PDFs are Corrupt? Finale 27

[John Ruggero]

Thanks, Peter. Without the save it's a little easier. I've had documents that combined hundreds of PDF files in the past, but in the present case, I was trying to combine 40 files when it gagged.

Thank you everyone for the various options, which I will try out now. Very much appreciated! So I am out of your hair rogue335, sorry again.

[BuonTempi]

On-line, several pdf utilities : https://www.ilovepdf.com

I may be overly suspicious, but unless you're OK about your files being 'harvested' for who knows what, I'd avoid uploading them to online utilities. Cui bono, and all that.

I've mentioned before that I've written my own set of python scripts for MacOS that manipulate PDFs in various ways - booklets, img2pdf, pdf2img, watermarking, page numbers, etc, etc. Sadly, Apple have removed python from the OS install (it's been the same version since 2007!); so you have to install it yourself; but once that's done, you can use the scripts in Automator or Shortcuts.app workflows; and the command line, etc.

https://github.com/benwiggy/PDFsuite

There are platform-agnostic python libraries for PDFs, so there's no reason why similar scripts can't be created for Windows. But again, there a loads of utilities already.

[bakkumd]

So I think I need another application to combine PDFs on a Mac. Is there one besides Acrobat?

There are four FREE PDF apps on the Notationcentral.com website - I use them every day. They are Mac/PC compatible. They can manipulate existing PDFs in amazing ways to save time and energy. They were created with support and input by Philip Rothman of NYC Music Services and are free, but you can donate via their "Name your price" option just prior to downloading. I would encourage everyone to support these apps to keep them updated with new OS releases.

1. PDF-BatchBooklet
- this app will take an existing PDF and create a booklet for double sided printing with a center fold. Example: two letter sized sheets reformatted as a single 11x17 (tabloid). There are two folded booklet options: regular booklet or straight page. You can process multiple parts at the same time - with one click.

2. PDF-BatchScale
- this app will take any sized original and resize it to your desired size. Example: A 9x12 scan reduced to letter size. You can process multiple parts - with one click.

3. PDF-BatchStitch - (This is the one you might want...)
- this app will combine any number of PDF files into a single PDF. ONE CLICK. You set the order of the files via up/down buttons. You can even specify how many copies of each part you might want. Example: You need to print a set of parts... 6 flute, 2 oboe, 12 clarinets, etc... Simply enter the quantity of each part as you add them to the list and when you click "COMBINE" the app duplicates each part by the number of copies you specified, then assembles all together into a single PDF file. So when you print - you print a single file - as this new file now contains 6 copies of flute, 2 copies of oboe, etc...

4. PDF-MusicBinder
- this app is for accordion-style layout or stapled imposed booklets (instruction video on notation central.com). This app might be the most powerful of all four. It combines many of the operations of the first three plus a number of other features.

... A note of caution regarding using the Mac's built in right-click combine PDF "quick action"... I have found that the resulting combined file has corrupt color space definitions that can't be resolved (on my macs at least). These new files are not editable via photoshop or other graphics programs due to an "unsupported color space found..." error. They will still print - but no guarantees on accurate color or true black output.

[BuonTempi]

... A note of caution regarding using the Mac's built in right-click combine PDF "quick action"... I have found that the resulting combined file has corrupt color space definitions that can't be resolved (on my macs at least). These new files are not editable via photoshop or other graphics programs due to an "unsupported color space found..." error. They will still print - but no guarantees on accurate color or true black output.

A quick test seems to work here. Are you sure that isn't an issue caused by Finale's old colorspace issues in PDFs? Do the originals open in Photoshop? (Mind you, I wouldn't edit a vector PDF in Photoshop.)

[bakkumd]

A quick test seems to work here. Are you sure that isn't an issue caused by Finale's old colorspace issues in PDFs? Do the originals open in Photoshop? (Mind you, I wouldn't edit a vector PDF in Photoshop.)

Apologies - I was not very clear in that comment… I was mostly referring to scanned PDF files (rasterized) that are combined using the Mac’s built in quick action - not vector Finale files. Just something I’ve noticed on my machines. I’m using Mac OS Mojave through Monterey. The combined PDF files from the quick action right click won’t open in Photoshop for touchups - can’t figure out why. When using the above listed apps or Acrobat Pro to combine multi-page scanned PDF files, the resulting files open and can be edited in Photoshop just fine.

The color space issue comes up when photoshop returns an error when unable to open the combined PDF - stating “unsupported color space detected… unable to open document”. The original uncombined PDF files open in Photoshop just fine.

This happens for me on any scanned PDF file that is combined via the quick action option - not vector Finale files. It could be any number of things I guess - didn’t take the time to figure it out as combined PDFs using the NotationCentral apps or Acrobat don’t have the issue so I only use them at this point.

Doug

[John Ruggero]

Thanks bakkund, I will look into those. Particularly the one you pointed out.

Just to clarify, since the quick action command seemed to be a simple solution to my problem. So original (not scanned) black and white PDF's made from Finale and Affinity Publisher or InDesign files would be unaffected by the error you mentioned and wouldn't cause printing errors? Is that correct?

[bakkumd]

In my experience (Mac OS only), placing combined PDFs created from the quick action command into Indesign appear to be OK. I've not used Affinity Publisher. I have placed hundreds of multi-page, Finale generated and scanned PDF files generated via the quick action command into InDesign with no issues. I just can't edit the original PDF images via Photoshop when I used the quick action command to combine the PDF files.

As a side note - when you are using InDesign, are you using the FREE "multipageimporter" script (plug-in) to import your multi-page PDF files? It will add new pages to your InDesign document (if needed) for each page of your PDF file. With this script, you can import a 100+ page PDF file into InDesign in less than a minute with one click, starting with a one page InDesign document or template.

The script has a number of import options for PDF positioning, resizing/scaling, rotation, starting page in doc, etc. This script saves me as much time as the PDF apps I mentioned earlier. If you are using InDesign CS6, you would need version 2.5. The subscription version of InDesign (latest version) should use version 2.6.4. Search using the phrase "multipageimporter on GitHub.com".

Instructions for installing scripts can be found here: https://help.redokun.com/article/38-ins ... ign-script. After restarting InDesign, you would find the script in the Scripts Panel, inside the "User" folder. With your InDesign document open, double click on the script to run it and select the desired PDF to import. Then select from the import options and click OK.

I should mention that InDesign CC does include a basic multi-page import script built in. It is in the scripts panel --> Applications folder --> Samples --> Javascript folder. Look for "PlaceMultipagePDF.jsx" in the list. It will work OK and seems just as fast. There are no additional import options with the built in script, however.

[John Ruggero]

Thanks, bakkumd, for all that great information. I am not actively using InDesign any more, but that plug-in would come in handy if I revise any legacy documents where I import combinations of PDFs made in Finale back into InDesign.

In any case, in regards to combining PDFs made from different sources, I will try the quick action trick and see what happens when I print out. So far so good.

[jr49marhall]

I'm converting Music file to Pdf in 27 and it is narrowing the width to about 80% of the page.
I want the full page and am reverting to 8.5 x 11 which fill the full page. Any suggestions?

[motet]

Don't use File/Export to create your PDF; it's buggy. I suggest you get the free virtual printer CutePDF. Once installed, you "print" to it as if you were printing to paper, but it makes a PDF file instead.