Export PDF with 2 different presets

[#1]

Hi. First of all, I'm not a scripter, just started to learn something about, just scratching the surface. Second: I'm not asking for someone to write a script for me, I just would like to know if something I've been wondering about is possible to be done with script.

The question is: is it possible to export a single PDF using 2 different PDF presets, one preset for some pages and the other for the rest of the pages? Currently I have to export all pages with one preset, then other PDF with the pages I want with the other preset, and then manually replace the pages in Acrobat…

Thanks!

[#2]

Yes, it's very well possible.

P.

[#3]

Yes. The main DOM objects you will be working with are Document (calling the exportFile method), PDFExportPreset (where you'll get the presets) and PDFExportPreferences (where you'll set the page range). 

[#4]

You can limit the exported page ranges of multiple exports, each with different export presets applied, thus limiting the number of pages to export to those that you'll use later on.

On the other hand I read your goal to combine everything into a single export, with presets swapped between the pages, eliminating the Acrobat step. I'd be surprised to see that working.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

You're right, Dirk. The question was whether it's possible to create one PDF from different presets. It's not straightforward, but what you could do is

1. Export part of the document using preset A.

2. Export the other part using preset B.

3. Place the PDFs in a new InDesign document.

4. Export to PDF.

Not sure whether that leads to the correct result though.

P

[#6]

It could work for some of the export prefs, e.g. image sampling or compression options, if the merging export setting sets either to "none" and that "none" is really implemented as pass thru. In other options a merge may cause trouble - will a subset font placed multiple times via multiple pages cause multiple copies of the font? Will the subsets get reduced to smaller subsets or re-combined into one, even across with the pages from the other basic export?

If Silvio provides more details I could give it a try from the plug-in side - within a single export. Is it Printer Marks, or just image downsampling resolution? Different layer choice?

[#7]

Thanks everybody for the kind answers. Actually the 2 presets are pretty similar. Both for print (high resolution, printer marks, bleed, etc.), the only difference is that one exports in CMYK and the other converts everything to grayscale. We need PDFs that are mostly grayscale, but some of them demand some colored pages. For example, a book, 200 pages: pages 58, 79, 113-115, 122 and 140 CMYK, everything else grayscale.

[#8 · Accepted solution]

HI,

Jumping in, but you should be able to create a bit of automation here with Adobe InDesign and Acrobat. So you do as @Peter_Kahrel says except when you get to 

3. Place the PDFs in a new InDesign document.

You switch to controlling Acrobat and use its automation tools to create the PDF as you want.

Will have a play around and see if I can get a demo working. (I am normally a Mac guy, in which case AppleScript would be your friend, but I am sure something similar could be done on windows)

Regards

Malcolm

[#9]

I'm not sure if this will do exactly what you want, but BatchOutput might work for your (Mac only):

http://zevrix.com/linkoptimizer.php

Might be worth checking out since they have a 30-day trial.

[#10]

Thanks for the tip! But I'm not a Mac user, so I won't be able to try it…