Improved table of contents of combined PDF files

DEVONthink Feedback
1

Hi,

it is wonderful that the table of contents is now taken over in the new file when PDF files are merged and that a new entry in the table of contents is created for each file (file name). But why there is no new entry in the table of content of the file name, when entries in table of contents in the particular file already exists. Is that intentional?

For example:

A.pdf
(TOC:)

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

B.pdf
(no TOC)

Result in the current version::

Merged.pdf
(TOC:)

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • B

Better would be:

Merged.pdf
(TOC:)

  • A
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
  • B
2

This is the first such request.

3

As i remember combining PDF files in earlier versions of DT, the table of contents of the combined files were not being transfered to the merged file. Also new entries (file names of the merged files) were not created.

This is really useful now! Thanks for that.

Now, that it is obviously possible to create an entry in the tables of contents for the individual file names, it should also be possible in general to create entries in the table of contents with the pdf editor in DT. For me, this missing feature is the only reason to edit pdf files in other pdf editors.

Maybe the dev team can consider that request in a future version.

Thanks a lot.

4

What other PDF editor offers this type of merge function?

5

This was meant in relation to adding table of contents entries.

PDF Expert (although not all entries are always adopted) and Adobe Acrobat DC (with the useful option to sort the pdf files with drag and drop before merging) offers that.

These days i found another and very cool way to do that using the Finder with automator and a python script (using PDFKit) from by Ben Byram-Wigfield:

#! /usr/bin/python
# coding=utf-8
#
# JOINPDFS v2.2 : Tool to concatenate PDFs.
# New tool built from the ground up using PDFKit, instead of Core Graphics.
# Now writes Table of Contents for each file added. (importing existing ToCs!)
# by Ben Byram-Wigfield

import sys
import os.path
from CoreFoundation import (CFURLCreateFromFileSystemRepresentation, kCFAllocatorDefault, NSURL, NSString)
import Quartz as Quartz

def createPDFDocumentWithPath(path):
	pdfURL = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_(path)
	if pdfURL:
		return Quartz.PDFDocument.alloc().initWithURL_(pdfURL)

def getFilename(filepath, basename):
	fullname = basename + ".pdf"
	i=0
	while os.path.exists(os.path.join(filepath, fullname)):
		i += 1
		fullname = basename + " %02d.pdf"%i
	return os.path.join(filepath, fullname)


def getOutline(page, label, pageObject):
	pageSize = pageObject.boundsForBox_(Quartz.kCGPDFMediaBox)
	x = 0
	y = Quartz.CGRectGetHeight(pageSize)
	pagePoint = Quartz.CGPointMake(x,y-1)
	myDestination = Quartz.PDFDestination.alloc().initWithPage_atPoint_(pageObject, pagePoint)
	myLabel = NSString.stringWithString_(label)
	myOutline = Quartz.PDFOutline.alloc().init()
	myOutline.setLabel_(myLabel)
	myOutline.setDestination_(myDestination)
	return myOutline

def join(incomingFiles):

	# Set the output file location and name.
	prefix = os.path.dirname(incomingFiles[0])
	filename = "Combined"
	outfile = getFilename(prefix, filename)
	# Load in the first PDF file, to which the rest will be added.
	firstPDF = createPDFDocumentWithPath(incomingFiles[0])
	outlineIndex = 0
	rootOutline = Quartz.PDFOutline.alloc().init()
	firstLabel = os.path.basename(incomingFiles[0])
	firstPage = firstPDF.pageAtIndex_(0)
	firstOutline = getOutline(0, firstLabel, firstPage)
	# Check and copy existing Outlines into new structure.
	existingOutline = firstPDF.outlineRoot()
	if existingOutline:
		i=0
		while i < (existingOutline.numberOfChildren()):
			childOutline = existingOutline.childAtIndex_(i)
			firstOutline.insertChild_atIndex_(childOutline, i)
			i +=1
	rootOutline.insertChild_atIndex_(firstOutline, outlineIndex)

	
	# create PDFDocument object for the remaining files.
	pdfObjects = map(createPDFDocumentWithPath, incomingFiles[1:])
	for index, doc in enumerate(pdfObjects):
		if doc:	
			pages = doc.pageCount()
			pageIndex = firstPDF.pageCount()
			tocLabel = os.path.basename(incomingFiles[index+1])
			for p in range(0, pages):
				page = doc.pageAtIndex_(p)
				firstPDF.insertPage_atIndex_(page, pageIndex+p)
				if p == 0:
					outline = getOutline(pageIndex, tocLabel, page)
					existingOutline = doc.outlineRoot()
					if existingOutline:
						i=0
						while i < (existingOutline.numberOfChildren()):
							childOutline = existingOutline.childAtIndex_(i)
							outline.insertChild_atIndex_(childOutline, i)
							i +=1
						
			rootOutline.insertChild_atIndex_(outline, index+1)
	# Add the root Outline to the first PDF.
	firstPDF.setOutlineRoot_(rootOutline)				
	firstPDF.writeToFile_(outfile)			

if __name__ == "__main__":
	if len(sys.argv) > 1:
		join(sys.argv[1:])