Automator: Watermark PDF Documents not supplied required data?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Automator: Watermark PDF Documents not supplied required data?

I want to create a letterhead background on a Numbers document so I can email a Numbers document on my letterhead. I haven't found an easy answer so far until I came across the Watermark PDF Document feature in Automator. That would work perfectly, problem is, I can't get it to work at all. No matter what I have added, subtracted or rearranged I get the same results....The action "Watermark PDF Document" was not supplied with the required data. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong. Can someone walk me through what it is suppose to look like? I want it as a printer workflow so I can just take the document I'm working on in Numbers, go to the print menu, as if I was going to "print" it in to Preview, and it will convert it to PDF then put the watermark on it. I have done lots of research to try and figure out what I am doing wrong...and I hope it's something really silly because I am getting so frustrated.

Thanks!

Posted on Sep 30, 2013 10:59 AM

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Answer 1

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Sep 30, 2013 4:04 PM in response to ChelsieKBP

Here's my watermark PNG's. Click the Image and drag to your desktop.

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Answer 2

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Sep 30, 2013 4:13 PM in response to ChelsieKBP

Did you select the watermark image?

(I created one in Word with Insert->Watermark then saved as a PDF. Now open in Preview, Export to a PNG file)

As you already have the Letterhead you want to use as a Watermark, just convert it to a PNG file and click the Add.. button in the Automator Workflow.

Then in the Automator Workflow, Select Draw Watermark Under PDF. You then need to play with the X Y coordinates:

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Answer 3

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 6:49 AM in response to red_menace

I couldn't find the QuickLook folder but I took a screen shot.

What I am asking for is someone to tell me what the workflow should look like.

I have tried

-Get Specified Finder Items

-Launch Application (Preveiw)

-Watermark PDF Documents

-Move Finder Items

-Rename Finder Items/Rename PDF Documents

-View Results

..and all combinations of those items. I tried Watermark PDF Documents by iteslef as a Print Plugin...it gets to Preview but there is no watermark.

No matter what I try the same result happens "The action 'Watermark PDF Documents' was not supplied with the required data."

I have tried JPEG and PNG images, several different files with different sizes, shapes and colors. I even tried the images you supplied above. It never works.

I'd love for someone to be able to make it work on their computer then tell me how they did it so I can duplicate it. If if still doesn't work for me then I'll know it's something to do with my computer.

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Answer 4

Oct 1, 2013 7:46 AM in response to ChelsieKBP

Then I took the "Ask for Finder Items" document and converted that to PDF,

Are you saying that this whole time you were not sending a PDF file to the action? The action is Watermark PDF Documents and from the action:

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Answer 5

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 7:59 AM in response to Tony T1

I realize that the opacity has to be lowered when it's on top, but that's not what I want. I want it on the bottom at opacity 1 (I was just testing both ways). I want it to look exactly as it does in the preview.

The reason I didn't convert it initially is because I want it as a print plugin, where the original document will not be a PDF. If I have to add a step in there to convert it to PDF, even though it says it has done that in the log, then I will.

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Answer 6

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 10:49 AM in response to Tony T1

Ok that's what I did. I have tried many things and the closest I have gotten is this:

I had to make the bottom of the page or the footer about 1.5in.

I tried messing with the header, no change. I also tried changing the paper size, no change.

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Answer 7

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 30, 2013 5:09 PM in response to Tony T1

I had converted my letterhead to PNG and applied it to the workflow. I aligned it and it fit perfectly. I really don't know what is going wrong. I've tried it with several different images and types...same response. What needs to be before it and after it? I tired getting a screenshot of the workflow but it wouldn't all fit in one image.

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Answer 8

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 7:04 AM in response to Tony T1

Meant to tell you earlier, also tired as workflow, same response. I tried it again just now, doing the things you just listed:

-Ask for Finder Items

-Watermark PDF Document

...same error.

I put it as a Print Plugin because want it on the PDF print menu.

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Answer 9

Oct 1, 2013 7:08 AM in response to ChelsieKBP

Are you sure the file with the watermark has an alpha channel?

I had converted my letterhead to PNG and applied it to the workflow.

Does the png file have an alpha channel? is the background transparent?

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Answer 10

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 7:42 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

I took the original PDF and made it into a PNG, again. Same result.

Then I took the "Ask for Finder Items" document and converted that to PDF, ran it and it went through the whole process....but there was still no watermark/letterhead on the reulting document. When I run it with the watermark on top I get the watermark but no document.

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Answer 11

Oct 1, 2013 7:59 AM in response to ChelsieKBP

Yes but it you look at the name of the action and the documentation of the action it says PDF files!

If you're going to use Automator (or any other computer software in the future) you need to learn to pay attention to what it tells you.

I'm out of here.

good luck.

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Answer 12

ChelsieKBP Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 1, 2013 8:03 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

And if you are going to help people on this board you shouldn't be rude.

I am not an idiot and I can read. I read the log say "Conversion from Files/Folders to PDF files completed." That is why I had assumed it put it into a PDF file. What else should I have assumed after I read that?

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