Automator PDF help please?

Question

I generate a PDF file each day with anywhere from 5-20 pages.  I need to use automator (or something similar) to split this large document into a separate document for each page.  Then rename each new document by the text on the first line (ie. name). Then consolidate all of these documents into 1 folder and zip it so that I can email it out.
I can split it fine with "PDF to images" and I can automate the consolidation and zip procedure.  However, I can't figure out any way to rename each file to the text on the first line which is the person's name.  Is this possible?  If so, any help with how to do it?
Thank you!!

Answer 1

Hello
You may also try something like the following rubycocoa script. It will split the specified pdf(s) into pages, each of which is named after its first non-empty line, and zip the directory containing the resultant pages. Currently space : / in name is replaced with _.
#!/bin/bash
infile=~/desktop/test/*.pdf
outdir=~/desktop/test/out
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby -w <<'EOF' - $infile "$outdir"
#   ARGV = pdf [pdf ...] [output_directory]
#   * If out_directory is specified and exists, pages of every specified pdf are saved in out_directory and zipped.
#   Otherwise, pages of each pdf are saved in directory named after pdf followed by "'s pages" in the same directory as pdf and zipped.
#   v0.10
#   written by Hiroto, 2014-10
require 'osx/cocoa'
OSX.require_framework 'PDFKit'
include OSX
def usage
    $stderr.puts "Usage: #{File.basename($0)} pdf [pdf ...] [output_directory]"
    exit 1
end
def quoted_form(s)
    #   string s : source string
    #   return string : s's quoted form for use in shell
    #   * e.g., given s = a'b, quoted form of s = 'a'\''b'
    %q['%s'] % s.gsub(/'/) {%q['\'']}
end
def zip_j(d)
    d = quoted_form(d)
    %x[zip -j #{d}.zip #{d}/*]
end
usage unless ARGV.length > 0
outdir = File.directory?(ARGV.last) ? ARGV.pop : nil
usage unless ARGV.length > 0
ARGV.select { |f| File.file?(f) }.each do |f|
    url = NSURL.fileURLWithPath(f)
    doc = PDFDocument.alloc.initWithURL(url)
    unless doc
        $stderr.puts "Not a pdf file: %s" % f
        next
    end
    odir = outdir ? outdir : (f + "'s pages")
    Dir.mkdir(odir) unless File.directory?(odir)
    (0 .. (doc.pageCount - 1)).each do |i|
        page = doc.pageAtIndex(i)
        line1 = ''
        page.selectionForRange(NSMakeRange(0, page.string.length)).selectionsByLine.each do |q|
            line1 = q.string.to_s.
                gsub(/^[![:space:]]+|[![:space:]]+\z/, ''). # remove leading and trailing spaces and !
                gsub(/[[:space:]:\/]/, '_')                 # replace space : / with _
            break if line1.length > 0
        end
        line1 = '_' unless line1.length > 0
        doc1 = PDFDocument.alloc.initWithData(page.dataRepresentation)
        unless doc1.writeToFile(outfile = "#{odir}/#{line1}.pdf")
            $stderr.puts "Failed to write page %d of %s to %s" % [i, f, outfile]
        end
    end
    zip_j(odir) unless outdir
end
zip_j(outdir) if outdir
EOF
If you'd like to have this as an Automator Service, you may try something like this:
0) Service input: Services receives selected [PDF files] in [any application].
1) Run AppleScript aciton
code =
on run {argv}
    tell application "System Events"
        activate
        set d to choose folder with prompt "Choose destination folder"
    end tell
    return argv & d
end run
2) Run Shell Script action
shell = /bin/bash
pass input = as arguments
code =
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby -w <<'EOF' - $@"
#   ARGV = pdf [pdf ...] [output_directory]
#   * If out_directory is specified and exists, pages of every specified pdf are saved in out_directory and zipped.
#   Otherwise, pages of each pdf are saved in directory named after pdf followed by "'s pages" in the same directory as pdf and zipped.
#   v0.10
#   written by Hiroto, 2014-10
require 'osx/cocoa'
OSX.require_framework 'PDFKit'
include OSX
def usage
    $stderr.puts "Usage: #{File.basename($0)} pdf [pdf ...] [output_directory]"
    exit 1
end
def quoted_form(s)
    #   string s : source string
    #   return string : s's quoted form for use in shell
    #   * e.g., given s = a'b, quoted form of s = 'a'\''b'
    %q['%s'] % s.gsub(/'/) {%q['\'']}
end
def zip_j(d)
    d = quoted_form(d)
    %x[zip -j #{d}.zip #{d}/*]
end
usage unless ARGV.length > 0
outdir = File.directory?(ARGV.last) ? ARGV.pop : nil
usage unless ARGV.length > 0
ARGV.select { |f| File.file?(f) }.each do |f|
    url = NSURL.fileURLWithPath(f)
    doc = PDFDocument.alloc.initWithURL(url)
    unless doc
        $stderr.puts "Not a pdf file: %s" % f
        next
    end
    odir = outdir ? outdir : (f + "'s pages")
    Dir.mkdir(odir) unless File.directory?(odir)
    (0 .. (doc.pageCount - 1)).each do |i|
        page = doc.pageAtIndex(i)
        line1 = ''
        page.selectionForRange(NSMakeRange(0, page.string.length)).selectionsByLine.each do |q|
            line1 = q.string.to_s.
                gsub(/^[![:space:]]+|[![:space:]]+\z/, ''). # remove leading and trailing spaces and !
                gsub(/[[:space:]:\/]/, '_')                 # replace space : / with _
            break if line1.length > 0
        end
        line1 = '_' unless line1.length > 0
        doc1 = PDFDocument.alloc.initWithData(page.dataRepresentation)
        unless doc1.writeToFile(outfile = "#{odir}/#{line1}.pdf")
            $stderr.puts "Failed to write page %d of %s to %s" % [i, f, outfile]
        end
    end
    zip_j(odir) unless outdir
end
zip_j(outdir) if outdir
EOF
Resulting workflow will look something like this:
Tested under OS X 10.6.8.
Good luck,
H