How to create a new Action using Acrobat X

How to create a new Action using Acrobat X

Donna Baker – February 6, 2012

Instead of doing the same tasks over and over, save time by automating PDF tasks with an Action. Here's how to create an Action to open a file, capture content, then label and save the documents automatically.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Tools, then open the Action Wizard where you see some default actions. Click Create New Action to get started.
2. Choose where the files come from on the list (such as the folder option), then choose the specific folder. You'll see the folder choice on the wizard.
3. Click the Options button to open settings you can change, such as the types of files to process. Click OK.
4. Now add the tasks. Click the Recognize Text label to open the list, click Recognize Text and you'll see it added to the list. Click Options to select features for the scan such as the output and DPI and then click OK. If you want to share the action, click Add Instruction Step. Name the step, and add the information like the OCR settings. Click Save to add the instruction to the list.
5. Let's add the next step. Click Content, and choose Add Document Description to add it to the list. Check out the options: you can add the name, subject, description, and keywords as part of the step. Since each file is different, click the Prompt User checkbox so the settings can be set when the action runs.
6. Now let's add one final step. Click Pages and then click Header & Footer (Add). Click the new step's Options button to open the dialog box. We want each new file to have the date at the bottom, so click the Left Footer Text field, and click Insert Date. You see the date in the preview. Click OK.
7. Finally, we need to define the Save to location. Click the drop-down arrow and choose the same folder selected at the start. Click Save. Type a name for the action and add a description if you like. Click Save again, and you've finished your new action.