Huge Problem: VBA to Print a signed PDF file to PDF from a Folder

[Nikkii]

Hello, I hope you all are having a good day! I have a problem and I need all your help.

I have hundreds of signed PDFs from a folder and I need to combine them all into one binder.
I can't combined them signed because the signatures will disappear, so I need to print As PDF first manually to retain the signatures.

Can you guys help me create a macro to PRINT all the signed PDF from a given location to As PDF?
The location may also change depends on where the responsible person dump it.

Thank you All, and God Bless!

 

[OaklandJim]

As best I can tell, this is probably not doable. But I am not certain.

But, just in case... As I understnd your need you have to open the pdf files with signatures in Adobe then "print" it as pdf before it can be added to a binder? So you "PRINT all the signed PDFs"? How are you doing that?

 

[levipe]

First, I'm curious how you're combining these into a binder. it sounds like the signatures are being treated as 'mark-ups' in the original pdfs and the combination process is ignoring mark-ups. Can you change the settings to include the mark-ups? If so, this solves the problem. If not...

I don't think this is an excel issue. I'd pursue converting the existing pdfs to images (e.g. Convert PDF to JPG and Other Formats which I found via google search) then reconvert to pdf (e.g. Convert JPG Images to PDF Documents Online also via search) and combine as a single file via various pdf programs. The conversion to and from jpg will flatten the pdf (such that OCR will be needed to make the resulting pdf more useful) and lock in the signatures which apparently are considered mark-ups.

If the info is sensitive, then software that will do it without uploading to a website could be obtained with less than $100. For me, that's a steal vs the time it would take to manually process hundreds of pdfs. Good luck!

 

[Nikkii]

As best I can tell, this is probably not doable. But I am not certain.

But, just in case... As I understnd your need you have to open the pdf files with signatures in Adobe then "print" it as pdf before it can be added to a binder? So you "PRINT all the signed PDFs"? How are you doing that?

Hi, thanks for the reply, Yup you got my situation right. What I am doing right now is I'm using Edge by dragging each PDF and PRINT > Save As PDF. This works for me but it takes too much time. I wonder if you could help me with this.

 

[Nikkii]

First, I'm curious how you're combining these into a binder. it sounds like the signatures are being treated as 'mark-ups' in the original pdfs and the combination process is ignoring mark-ups. Can you change the settings to include the mark-ups? If so, this solves the problem. If not...

I don't think this is an excel issue. I'd pursue converting the existing pdfs to images (e.g. Convert PDF to JPG and Other Formats which I found via google search) then reconvert to pdf (e.g. Convert JPG Images to PDF Documents Online also via search) and combine as a single file via various pdf programs. The conversion to and from jpg will flatten the pdf (such that OCR will be needed to make the resulting pdf more useful) and lock in the signatures which apparently are considered mark-ups.

If the info is sensitive, then software that will do it without uploading to a website could be obtained with less than $100. For me, that's a steal vs the time it would take to manually process hundreds of pdfs. Good luck!

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I've done the converting part and it totally messed up the quality of the documents. What works for me right now is using Edge, drag the PDF to Edge hit Print then Save as PDF. I'm sorry bro I can't afford the $100 it's a week worth of my salary. >.<

 

[John_w]

What works for me right now is using Edge, drag the PDF to Edge hit Print then Save as PDF.

I don't think that can be automated with a macro for all the PDFs in a folder.

Do you have the Microsoft Print to PDF printer? If so, as a test, open one of the PDFs in Edge and 'print' it with Microsoft Print to PDF. It will prompt for an output PDF file name. Does this output PDF retain the signature? If so, this process can be automated with a copy of Microsoft Print to PDF which outputs to a fixed PDF file name, instead of prompting.

 

[Nikkii]

I don't think that can be automated with a macro for all the PDFs in a folder.

Do you have the Microsoft Print to PDF printer? If so, as a test, open one of the PDFs in Edge and 'print' it with Microsoft Print to PDF. It will prompt for an output PDF file name. Does this output PDF retain the signature? If so, this process can be automated with a copy of Microsoft Print to PDF which outputs to a fixed PDF file name, instead of prompting.

Hi John, thanks for the reply. YES I do have microsoft print to pdf and it retains signatures however the pdf files turned into not text searchable. But this is okay I can just run an ocr to them.

 

[John_w]

To clarify the Microsoft Print to PDF technique, you still need an application which can print PDFs from the command line (command prompt window). For example, Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat can print a PDF to a named printer from the command line using the /t switch:

"C:\path\to\AcroRd32.exe" /t "C:\path\to\My File.pdf" "My Print to PDF"

I don't think Edge can print PDFs from the command line. For example, I tried start msedge --print-to-pdf "C:\path\to\My File.pdf" but it just opens My File.pdf without printing it (prompted or otherwise).

Therefore, you will need to install an application/tool which supports PDF printing from the command line. With that, a VBA macro can loop through the PDFs in a folder and run the command line to print each file to a custom version of Microsoft Print to PDF which outputs to a fixed PDF file name.