how do I use automator to batch convert doc to pdf?

@Marlinespike & @RodChristiansen:

Sorry, there is no "save as file format format PDF" command in Word 2004`s and PowerPoint`s AppleScript dictionary ....

You could try to realize it via so called "GUI Scripting"

I really do not like GUI Scripting 😐 ... but i hope this script will work for you:

(You enable GUI Scripting by enabling access for assistive devices in the Universal Access System Preferences panel -- but the first lines in the AppleScript will do this for you too)

this will work with one or more files.

Running it as a Service (as RodChristiansen showed) is a good idea.

on run {input, parameters}

--ENABLE GUI SCRIPTING

tell application "System Events"

if UI elements enabled is false then set UI elements enabled to true

end tell

--RUN THE GUISCRIPT

set pdfSavePath to POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Set destination folder")

repeat with x in input

tell application "Microsoft Word"

activate

open x

set theActiveDoc to the active document

tell application "System Events"

tell process "Microsoft Word"

keystroke "p" usingcommand down

repeat until exists window "Print"

end repeat

click menu button "PDF" of window "Print"

repeat until exists menu item "Save as PDF…" of menu 1 of menu button "PDF" of window "Print"

end repeat

click menu item "Save as PDF…" of menu 1 of menu button "PDF" of window "Print"

repeat until exists window "Save"

end repeat

keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}

set value of text field 1 of sheet of window "Save" to pdfSavePath

click button "Go" of sheet of window "Save"

click button "Save" of window "Save"

end tell

end tell

closetheActiveDoc

end tell

end repeat

return input

end run

Thank you, spazek!

I already manually converted the files but I will try this as soon as practical and let you know how it works.

I found an very easy way to make .ppt to .pdf with automator

Worked beautifully!

Finder action: Selected files

PowerPoint action: Covert Format of PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint action: Quit PowerPoint

Here is the screenshot: http://cl.ly/3V3e2q2N2u2t160N0D33

I ran this, and it seemed to work, until Word warned me that the margins were outside the print area, and there was no script command to tell it how to proceed. Any ideas for that? All my docs will have that message...

Spazek,

I would like to THANK YOU 256 times (= the amount of .doc files I had to convert to pdf).

Have a nice day.

Very useful!

I have a problem here. I only have in my library the Convert Format of PowerPoint related to Windows virtual machine version. I have Powerpoint for Mac 2011 installed. What I have to do? Thanks!

Spazek,

What could I add at the end of the script to make the finder delete the Word file? Meaning, after the script runs, I only want the PDF to exist.

Thanks

Hi!

Sorry! I did not join here for a long time. Let´s start with the current question by Ron Christiansen:

You could enter a line near the end of the AppleScript (the first one?)

[…]

end if

end tell

tell application "Finder" to delete x

end try

end repeat

[…]

or in the GUI-Script:

[…]

closetheActiveDoc

end tell

tell application "Finder" to delete x

end repeat

[…]

This would be the most easy way.

Spazek

Hi I have the same problem. I can't convince automator to use my powerpoint for mac version instead of of that installed under parrallels.

:-(

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,

Jonnie

Maybe I did not understand (i am no native english speaker) ...

Using Automator Action to Convert ppt(x) to PDF opens PowerPoint on a Windows virtual machine version?

If so, this would be really strange and you can try to use AppleScript as well.

Use it in the way described in the example workflow above

property theList : {"ppt", "pptx"}

on run {input, parameters}

set output to {}

repeat with x in input

try

set thePPT to contents of x

tell application "Finder"

set theFilePath to container of thePPT as text

set ext to name extension of thePPT

if ext is in theList then

set theName to name of thePPT

copy length of theName to l

copy length of ext to exl

set n to l - exl - 1

copy characters 1 through n of theName as string to theFilename

set theFilename to theFilename & ".pdf"

set theOutputPath to (theFilePath & theFilename as string)

set PP to POSIX path of theOutputPath

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"

open thePPT

set theActivePPT to the active presentation

savetheActivePPTintheOutputPathassave as PDF

copy PP to end of output

closetheActivePPT

end tell

end if

end tell

--tell application "Finder" to delete x

end try

end repeat

--tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint" to quit

return output

end run

Spazek

Spazek, this is brilliant and has saved me much time, thanks! I tried to dumb down the automator actions to the simplest steps, but Word keeps coming up the dialogue "Could not fire event." Hmmm...

I also need to convert the files to plain text and I am not familiar with AppleScript. Problem is that the files contain English and another language, so they need to be encoded with Unicode 5.1, line breaks with CR only. Could you tell me what needs to be changed in the script?

Thanks!

Hi sumtingwang,

Unicode 5.1 sounds as if you are using an older version of Word since the current Unicode version is Unicode 6.

But ... truly said, i am absolutly not familiar with Unicode!

To save a document as plain text you have to change following lines:

set theFilename to theFilename & ".txt"

and

save astheActiveDocfile formatformat Unicode texttext encoding 6 line ending typeline ending cr onlyfile nametheFilename

or in your case

save astheActiveDocfile formatformat Unicode texttext encoding 5 line ending typeline ending cr onlyfile nametheFilename

or maybe even

save astheActiveDocfile formatformat texttext encoding 5 line ending typeline ending cr onlyfile nametheFilename

I am not sure about the command "text encoding 5"

From AS Dictionary:

[text encoding unsigned integer] : Text encoding to use when saving out as text file

Spazek

Spazek, thanks much for the reply. I did end up loading the Word libraries into Applescript editor and changing the lines you mentioned. However, after a bit more searching and fiddling with the command line utils, I found this and modified it a bit:

find . -name *.doc -exec textutil -convert txt '{}' \;

Navigate to the parent directory with the word files in Terminal--it is recursive. Took all of about 20 seconds to convert 120 files.

Thanks again!

Hi spazek,

First of the very all, thank you very much for your scipts; I have been searching for a solution for a month.

Wasting a lot of time, and your scripts help me so much!!!

I registered an account so that I can say thanks to you.

million thanks.

Aaron

THANK YOU Spazek! You have made my life so much better with this converter-- I've been trying to work the bugs out of mine for some time.

Best,

Latavarius