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Although I thought it would be an easy thing to do I'm finding it difficult to get much info or help on this. The few scripts and instructions I have discovered on the web don't seem to work. I tried to create one with a get file and then convert word docx. It creates the pdfs but they are corrupted and can't be opened.
Any ideas anyone?
Macpro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)
Here's an applescript service which converts individual files to PDFs and then merges the sections. You can download the service via the below link and add it to library > services or you can use the script posted below:
One question though. I took the number of sections on a new page ("section new page", "section odd page", "section even page") as an indicator for the number of PDFs the document would produce. This isn't always correct however (thereby stalling the script). Apparently there are other factors influencing the number of PDFs produced by Word for a document. If anyone knows a better way of finding the number of output PDFs from Word, please let me know!
on run {input, parameters}
set the_counter to count of input
repeat with i from 1 to the_counter
set cur_file to (item i of input) as string
try
do shell script "cd " & quoted form of POSIX path of posix_file_path
display dialog "This script does not work with folders."
set the_counter to 0
exit repeat
end try
-- REMOVE EXTENSION
set theCharacters to characters of cur_file
set theReverse to reverse of theCharacters as string
set extension_length to (offset of "." in theReverse) + 1
set file_base to (text 1 thru -extension_length) of cur_file
set sectionCount to 0
set file_name to file_base & ".pdf"
tell application "Microsoft Word"
open cur_file
tell active document
activate
repeat with i from 1 to count of sections
if (section start of page setup of section i) as text is in {"section even page", "section odd page", "section new page"} then
set sectionCount to sectionCount + 1
end if
end repeat
end tell
tell application "Finder"
if exists file file_name then
repeat with i from 1 to 10000
set file_name to (file_base & "(" & i & ").pdf")
if not (exists file file_name) then exit repeat
end repeat
end if
end tell
save as active document file format format PDF file name file_name
end tell
set file_search to (text 1 thru -5) of file_name
if sectionCount > 2 then
set last_file to file_search & "." & sectionCount - 1 & ".pdf"
else
set last_file to file_name
end if
tell application "Finder"
set counter to 0
repeat until ((file last_file exists) or (counter = 600))
delay 0.5
set counter to counter + 1
end repeat
end tell
delay 0.5
set merge_files to every paragraph of (do shell script "ls -tr " & quoted form of POSIX path of file_search & "*" & ".pdf")
if (count of merge_files) > 1 then
set newFirst to quoted form of POSIX path of (file_search & ".1.pdf")
set item 1 of merge_files to newFirst
do shell script "mv " & " " & quoted form of POSIX path of file_name & " " & newFirst
set merge_file_paths to item 1 of merge_files
repeat with merge_file in (items 2 thru end of merge_files)
set merge_file_paths to merge_file_paths & " " & quoted form of merge_file
end repeat
do shell script "/System/Library/Automator/Combine\\ PDF\\ Pages.action/Contents/Resources/join.py -o " & quoted form of POSIX path of file_name & " " & merge_file_paths
tell application "Finder"
set counter to 0
repeat until ((file file_name exists) or (counter = 1800))
delay 0.5
set counter to counter + 1
end repeat
end tell
delay 2
do shell script "rm " & merge_file_paths
end if
end repeat
if the_counter > 0 then
tell application "System Events"
activate
display dialog ("Script Complete! " & return & return & the_counter & " files converted") buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with title "Convert to PDF"
end tell
end if
end run
hey genius i got error, whats up?
I have found that errors might occur if parallel is intalled with windows and microsoft word.
after i reinstalled the mac office 2011, it works out again.
I also have the same problem showing "Syntax Error: Expected end of line but found end of script" using the original script.
According to related posts, this problem mostly occurs in users with Maverick + Word + Parallel.
The reason seems to be that the "Microsoft word" in the script no longer directs to Microsoft word.app in MAC because Parallel has done some changes in /application
Therefore, the solution is simple.
Simply substitute "Microsoft Word" with the correct directory, e.g.. "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app" and it will work again.
Hope this would be helpful 🙂
property theList : {"doc", "docx"}
on run {input, parameters}
set output to {}
tell application "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app" to set theOldDefaultPath to get default file path file path type documents path
repeat with x in input
try
set theDoc to contents of x
tell application "Finder"
set ext to name extension of theDoc
if ext is in theList then
set x to (length of ext) + 2
set theName to (text 1 thru -x) of (theDoc as string)
set thePDF to theName & ".pdf"
if (exists file thePDF) then
set n to 1
set thePDF to theName & "_" & n & ".pdf"
repeat until (exists file thePDF) is false
if (exists file thePDF) then
set n to n + 1
set thePDF to theName & "_" & n & ".pdf"
end if
end repeat
end if
tell application "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app"
open theDoc
set theActiveDoc to the active document
save as theActiveDoc file format format PDF file name thePDF
copy (POSIX path of thePDF) to end of output
close theActiveDoc
end tell
end if
end tell
end try
end repeat
tell application "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app" to set default file path file path type documents path path theOldDefaultPath
return output
end runThanks everyone for all your help. I do not have Word installed on my machine. Is it possible to make the script work if I only have Pages?
Hello spazek,
I tried using your script and it doesn't work when Word is closed only when it is opened. Do you know what could be wrong? I know this is old but if I get this working it would help me A LOT!
Thanks for your help.
Hi, spazek
Could you please tell me how to convert .xls to .pdf? And I can't run your script.
This was from back in 2012, so I hope you're still around. The app gave me an error "“Convert to PDF.app” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash."
This works except that the closing of a file is odd. Today I ran it on two groups of 20 Word 2011 files and all produced PDFs. Okay so far, and on my system at least I am used to the fact that when I create a PDF, as I close the file I am [most often] asked if I want to save changes, but here is the first oddity: In the first 20 I was prompted to save changes as each closed after each PDF. In the second 20, I was not.
But more strange is that once the PDFs were done, all forty re-opened and even then, all had a "save changes" prompt!
So I guess my question is can you change the script to "just say yes" to everything? And I suppose not open them again? I am not concerned about breaking anything, as I would never run such a script on a bunch of files where those files were my only copy.
Spazek,
Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. The script works perfectly and helps when I have multiple reports (word docs) I need to PDF. Just a question though, it doesn't seem to work if I have images in my reports. Is there a way to tweak it so it can accommodate word documents with images as well?
Thank you in advance, you've saved me tons of time already!
-Josh
P.S. I'm using OSX 10.9.5 if that helps.
Hi Spazek.
I hope you're well. Just to let you know, your amazing script to save word to PDF and add a number if file already exists (below) does not seem to works in the new Word (Office 2016). I've tried to fix but no luck.
tell application "Microsoft Word"
set theDoc to path of active document as alias
tell application "Finder"
set ext to name extension of theDoc
set x to (length of ext) + 2
set theName to (text 1 thru -x) of (theDoc as string)
set thePDF to theName & ".pdf"
--IF FILE ALREADY EXISTS ADD A NUMBER (INCREASING)
if (existsfilethePDF) then
set n to 1
set thePDF to theName & "_" & n & ".pdf"
repeat until (existsfilethePDF) is false
if (existsfilethePDF) then
set n to n + 1
set thePDF to theName & "_" & n & ".pdf"
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
set theActiveDoc to the active document
try
save astheActiveDocfile formatformat PDFfile namethePDF
on error
display alert "Error"
end try
-- close theActiveDoc
end tell
end run
Change the second line to:
set theDoc to path of active document & ":" & name of active document as alias
Peba... you little beauty!
Could you please post your completed update script for 2016 word? Thanks.
Hi,
I'm desperate to get this to work. My students find it virtually impossible to create a Pdf when they send me their work to be marked. I'd like to be able to get this script working properly. I've created a service in automator, and added run AppleScript. Set the service to receive files or folders from finder. Added the following script from this page...
on
property theList : {"doc", "docx"}
onrun {input, parameters}
set output to {}
tell application "Microsoft Word" to set theOldDefaultPathtoget default file pathfile path typedocuments path
repeat with x in input
try
set theDoc to contents of x
tell application "Finder"
set theFilePath to container of theDoc as text
set ext to name extension of theDoc
if ext is in theList then
set theName to name of theDoc
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"
tell application "Microsoft Word"
set default file pathfile path typedocuments pathpaththeFilePath
open theDoc
set theActiveDoc to the active document
save astheActiveDocfile formatformat PDFfile nametheFilename
copy (POSIX path of (theFilePath & theFilename as string)) to end of output
closetheActiveDoc
end tell
end if
end tell
end try
end repeat
tell application "Microsoft Word" to set default file pathfile path typedocuments pathpaththeOldDefaultPath
return output
end run
I've saved the service and can see in the right click menu. When I select a Document and convert, word pops up and closes again but not file is converted. If I put a file on the desktop it works. I'm presuming the file path is too long. Is there a fix for this?
Thanks in advance
Neil
how do I use automator to batch convert doc to pdf?
