OT: PDF utilities for MacOS

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BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:13 am

You'll forgive me for blowing my own trumpet, but I've produced some PDF utilities for that might be useful for Mac Finale users. It includes booklet imposition, combining separate PDFs, adding folio numbers or watermark text, Save As PDF-X3 and a whole lot more.

Most are "Services", so they go in the (user) Library folder of the same name. They are then available on a right-click in the Finder when PDF files are selected.
Some are "PDF Services", which again go in the Library folder of the same name (which might need creating). They will then appear in the PDF button of the print menu.

I'd be interested in your comments for further functions, or if they don't work as intended/expected. Where paper sizes are specified, I've used A4/A3, but I've provided options to change to US Letter and other sizes, by opening them in Automator and modifying the script. They've been tested on 10.8 and 10.13.

https://github.com/benwiggy/PDFsuite


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David Ward
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Post by David Ward » Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:00 am

Thanks for this; I'll investigate properly later.

Two passing questions:

Mostly, I use B4 for full scores (some do need to be A3), which are then coil bound. B4 also seems a good size for shared string parts and percussion scores. Where mine are most often printed, it seems to be the marginally larger (but identically proportioned) Japanese B4. However, I usually e-mail everything as notional A4, leaving the printer to adjust the % for PDF printing as appropriate. How relevant would your PDF utilities be for this?

I use something I downloaded from the internet called ‘Create Booklet’ (see screenshot of PDF sub-menu from the print dialogue) when I need to make a booklet (eg a home printed libretto folded from A4 to A5 to post/hand to somebody - or indeed a small study score, if legible in A5). How does your booklet creation differ from this? (Of course, I don't yet know how well Create Booklet will work with OS 10.13. I do remember a hiatus after a previous OS up-date.)
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BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:33 am

As you say, the printer just scales the page size to the paper, as the proportions are the same. I haven't created a "scale page to particular size" utility. Though someone did post one here (or on the old forum) a while ago. I might have a go, though because of the inherent scalability of vector PDFs, it's of limited use, unless you're combining pages of different sizes into one document.

My booklet service is probably very similar: it brings up a save dialog, and saves as a booklet on A3 size paper. It scales and rotates the pages to fit on the sheet. You can alter the script to use a different sheet size, to set a "creep" value, a default location, or to create 'signatures' of a certain size, e.g. for a 32pp file, create 2 booklets of 16pp each, 1-16, 17-32.

Bill Stevens
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Post by Bill Stevens » Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:06 am

I have BensPDFSuite dated the summer of 2016. Is this improved from that version?

Bill
Version 26.3 / 27.4 / Mac OS 10.15.5 Catalina
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BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:30 am

Bill Stevens wrote:I have BensPDFSuite dated the summer of 2016. Is this improved from that version?
That was all done in AppleScript, and didn't do as much. (Though it did included a better PDF-X3 Quartz Filter, which this doesn't.)

These are a lot faster, too. I'm particularly pleased that my PDF Joining script runs many times faster than Apple's own!

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:59 pm

I've been using Acrobat Pro X for this. If that doesn't work in 10.13, I'll be giving this a spin before I give more $$$ to Adobe.

Looks interesting.
Mike Halloran

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BuonTempi
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Post by BuonTempi » Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:08 pm

MikeHalloran wrote:I've been using Acrobat Pro X for this.
I have Acrobat X, too. But it's much quicker to combine PDFs or images into PDFs with a right-click in the Finder than Acrobat's clumsy UI.

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:04 pm

BuonTempi wrote:
MikeHalloran wrote:I've been using Acrobat Pro X for this.
I have Acrobat X, too. But it's much quicker to combine PDFs or images into PDFs with a right-click in the Finder than Acrobat's clumsy UI.
No disagreement but I suspect that we must have different needs in that regards. I can do things in seconds with X that would take hours in Preview.

Adobe did change the interface with XI — I didn't upgrade from X for that reason.

For me, it's why I still use Elements 6 over 15 which I also have. Interestingly, 6 still works in Sierra where 10 doesn't very well.

I don't believe in upgrading anything just because something else is newer. When a major upgrade is required, however, I bite the bullet and move on. For decades, it was when my tax software wouldn't work.

Even now, my 2010 iMac runs much better than it did new, thanks to Apple OS upgrades and the move to a 2T SSD a couple of years ago. The only reason I'm contemplating an upgrade is that my aging eyes might be better suited to a 5K monitor. I have dedicated eyeglasses for my computer (yes!) but have a hard time seeing the differences between 6 and 8 in the CRM database I must use every day.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro

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