PDFGrabber 1.0.2

Purpose

PDFGrabber exists to grab pdfs generated to the desktop by Acrobat Distiller. Microsoft Excel, and perhaps other apps, incorrectly generate separate print jobs for each page, all with the same name, thus overwriting the previous page. PDFGrabber grabs the pages and accumulates them elsewhere by file name until the Adobe PDF „printer“ spool is empty, at which time it merges all grabbed pages. Single page documents will simply be put back on the desktop.

System Requirements

1. Mac OS X release 10.2.8 or later (might run on earlier versions of 10.2, but is untested)
2. An up-to-date Mac OS X system (Use Software Update pane in System Preferences — at least get all Java updates offered)
3. Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard or better, with the AdobePDF printer properly installed
4. Microsoft Office X (with Report Manager if you use it)
5. Norton auto-protect disabled or updated to version 9.0.2 or later to prevent interference with Acrobat

Quick-Start

1. Download the latest app at http://calxalot.homeip.net/downloads/Versions/PDFGrabber/
   PDFGrabber should appear on your Desktop, unless you have disabled open safe files after downloading
   1. If you only have PDFGrabber.dmg on your Desktop, double click to mount the disk image
   2. Copy the PDFGrabber application to your Desktop
   3. Eject the disk image and toss the .dmg into the Trash
2. Put PDFGrabber in /Applications/Utilities
3. Set default printer to Adobe PDF via /Applications/Utilities/Print Center
   1. If Adobe PDF is not in the printer list, and Acrobat Standard was already installed, add the printer manually
   2. From Print Center, option click the Add button
   3. Select Advanced from the pop up
   4. Set Device: Adobe PDF (pdf)
   5. Set Device Name: AdobePDF
   6. Set Device URI: pdf://distiller
   7. Set Printer Model: Adobe
   8. Click Add
   9. Select AdobePDF and click Make Default
4. Launch PDFGrabber. You can hide it or close its window.
5. Open your document in Excel
6. Select menu View -> Report Manager…
7. Select the report you want (like Long Print Legal)
8. Print

Be patient. Pages will be grabbed from the Desktop as generated and put into a hidden folder ~/Desktop/.PDFGrabber (~ means your home folder). When printing is done, after a short delay, merge will start in background taking a few seconds. When merge is done, a pdf should appear on your desktop, and the „Glass“ sound will play. You may need to click on the desktop to get it to refresh.

Notes and Precautions

PDFGrabber only works with print jobs via the Adobe PDF „printer“. Save to PDF operations are ignored.

The print queue name is expected to resemble „AdobePDF“, without any spaces.

All recently created pdf files (within 20 seconds) will be grabbed from the desktop when grab is triggered. Any mistakenly grabbed files should return safely to your desktop as part of the merge operation.

Do not print a same-named document more than once until all merges are complete.

Cropping pages in one step to remove white borders will not work as expected on OS X.

If you need technical assistance, wish to report bugs or suggest improvements, you may contact the author: Kevin Bernhagen