Batch merge scanned pages

To batch merge scanned pages, you can use various methods and software tools. Here’s a step-by-step guide using a few popular tools:

1. Using Adobe Acrobat (Paid)

Adobe Acrobat Pro allows you to merge multiple scanned pages into a single PDF quickly.

Steps:

1. Open Adobe Acrobat Pro.

2. Click on “Tools” in the top menu and select “Combine Files”.

3. Click “Add Files” to select all the scanned pages you want to merge.

4. Arrange the pages in the desired order by dragging them.

5. Click “Combine” and save the resulting PDF.

2. Using PDF Merge Tool (Free Online)

There are free online tools like Smallpdf or ILovePDF that allow you to merge scanned pages easily.

Steps (Using Smallpdf):

1. Visit Smallpdf Merge PDF.

2. Upload your scanned files.

3. Once uploaded, you can reorder the pages as needed.

4. Click “Merge PDF” and download the final file.

3. Using PDFsam (Free Software)

PDFsam is a free, open-source software for merging and splitting PDFs.

Steps:

1. Download and install PDFsam from PDFsam.org.

2. Open PDFsam and select the “Merge” option.

3. Add the scanned pages.

4. Rearrange the files if necessary and click “Run” to merge them into a single PDF.

4. Using Command-Line (Linux)

For those comfortable with command-line operations, you can use pdftk or ghostscript to merge PDF files.

Steps (Using pdftk):

1. Install pdftk via your package manager:

   bash
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   sudo apt-get install pdftk
   

2. Run the following command to merge PDFs:

   bash
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   pdftk file1.pdf file2.pdf cat output merged.pdf
   

This will combine file1.pdf and file2.pdf into a new PDF called merged.pdf.

5. Using Preview on Mac

If you’re using a Mac, Preview can also merge scanned pages.

Steps:

1. Open all the scanned pages in Preview.

2. Select the “View” menu and choose “Thumbnails” to show the page thumbnails.

3. Drag and drop the scanned pages in the sidebar to reorder them.

4. Go to File > Export as PDF to save the merged file.

6. Using Python (for Automation)

For those familiar with coding, you can use a Python script with the PyPDF2 library.

Sample Python Script:

python
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from PyPDF2 import PdfMerger

pdfs = ["file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "file3.pdf"]
merger = PdfMerger()

for pdf in pdfs:
    merger.append(pdf)

merger.write("merged.pdf")
merger.close()

This script will automatically merge all the PDFs listed in the pdfs array into a single PDF called merged.pdf.

These are a few methods for batch merging scanned pages. Choose the one that best fits your preferences and the tools you have available.