Combine PDFs generated by Word when a document has multiple layouts

Code, by andrew, September 23, 2012

Sometimes Mac OS X’s quartz and Microsoft’s Word don’t play so well together. For example, when a single Word document mixes layouts (e.g., portrait, landscape), printing the document yields multiple PDF files — one for each section of the document where there is a layout switch. Here’s the workflow I’m currently using to streamline the process of creating a PDF from a Word document with multiple layouts.

Setup

  1. If you don’t already have it, download and install Quicksilver
  2. Create an applescript file using this code (to do so, copy and paste into a text editor, then save as something like Combine PDFs.scpt)
  3. Move the script you just created to ~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/Actions/

Use

  1. Save a Word document as PDF
  2. Highlight the multiple PDF files that are created if the document has multiple layouts
  3. Invoke Quicksilver (usually Control + Spacebar)
  4. Command + G to grab the files from Quicksilver
  5. Tab to the second pane and type “Combine PDFs”
  6. Press enter
  7. Quicksilver will re-invoke with the new file
  8. Tab to the next pane and type “rename”
  9. Give the file your desired name