Automator and combining PDFs
In the last century I created an Automator script for combining PDFs into one document. This technique was far more reliable than trying to drag separate PDFs into the Thumbnails of Preview.
The three steps in my script are:
- Get Specified Finder Items
- Combine PDF pages
- Move Finder Items.
This script worked well for years. Now it doesn’t.
Here is what I have been doing. First I saved my script. Automator labeled the script as a workflow and saved it in the Workflow folder of my User Library.
If I had not run Automator too often, the workflow would appear under File > Open Recent.
If I had run Automator often enough that the workflow disappeared from my “recents,” I could go to ~Library > Workflows and activate the saved workflow there.
That step does not work anymore. Now when I run the workflow I get this dialog box:
Today I recreated the three-step process as both Quick Action and Application. It still does not work. I get these dialog boxes:
I must confess. I never did fully understand Automator. I got as far as getting it to do what I wanted. And that is as far as I got. Now I cannot go ever that far.
I asked this question last year. The suggestion then was to create a Quick Action. Automator and combining PDFs - Apple Community. To the extent that I understand that instruction, here is the result:
Is it still possible to program Automator to operate these three functions on command:
- Get Specified Finder Items
- Combine PDF pages
- Move Finder Items.
Mac mini, macOS 12.4
