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Extract PDF pages with Preview

I need to take a PDF (30 Pages) and extract each page to a seperate PDF file. Is this a possibility with Automator?

Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Nov 18, 2006 12:35 AM

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3 replies

Jan 9, 2007 4:04 PM in response to unruly

The prior poster is correct in some respects, but, I think, misses what you were going after. I assume that you'd like to have a 30-or-so page document named, "Document.pdf," separated into 30 different documents named, "Document-001.pdf," for page one, and, "Document-002.pdf," for page two, etc. After much experimentation, here's how I was able to get Automator to accomplish this goal. Look for these items in the Automator window panes on the left-hand side of the Automator workflow window:

1. Ask for Finder Items (Library:Finder);
2. Render PDF Pages as Images (Library:PDF);
3. Rename Finder Items (Library:Finder);
4. New Folder (Library:Finder).

I know that the lack of specific commands to save items, and to pass them along to the next step is confusing (at least it was to me), but this really does work. Place the workflow items in the order noted above, and you will get what you described you were looking for in your intitial post. What's even better, this workflow will name your new files sequentially when you click the correct options. I recommend that you play around with the options for each workflow item to make the workflow more robust, but I'd stick with basic order noted above.

Jan 12, 2007 3:15 AM in response to Chris Harwood

Hi,
This workflow does not work for extracting all the pages.
The option of 'All' under this workflow simply enables both even & odd pages (i.e. two separate files containing even pages and odd pages).
I had to extract all the pages from a 7 page pdf file.
Since i wanted each page to be text searchable, therefore i had to save them as pdf files only.
As there were no scripts i could get hold off, i decided to manually save them.
1. Open the main pdf file.
2. Select page one and use copy command
3. From File Menu, select, new page from clip board.
4. Save the new page as page 1 in pdf format.
5. Repeat the steps.
The process can be long for you but is the best way (in absence of automator script) to have text searchable pdf pages.
Regards,
Bharat

Extract PDF pages with Preview

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