deleting pages in acrobat 9

[bprint_tampabay]

I must be brain dead.

I need to delete all odd pages of a 30,000 page VDP job.

I just can't seem to focus long enough to come up with the easiest solution.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[LoneGoose]

Not a very elegant solution, but just off the top of my head, you could expand the thumbnails tab until it shows two columns of pages, then select the left column and delete.

 

[Sherbert]

If you have Quite Imposing you can separate them into 2 files, Odds and Evens.

 

[bprint_tampabay]

Thanks for the responses - Don't have Quite Imposing, just Acrobat 9 Pro, and Fusion Pro.

Goose - I think you are onto something. I didn't think of that. It may be quite a task for it to delete 15,000 pages, but...

I am going to give it a try, and thanks for waking my brain up.

I will let you know what happens.

Thanks.

Larry

 

[erks]

You can do this with javascript:

try {
// save a copy of original document
var newName = this.path;
var filename = newName.replace(".pdf","_Original.pdf");
this.saveAs(filename);
for (var i = this.numPages - 1; i >= 0 ; i--)
{
if (i % 2 != 0)
{
this.deletePages(i,i);
}
}
}
catch(e)
{
app.alert(e);
}

 

[Londen]

Thanks for the responses - Don't have Quite Imposing, just Acrobat 9 Pro, and Fusion Pro.

Goose - I think you are onto something. I didn't think of that. It may be quite a task for it to delete 15,000 pages, but...

I am going to give it a try, and thanks for waking my brain up.

I will let you know what happens.

Thanks.

Larry

How about printing the file to PDF just print even pages? This way, you create a new file with just what you need.

Londen

 

[LoneGoose]

I was hoping someone would come up with a apple/java script solution! Nice one erks! I wish I could do that...

Londen, 'refrying' PDFs might not be a good idea - see Dov's comments on this topic (quoted below).

"Refrying PDF (the process of creating PDF from existing PDF) by printing to PostScript and distilling that PostScript back into PDF is strongly discouraged and not recommended by Adobe for a number of reasons, including loss of live transparency and color management issues."
(from) http://printplanet.com/forums/prepr...4-free-n-up-pdf-imposition-using-os-x-preview

 

[LoneGoose]

erks, and if one had to delete all even pages, would one change

if (i % 2 != 0)

into

if (i % 2 = 0) or if (i % 2 !=1) ?

Assuming % is the 'mod' function?

 

[erks]

In Acrobat Javascript the internal page numbering starts from zero. Actual page 1 is in Javascript 0, page 2 is in Javascript 1 and so on.

 

[Skittizay]

hmm, all i would do is open the pdf in acrobat and hit Shift+Cmnd+D and the delete pages dialogue box pops up. just select odd pages within whatever range you designate...easy stuff.

 

[DavidMa]

you don't get the "odd-even" request with the delete pages command, it just deletes the page numbers in a range.

Selecting the page thumbnails will change whatever pages are left to odd and even, so you would never really know which pages to select, unless you were able to select all 15000 odd pages in one swoop (probably lock up your computer, or slow it to a crawl at best).

I think the best bet would be the java script route.

 

[bprint_tampabay]

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Since I was out of time, I did just reprint the even pages with a custom page size.

I know it isn't the best solution, but hey, it worked.

Thanks again for all of your input.

Larry