How to Merge PDFs on a Mac
**Twitter Version:** Create an automator workflow that gets files from
Finder and combines them to a single PDF.
I got this hint from the comments on MacOSxhints.com while trying to merge PDFs for a class I am teaching. I scanned in a few pages from a book, and the scanner created separate PDF files. For my students, I knew it would be easier if they were one PDF, so I wanted to merge them. According to this article, you can do that in Preview, which is fine, except that there is no way to save them as one file. So, I read this in one of the comments:
> The simplest
> (and least expensive) way is to create a 2-step Automator application
> that containds the following automator steps:
>
> 1: Ask for Finder Items (allow multiple selection) - to select the
> images/pdf files
> 2. New PDF From Images or
> 2: Combine PDF Pages
>
> This will save a single file with all your desired scanned images into
> one file.
>
> ---
> D. Brownstone
So, I did that, and it worked perfectly. Here is my revised workflow:
</span>
You’ll see that I added a couple steps:</span>
- Name Single
Item in Finder Item Names
- Add Date or
Time to Finder Item Names
- Move Finder
Items
These three
actions will rename the new combined file to a name I chose ("Combined
PDF" in this case), append a date and time to the beginning of the
filename, and move it to my desktop: "2010-o4-29 Combined
PDF.pdf"
Alternatively,
if you don't want it to always be named "Combined PDF" you can check the
box "Show this action when the workflow runs" (in Options on the "Name
Single Item in Finder Item Names" action) and it will prompt you for a
new name every time you run this workflow.
If you have Snow
Leopard and you want to make this even cooler, you can create a new
Service in Automator instead of a workflow, and then at the top of the
service workflow, choose service receives selected "PDF files" in "any
application" and the rest will be the same. (Although, don't tell the
services workflow to show the action when the workflow runs because it
won't.) Now, you can just create a shortcut that combines selected PDFs.
Have a Good Life.
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