These forums are now Read Only. If you have an Acrobat question, ask questions and get help from one of our experts.

Create a PDF from a list of links in a csv file

ELBYOWL
Registered: Dec 13 2007
Posts: 2

I have a csv file that are links to web site addresses. These web site addresses are actually pdf files. I'd like this csv file to be fed into Adobe and create one large pdf file that includes the content of the web links. This is not a one-time run need. I would need this done thousands of times each year. It would be good if this could be done in the Standard edition, because we really don't want to be able to change the contents of the huge PDF because of SOX. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Purchase of a new version of the software that can do this is acceptable.
thanks!

My Product Information:
Acrobat Standard 8, Windows
thomp
Expert
Registered: Feb 15 2006
Posts: 4411
You can in fact do this in a couple of ways. But basically the idea is the same.

1. Open and parse the csv file to get the urls
2. Open and append each URL to the collection.

Method#1: Create a JavaScript Automation Script. Check out [url=http://www.windjack.com/products/acrobuttons.php]AcroButtons[/url]. It's a tool for creating JavaScript toolbar buttons in Acrobat. To load and parse the csv file, embed the csv file into a PDF and then access it's byte level content. Use regular JS string operations ,like split(), to parse. For the business logic you'll find all the functions you need in the Acrobat JavaScript Reference and a Core JavaScript Reference like O'Reilly's "The Definitive JavaScript Guide".

Method#2: Use the Acrobat IAC (Interapplication Communication) interface to create a VB or AppleScript app. If you are a VB or AppleScript programmer there are some big advantages to this approach, like you aren't restricted to Acrobats limited IO for JavaScript.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
www.pdfscripting.com
Very Important - How to Debug Your Script