How to merge documents in a book into one?

[dublove]

I generally only use the books feature initially, and when I feel like the client is basically sure of the content, I merge all the documents into one, which I think is safer.　

How do you merge documents in books? Would moving pages be too inefficient?

Another question: I've never understood what “Automatic Document Conversion” does.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

The only "easy" way to combine pages from a multiple INDD documents in to one - would be to move pages.

Or could also edit IDML file 😉

[dublove]

Another question: I've never understood what “Automatic Document Conversion” does.

[Willi Adelberger · Accepted solution]

With a new question open a new thread. 

When you open an INDB with documents saved in a previous program version you can turn on automatic conversion to get them to the present version. You need only do a task like update all numbers of all selected documents or all, if no document is selected and InDesign converts all documents. 

[dublove]

These documents that I'm going to merge, they were originally supposed to be typeset into one complete indd file.
It's only because the client's initial information was so disorganized that I arranged them into single files by chapter and managed them using the book function.

Just using the book function to organize the messy information

[Willi Adelberger]

But if this is done, it could cause damage when different baseline grids are defined or styles with the same name but different definitions are used or the same with parent/master pages. 
therefore I would not merge documents as no advantage is given. 

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Hi @dublove here is a quick attempt to combine all book documents into one. It can be a complex task depending on the specifics and complications involved, but this script takes a simple approach. Use with care.

- Mark

/**
 * @file Quick Combine Book Documents.js
 *
 * Combines a book into one document by simply (naively!)
 * duplicating the pages to the end of the first document.
 *
 * See "PARTIAL LIST OF ISSUES" under documentation for
 * `duplicateSpreads` function below.
 *
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-04-27
 * @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/how-to-merge-documents-in-a-book-into-one/m-p/15290043
 */
function main() {

    if (0 === app.books.length)
        return alert('Please open a book and try again.');

    var settings = {
        closeBookAfterCombining: false,
        closeBookDocumentsAfterCombining: true,
        combineSpreadsAtJoins: true,
        removeSections: true,
        revealCombinedDocument: false,
        saveCombinedDocument: false,
        showUI: true,
        target: app.books[0],
    };

    if (
        settings.showUI
        // show ui
        && 2 === ui(settings)
    )
        // user cancelled ui
        return;

    if (!settings.target.hasOwnProperty('bookContents'))
        return alert('Target must be an Indesign Book.');

    // the docs to combine
    var docs = [],
        book = settings.target,
        bookContents = book.bookContents.everyItem().getElements();

    // open all the book's documents
    for (var i = 0; i < bookContents.length; i++)
        docs[i] = app.open(bookContents[i].fullName);

    // open the combining document as a copy
    var combinedDoc = app.open(bookContents[0].fullName, true, OpenOptions.OPEN_COPY);

    if (!settings.combinedName)
        combinedDoc.name = book.name.replace(/\.[^\.]+$/, ' combined');

    // duplicate the spreads into the combined document
    for (var i = 1; i < docs.length; i++)
        duplicateSpreads(docs[i], combinedDoc);

    if (settings.removeSections)
        // remove all sections except first
        while (combinedDoc.sections.length > 1)
            combinedDoc.sections.lastItem().remove();

    // join adjacent single-page facing-pages spreads
    if (
        settings.combineSpreadsAtJoins
        && combinedDoc.documentPreferences.facingPages
    )
        combineAdjacentSinglePageSpreads(combinedDoc, false);

    if (settings.closeBookDocumentsAfterCombining) {
        // close all except the combined document
        for (var i = docs.length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
            docs[i].close(SaveOptions.NO);
    }

    if (settings.saveCombinedDocument) {

        // save the combined document
        var path = String(book.fullName).replace(/\.[^\.]+$/, ' combined'),
            n = 0;

        // add a number to avoid overwriting
        while (File(path + (n ? ' ' + n : '') + '.indd').exists) n++;

        var f = File(path + (n ? ' ' + n : '') + '.indd');

        // save it
        combinedDoc.save(f);

        if (settings.revealCombinedDocument)
            f.parent.execute();

    }

    if (settings.closeBookAfterCombining)
        // close the book
        book.close(SaveOptions.NO);

};
app.doScript(main, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, 'Combine Book Documents');

/**
 * Returns an item from `things` that has a label stored under `key`.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-04-26
 * @param {Array<*>} things - the things to search.
 * @param {String} key - the label key.
 * @param {String} value - the value to match.
 */
function getThingWithLabel(things, key, value) {

    for (var i = 0, label; i < things.length; i++) {

        if ('function' !== typeof things[i].extractLabel)
            continue;

        label = things[i].extractLabel(key);

        if (label && label == value)
            return things[i];

    }

};

/**
 * Naive attempt to duplicate all spreads of `fromDoc` to the end of `toDoc`.
 *
 * PARTIAL LIST OF ISSUES:
 *   - will duplicate *spreads*, not pages, so further work will need
 *     to be done if you want to combine, for example, two consecutive
 *     single-page facing-pages spreads.
 *   - duplicating spreads causes text threads between spreads to be broken and
 *     this function attempts to re-thread them (using labels planted in the source
 *     doc) but I have no idea how this interacts with complex pages.
 *   - makes no attempt at rationalizing section numbering.
 *   - makes no attempt at synchronizing styles or parent pages.
 *
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-04-26
 * @param {Document} fromDoc - the document to duplicate spreads from.
 * @param {Document} toDoc - the document to duplicate spreads to.
 * @returns {Array<Spreads>}
 */
function duplicateSpreads(fromDoc, toDoc) {

    var id,
        frame,
        spread,
        dupSpread,
        dupSpreads,
        nextTextFrame,
        nextTextFrameID;

    // mark the threading that crosses spreads so we can fix broken threading later
    for (var j = 0; j < fromDoc.spreads.length; j++) {

        spread = fromDoc.spreads[j];

        for (var k = 0; k < spread.textFrames.length; k++) {

            frame = spread.textFrames[k];
            id = String(frame.id);
            frame.insertLabel('id', id);

            if (
                frame.previousTextFrame
                && frame.previousTextFrame.parentPage !== frame.parentPage
                && frame.previousTextFrame.parentPage.parent !== frame.parentPage.parent
            )
                frame.previousTextFrame.insertLabel('nextTextFrame', id)

        }

    }

    // duplicate to the end of the first document
    fromDoc.spreads.everyItem().duplicate(LocationOptions.AT_END, toDoc);

    // explicitly get new references for the duplicated spreads
    // because of a bug(?) in the returned value of the duplicate method
    dupSpreads = toDoc.spreads.itemByRange(toDoc.spreads.item(toDoc.spreads.length - fromDoc.spreads.length), toDoc.spreads.lastItem()).getElements();

    // re-instate the threading that was broken by the duplicating
    for (var j = 0; j < dupSpreads.length; j++) {

        dupSpread = dupSpreads[j];

        for (var k = 0; k < dupSpread.textFrames.length; k++) {

            frame = dupSpread.textFrames[k];
            id = frame.extractLabel('id');
            nextTextFrameID = frame.extractLabel('nextTextFrame');

            // find the next text frame
            for (var i = dupSpreads.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {

                nextTextFrame = getThingWithLabel(dupSpreads[i].textFrames, 'id', nextTextFrameID);

                if (nextTextFrame)
                    frame.nextTextFrame = nextTextFrame;

            }

        }

    }

    return dupSpreads;

};


/**
 * UI for Quick Combine Book Documents.
 * @author m1b
 * @version 2025-03-27
 * @param {Object} settings
 * @param {Array<String>} settings.before - the before array of strings.
 * @param {Array<String>} [settings.description] - a short description of what's going to happen (default: none).
 * @returns {1|2} - ScriptUI result code (1 = good, 2 = user cancelled).
 */
function ui(settings) {

    var w = new Window("dialog", 'Combine Book Documents'),
        group = w.add("group {orientation:'column', alignment:['fill','top'], margins:[20,20,20,20] }"),
        label = group.add('statictext {text:"Combine documents from", preferredSize:[300,-1], alignment:["left","top"], justify:["left","top"]}'),
        booksMenu = group.add("Dropdownlist {preferredSize:[300,-1], alignment:['left','center']}"),

        checkboxes1 = w.add("panel {orientation:'column', margins:[20,10,20,10], alignment:['fill','fill'], alignChildren:['left', 'top'] }"),
        removeSectionsCheckbox = checkboxes1.add("CheckBox { text:'Remove Sections' }"),
        combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox = checkboxes1.add("CheckBox { text:'Combine Spreads At Joins' }"),

        checkboxes2 = w.add("panel {orientation:'column', margins:[20,10,20,10], alignment:['fill','fill'], alignChildren:['left', 'top'] }"),
        closeBookAfterCombiningCheckbox = checkboxes2.add("CheckBox { text:'Close Book After Combining' }"),
        closeBookDocumentsAfterCombiningCheckbox = checkboxes2.add("CheckBox { text:'Close Book Documents After Combining' }"),

        checkboxes3 = w.add("panel {orientation:'column', margins:[20,10,20,10], alignment:['fill','fill'], alignChildren:['left', 'top'] }"),
        saveCombinedDocumentCheckbox = checkboxes3.add("CheckBox { text:'Save Combined Document' }"),
        revealCombinedDocumentCheckbox = checkboxes3.add("CheckBox { text:'Reveal Saved Document' }"),

        bottomUI = w.add("group {orientation:'row', alignment:['fill','top'], margins:[0,20,0,0] }"),
        buttons = bottomUI.add("group {orientation:'row', alignment:['right','top'], alignChildren:'right' }"),
        cancelButton = buttons.add('button', undefined, 'Cancel', { name: 'cancel' }),
        okButton = buttons.add('button', undefined, 'Combine', { name: 'ok' });

    // populate books menu
    for (var i = 0; i < app.books.length; i++)
        booksMenu.add('item', app.books[i].name);

    // update UI
    removeSectionsCheckbox.value = settings.removeSections;
    combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox.value = settings.combineSpreadsAtJoins;
    combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox.enabled = !settings.removeSections;
    closeBookAfterCombiningCheckbox.value = settings.closeBookAfterCombining;
    closeBookDocumentsAfterCombiningCheckbox.value = settings.closeBookDocumentsAfterCombining;
    saveCombinedDocumentCheckbox.value = settings.saveCombinedDocument;
    revealCombinedDocumentCheckbox.value = settings.revealCombinedDocument;
    revealCombinedDocumentCheckbox.enabled = settings.saveCombinedDocument;
    booksMenu.selection = 0;
    updateLabel();

    // event handling
    booksMenu.onChange = updateLabel;

    // enforces a hierarchy between save and reveal
    saveCombinedDocumentCheckbox.onClick = function () {
        revealCombinedDocumentCheckbox.enabled = this.value;
    };

    // enforces a hierarchy between remove sections and combine spreads at joins
    removeSectionsCheckbox.onClick = function () {
        combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox.enabled = !this.value;
        if (!this.value)
            combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox.value = true;
    };

    okButton.onClick = function () {

        // update settings
        settings.combineSpreadsAtJoins = combineSpreadsAtJoinsCheckbox.value;
        settings.removeSections = removeSectionsCheckbox.value;
        settings.closeBookAfterCombining = closeBookAfterCombiningCheckbox.value;
        settings.closeBookDocumentsAfterCombining = closeBookDocumentsAfterCombiningCheckbox.value;
        settings.saveCombinedDocument = saveCombinedDocumentCheckbox.value;
        settings.revealCombinedDocument = revealCombinedDocumentCheckbox.value;
        settings.target = app.books[booksMenu.selection.index];

        w.close(1);

    };

    w.center();
    return w.show();

    /** update the number of documents shown in the UI */
    function updateLabel() {
        label.text = 'Combine # documents from'
            .replace('#', app.books[booksMenu.selection.index].bookContents.length);
    };

};

/**
 * Combined adjacent single-page spreads into two-page spreads.
 * @param {Document} doc - an Indesign Document.
 * @param {Boolean} force - whether to force the spreads together.
 */
function combineAdjacentSinglePageSpreads(doc, force) {

    var spreads = doc.spreads;

    for (var i = spreads.length - 1; i > 0; i--) {

        if (
            1 !== spreads[i - 1].pages.length
            || 1 !== spreads[i].pages.length
        )
            continue;

        var spread1 = spreads[i - 1],
            spread2 = spreads[i],
            section1 = undefined,
            section2 = undefined;

        if (spread1.pages[0].documentOffset === spread1.pages[0].appliedSection.pageStart.documentOffset)
            section1 = spread1.pages[0].appliedSection;

        if (spread2.pages[0].documentOffset === spread2.pages[0].appliedSection.pageStart.documentOffset)
            section2 = spread2.pages[0].appliedSection;

        if (
            force
            || (section1 && section1.pageStart.documentOffset > 0) // ignore the first section!
            || section2
        )
            // we need this to combine a spread where a section starts
            spread1.allowPageShuffle = false;

        // combine the two single page spreads by moving the second's page into the first
        spreads[i].pages[0].move(LocationOptions.AT_END, spreads[i - 1]);

    }

};

Edit 2025-04-27: bypassed a bug where the returned value from Spread.duplicate() would return an invalid object. Added a UI with some basic options.

Edit 2025-04-27: improved script by combining adjacent single-page facing-page spreads at the document joins. Added more UI options. Added number of pages display. Set hierarchy so that "Combine Spreads At Joins" relates better to "Remove Sections" See the following diagram:

[dublove]

Hi m1b.

Is there a requirement for the filename of the storage?
There is an error message

[m1b]

Hi @dublove the error is "Object is invalid" but I can't tell where the error is occurring. Can you post a small sample that still has the error?

Otherwise, try changing this line:

app.doScript(main, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, 'Combine Book Documents');

 to:

main();

It will still get the error, but the error message will tell us which line which might be enough. 

- Mark

[dublove]

Hi @m1b 

(Full Document) The test file is here, please download 

Thank you.

[m1b]

@dublove thanks for the sample documents, as always it was very helpful. I have discovered a bug I think— the Spread.duplicate() method sometimes returns an invalid spread, even though the duplicated spread is valid if you get a reference to it explicitly. So easy fixed: I get the references explicitly and ignore the Spread.duplicate() returned value. I also added a simple UI with some simple options.

Can you test it out please?

I tried Merger script that Kasyan linked to and it works okay, with nice UI, but there are a couple of things different:

(a) Merger gave me some funny page numbering after the merge. Maybe it removes sections in the wrong order?

(b) Merger leaves every cross-page text frame thread broken, whereas my script makes a valiant attempt to re-connect them.

Still, as I said at the start, this is one of those complex areas where scripts can fail if every eventuality has not been accounted for!

- Mark

[dublove]

Hi m1b.

The script is working fine.

You are invincible.
I feel that you are so much more thoughtful (perfect) than 1 year ago.

Thanks a lot ~

I just don't understand what the two options mean:

"Combine Spreads At Joins"

"Remove Sections"

[m1b]

Hi @dublove I have updated the script again, because I didn't make it clear that when you "remove sections" you also automatically "combine at joins". I have improved the UI to enforce this. See the screenshots I posted for explanation. - Mark

[Kasyan Servetsky]

Here's another script for merging docs.

I used the following settings

and got this result (attached).

After running the script, I had to set manually the 1st page numbering to 1.
Also, I noticed that in the file 003-Chapter III. Price classification.indd, the rectangles on master pages were blue, but became yellow in the merged doc.

I think this happened because the master pages have the same name but different definitions.

[dublove]

HI @Kasyan Servetsky 

Can you share the script with me?
That forum seems to have stopped updating? , odds are, there is no waiting for the uploader to share it.

my Email:

dublove@126.com

Thank you very much.

[m1b]

Hi @dublove maybe this script.

- Mark 

[dublove]

I get it now, thank you very much.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

>> Can you share the script with me?

The script is published on my site: the link is in my previous post.