I'd like to skip that step and make it even easier for my colleagues.

Any hints, tips or links are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Thomas

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Colin Flashman
Community Expert
Colin FlashmanCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 14, 2018

I'm guessing your colleagues are working in InDesign and don't want to use Acrobat, hence the request for a solution in ID.

I'm also guessing that the PDFs are from various sources and not necessarily made on-site, hence the ID files may not be on site.

That said, Roland Dreger has a script called "make photobook" and part of that script is the ability to take in many PDFs, whether the PDFs are one page or many, worth a look: Fotobuch mit Adobe InDesign — Roland Dreger, Grafikdesign

If the answer wasn't in my post, perhaps it might be on my blog at colecandoo!
payalm68947498
payalm68947498
Inspiring
July 12, 2018

you are trying to combine 15 pdf files, so my question is you have that 15 indesign files

BarlaeDC
Community Expert
BarlaeDCCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 12, 2018

Hi,

You could even just use the menu item "Combine Files into single PDF", then just select all the files you want to combine, and one PDF would be created.

Or you could script Acrobat to do the work, you could probably add that to a folder action, copy all 15 PDFs to one location, and an automated script could combine them and create a single PDF.

If as mentioned above you have the 15 indd files, you could just create a book for those files and then export the book, could even be done through a script, but it would be a lot of work  to place 15 PDF files into an indd document and then export it.

Regards

Malcolm

Jongware
Community Expert
JongwareCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 20, 2012

All you have to do in Acrobat is drag one file after another onto the same window, correct? Then save?

You can combine PDF files with InDesign, but then you'd get an InDesign file, so you have to export as a new PDF again. Sure, a script can do that for you, but it still sounds like it would take more time, and *definitely* not as easy as the straightforward drag-drop-save steps in Acrobat Pro.

T
ThomasBBAuthor
Known Participant
November 20, 2012

That sounds about right yeah.

It's not that big of a deal, but if there was an existing script or something that could be easily modified to suit my needs, that would've been splendid


Thanks for answering.

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