How to center align all pages in a multiple page document

[Sunny_artwork157F]

Hello,

I have used the PlaceMultipagePDF script to import a pdf into InDesign.

However, all the pdf pages have a bleed and trim marks included which means that when they have been imported in the actual content is off-center.

Is there a way to center-align to page ALL of the pdf pages in the document at once?

I have tried using the AligntoPage script but that still only seems to align one page at a time.

Many thanks in advance

Hanniel

[rob day]

The Place dialog's Show Import Options is sticky, so you could try manually placing a page with Show Import Options on, and the bleed included before running the script.

[rob day]

You could also edit the script, which is set to crop media. In the JavaScript version open the script in ExtendScript toolkit and look for line 102, and change it to

app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = PDFCrop.cropBleed;

In the AppleScript version look for

set PDF crop of PDF place preferences to crop media

and change it to

set PDF crop of PDF place preferences to crop bleed

[Sunny_artwork157F]

Hi Rob thanks for the quick reply.

I have think the editing the script may be the way forward as I couldn't get the show import options to work, but wanted to check with you first.

I edited and imported the updated script but got an error msg when I tried to run it!

Basically, the client wants an A5 document and the pdf content is set for A5 but they saved the A5 page along with the trim marks all within an A4 document.

Ideally I would like to run an align script that aligns every pdf page to dead center of the document pages or if there is a way to fix the above error that would be great also.

Hopefully the above makes sense.

Many Thanks

Hanniel

[rob day]

Sorry, I just tested the script and neither of my answers will work—the pages always get placed at the zero point. The script can be edited to change the place point to the bleed rather than 0,0.

I'll take a look and see if its an easy fix.

[Sunny_artwork157F]

Thanks! I just replied, wasn't sure if I was just doing something wrong (I don't use InDesign scripts that often!!). I sent some further detail including an example of the page I am trying to place.

[rob day]

Just to clarify the PDF pages you are placing are A4, and they are being placed on the smaller A5 document's pages?

I was assuming you were just trying to accommodate the incoming bleed, and we could just change the place point.

[rob day]

I think the simplest solution would be to move the page after it has been placed at (0,0). It would be possible to calculate the move amount by comparing to page dimensions with the placed PDF pages, but that would take some time.

So you could try adding this line after line 110 of the original script:

myPDFPage.parent.move( [-2.4409*.5, -3.4252*.5] );

This would only work if you are placing the larger A4 on to A5 pages.

This is the script I tested and it seems to work:

http://www.zenodesign.com/forum/PlaceMultipagePDFA4toA5.zip

[rob day]

Also make sure your rulers are set to inches

[Sunny_artwork157F]

Hi Rob, sorry for the delayed reply, I had to go off to a meeting and have literally on just been able to come back to this.

First of all, thanks for all your hard work, much appreciated!!

You are correct it is A4 pdf pages that I am trying to place in an A5 InDesign document.

I tried editing the scripts, but I was again getting run errors, so obviously I am doing something wrong as the script you sent ran fine, however the A4 pdf pages are still aligning to the top left hand corner of the A5 document.

Thinking it may be easier to center align each page by hand, it is only 160 pages so it could be worse. lol

[Colin Flashman · Accepted solution]

I would probably use a different script to place all PDFs in a page, namely: https://indesignsecrets.com/zanelli-releases-multipageimporter-for-importing-both-pdf-and-indd-files...

It has a really good user interface and will allow you to align to a point on the nine point proxy, etc.

[Sunny_artwork157F]

Thanks Colin, I knew there must be something out there, I just couldn't find it on searches!!

This worked perfectly and the user interface was exactly what I was hoping for!!

[kyonnaestes]

So I discovered a little cheat method with importing multiple pages to the center at the same time. I noticed that they always align to the upper left corner. What you want to do is create the page in InDesign to docuemnt size. So if your finished size is 8.5x11 with 0.125" of bleed all around, then you will want to create the page at 8.75x11.25 in InDesign. You can set bleeds if you want because this will not affect positioning. Once you place the multi-page PDF, go to your document settings/setup and change the page size down to 8.5x11. All pages will be centered. You're welcome 😉