# 55
Do It Your Way
Actions that show a box icon in their Edit Sequence dialog listing offer configura-ble settings. If you want to apply a configurable action, such as using the Watermark with the same appearance all the time, double-click the command’s name—the dialog to open the appro-priate dialog—in this case, the Add Watermark dialog.
Configure the settings and click OK to close the dialog.
When the sequence is run, Acrobat won’t stop when it reaches the Add Watermark command but instead applies what you’ve configured.
If you want to make changes each time the sequence is run, click the box icon to the left of the command to toggle Interactive Mode
. When the batch script is run, Acrobat stops when it reaches the interactive com-mand and opens the appro-priate dialog so that you can choose settings. When you’re done, click OK and the batch sequence continues.
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C h a p t e r S e v e n Transforming Document Pages
Figure 55a Choose from a long list of actions to include in the batch sequence.
5. Configure the settings or assign an Interactive Mode to actions you want to control manually. In the example shown in Figure 55a, the action for deleting comments has no icon to the left of the command’s name—
comments are deleted or they aren’t. The Add Watermark action has an icon to its left meaning it can be made interactive, but isn’t an interactive command in the example. Read more in the sidebar “Do It Your Way.”
6. When you have finished adding commands, click OK to return to the Edit Batch Sequence [name] dialog. The commands are listed in the dialog (Figure 55b).
Figure 55b Specify the settings for running your custom batch sequence in the dialog.
Plan Ahead
To get you into the batch sequence mindset, here are a few things to consider:
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Plan ahead. As you start working on a project, consider what repetitious tasks could be handled by a batch sequence.•
Put the files you plan to batch into a separate folder. It’s easier to keep track of where you are in your workflow. You can include files other than PDF documents in your batch sequence.•
Configure and tweak a sample file. When you are satisfied with the appear-ance, you are ready to build and use a batch sequence for the rest.•
Write and test your batch sequence at any time. You don’t need to be working with a proj-ect’s files to write the sequence.•
Consider writing a group of batch sequences.•
Pay attention to how you like to work. As you con-struct a batch, you can allow for prompts that let you check documents.143
#55: Batching Tasks to Save Time 7. Choose an option from the “Run commands on” pop-up menu based
on the requirements of your project (see the sidebar “Everything in Its Place”).
8. Choose an option from the “Select output location” pop-up menu according to your project’s needs. If you think you might use the sequence repeatedly, choose Ask When Sequence is Run. If the files are intended for the same output folder, choose Specific Folder and select the folder.
9. Click Output Options so you can configure the processed files further in the Output Options dialog (Figure 55c).
Figure 55c Specify filename and file format options for the batch sequence.
10. Select custom options for your project. For example, you can do the following:
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Append characters to the original filenames and specify whether or not to overwrite the original files.•
Choose an output format from the menu, such as Web pages, Word documents, text, and so on.•
Select Fast Web View to minimize file size.•
Run PDF Optimizer options (read about the PDF Optimizer in #33,“Optimizing a PDF Document”).
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Export the processed files in one of the Acrobat export formats (learn more about exporting in #34, “Exporting PDF Documents in Other Formats”).But What About …?
In the Edit Sequence dialog, if you choose a specific folder on which to run the commands, a Source File Options button appears.
Click the button to open a list of file formats—any type of file you can convert to PDF can be included.
Everything in Its Place If you are building a sequence for a specific project and have stored the files in one folder location, choose that option. If you have files in several folders, choose Selected Files. The option you choose deter-mines the other selections that are available. For exam-ple, if you choose Files Open in Acrobat, the rest of the dialog is dimmed.
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C h a p t e r S e v e n Transforming Document Pages
11. Click OK to close the Output Options dialog, and then click OK again to close the Edit Batch Sequence [name] dialog, returning you to the original Batch Sequences dialog. Your new sequence is included in the dialog’s list.
12. If you are ready to use the process (either a custom sequence or one of the defaults), click Run Sequence. You can also rename it, edit it, and delete it by clicking the appropriate buttons.
As the process is applied, you may see dialogs, depending on the com-mands you added to your sequence and whether or not you specified Interactive Mode.
1-2-3 of Batch Sequences
What to use, why bother, and where to put the stuff?
To simplify, and make these questions easier to answer, simply decide these four fac-tors and you are on your way to batch sequence success:
1. Decide which commands you want to run.
2. Decide on the charac-teristics of the files you intend to process—are the files usually in a par-ticular folder, or scattered all over your computer?
3. Do you want to store the finished files in a regular location, or are you more likely to need them saved all over your hard drive?
4. What file format do you need for the finished documents?