[orthobiz]

I want to scan owner's manuals and post them at vinylengine, etc. BUT, I can scan a document, it makes a .tif and I can convert it to a .pdf. When I scan another document, I get another separate .pdf.

But how do I get multiple separate .pdf files to open up as one, single file? (I hope this is a silly question with an easy answer...)

Thanks,

Paul

[Crimson]

You may want to try pasting each .tif file to a blank page in Pages or Word, then save/print the entire document to pdf.

[nathanm]

note: This advice applies to Acrobat v7.0.

You will need the full version of Acrobat to do it, for starters, which allows you to save and edit documents.  You open the first page PDF, then drag and drop the rest of the individual pages into the page thumbnails area.  Then do a Save As from there and apply the desired amount of file size reduction using "File: Reduce File Size" or "Tools: Print Production: PDF Optimizer?".  The pages must be in PDF format, not TIF.  You can open TIFFs in Acrobat, but you can't drag new TIFFs in to make a multi-page document.  Annoying, but that's the way it seems to work.

A hint for getting the pages in order:  Make sure they are named in sequence, 01, 02, 03 etc. and sort the Finder window in reverse order from last page to first.  Then drag them into Acrobat.  For whatever reason this causes them to be inserted in the correct order.  It might also be affected by Date Modified, I am not sure.  I use PathFinder and always Touch the date for the whole list of pages and reverse name sort before dragging them in.

Kinkos or similar may have copiers that can generate multi-page PDFs.  I don't have much experience doing that, but I do know one of the copiers here has such a function.

[low.pfile]

Paul,

If you do not have Acrobat Profession full version which works as Nathan states, you could try this:

Along the lines on Crimson's "Print to PDF" approach but skips opening each image and pasting that into the word document using standard/ pre-installed Apple apps....

• I recommend Scanining pages as JPGs instead of TIFF. This will reduce the file size. But .tif will work but that format unnecessarily large for this use, as there is no compression of the image. Just use 80% quality JPG. TIFFs should be used for pure archival purposes where optimal image quality is needed.
• Name all of your files sequentially(e.g. man_01). Place the files in a folder. View setting Use "List" View, and open the folder. Organize the window by "Name" so that the page numbers are in the correct order.
• Multi-select (drag select) all the jpg or tif files you want to be included in the single PDF document. Drag them all onto the Preview application.
• Select File > Print > PDF > Save as PDF. Click the print button. Save with file name.
  
• Viola, a single page PDF file. Though it may be a monster sized PDF file.
  
• So IF, you have the standard Apple application called "Colorsync Utility" in the Applications>Utilities folder this can also be used to drastically reduce file size. This Apple app was included with 10.4 and previous versions and usually is an unknown bonus.
• Open the Colorsync Utility app. Drop a copy of the newly created PDF onto app's Dock icon. At the bottom left corner of the open window open the "Filter" pulldown to "Reduce File Size" click the "Apply" button at the bottom right corner. Then save using File > Save As. Unfortunately, the amount of compression is not adjustable on some versions of Colorsync Utility(older version it is possible), but this app really squeezes down the file size and provides acceptable quality.

Also as Nathan mentions above Acrobat Professional has a simple "Reduce File Size" command but that is NOT available in the free Acrobat Reader app.

Cheers,
ed

[orthobiz]

Thanks, Crimson, lowprofile and Nathan.

I used the "paste into Word" method and it works perfectly. I will try sending a .pdf to vinylengine and my Dahlquist Yahoo group soon to see if it's truly universal.

At 450 bucks, I didn't spring for the actual program...Wonder if there's freeware that has some of the Acrobat functionality.

Paul