Set pdf page number to Indesign page number

Question

I'm looking for an elegant way, in javascript, to loop through a document and set all placed PDF's page numbers (place PDF Option) to match the Indesign page number that they are placed on. In otherwords, a 20 page pdf placed in a 20 page Indesign document where page 1 of the PDF on page 1 of the Indesign doc, page 2 of the PDF is on page 2 of the Indesign doc, etc.

I presently use a PDF Multipage Import script, which works great but I'd like be able to achieve multiple impositions, on a single page, without having to keep rerunning the script and calculating the position offset. The idea being that a single layout, say business cards, is layed out 8up on a master page (page one of the PDF, one name per page)> the number of pages in the Indesign doc is set to = the number of pages in the pdf >all pages are selected and the master page items released (resulting in page 1 of the pdf being 8up on every page of the Indesign doc)>the script is run and the pdfs change their page numbers to match the page they are on.

It seems like a walking through an array is the ticket, but I'm a noob and don't understand how to address the pdfs.

Any help would be appreciated.

grodma · Answer

A few years ago I posted this and one day the solution came to me. I thought I'd share.

The idea is that you put a pdf on the master page of an indesign document.

Set the number of pages in the document to match (PDf page count = Indesign count)

Select all the pages in the pages window and "Override All Master Page Items" , thus making an independent copy of page 1 on each page

Delete the original from the master page (no big deal if you don't, but it will throw an ignoreable error)

Run the script – it will loop through and replace the pdf with the same pdf but the appropriate (matching) page number.

The script:

// Sets all PDFs page numbers to correspond to the Indesign page they are on.

// robin@turnitoff.net

//myDoc = app.activeDocument;

myGraphics = app.activeDocument.allGraphics;

for (idx = 0; myGraphics.length > idx; idx++) {

if(myGraphics[idx].constructor.name!="PDF"){continue}

myPageNum=myGraphics[idx].parentPage.name;

//converts string (name) to number

myPDFpageNumber=Number(myPageNum);

app.pdfPlacePreferences.pageNumber = myPDFpageNumber;

var g;

(g=myGraphics[idx]).place(g.itemLink.filePath, false,);

}

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