Batch covert Numbers to PDF

[Markusjd]

Hi all

Does anyone know how to batch convert Numbers files to PDFs without having to open each one individually?

TIA

Mark

 

[bogdanw]

You can with LibreOffice from Terminal

/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf *.numbers

converts all Numbers documents in the folder to PDF.

LibreOffice is free https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download-libreoffice/
If you don’t like Terminal, it can be integrated into a QuickAction or AppleScript.

 

[Markusjd]

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. At what point do I input the folder name? - and in what format, just the folder name, or the entire path? Sorry, I am not familiar with terminal (other than turning off desktop icons!)

TIA

mark

 

[bogdanw]

I’m sorry, I’ve just tried and it doesn’t seem to work with files created by Numbers version 13.1. It generates blank or incomplete PDFs.

 

[Markusjd]

Ok thanks anyway, guess I'll have to do it manually, can't believe Apple have not got some facility to do batch PDF'ing in Preview or similar...

 

[Slartibart]

Ok thanks anyway, guess I'll have to do it manually,

Actually you don’t 😃

can't believe Apple have not got some facility to do batch PDF'ing in Preview or similar...

Well, they created e.g. Applescript for that 🤓 - here is a script which converts Pages to Microsoft Word. You have to change just 3 basic things in it so it will probably serve your purpose:

1. replace Pages in the script with Numbers (line 15, 16, 40).
2. change the file extension from pages to whatever Numbers is using (line 14).
3. replace Microsoft Word with PDF and the extension from .docx to .pdf in the line for the export format (line 16).

Then you should be set.

nota bene: I might have overlooked some appearance of Pages you need to replace, and I leave it to you to find the default extension of a Numbers file 🙃

 

[Markusjd]

Actually you don’t 😃



Well, they created e.g. Applescript for that 🤓 - here is a script which converts Pages to Microsoft Word. You have to change just 3 basic things in it so it will probably serve your purpose:

1. replace Pages in the script with Numbers (line 15, 16, 40).
2. change the file extension from pages to whatever Numbers is using (line 14).
3. replace Microsoft Word with PDF and the extension from .docx to .pdf in the line for the export format (line 16).

Then you should be set.

nota bene: I might have overlooked some appearance of Pages you need to replace, and I leave it to you to find the default extension of a Numbers file 🙃

Thank you, I have tried but having not used AS before I am not sure what I am doing!

 

[bogdanw]

Here is a simpler version:
- open Script Editor(/Applications/Utilities/Script Editor)
- copy-paste the code

tell application "Finder"
    set theFiles to choose file with prompt "Please select the Number files:" of type {"numbers"} with multiple selections allowed
    repeat with currentFile in theFiles
        set theOutputFolder to ((container of currentFile) as text)
        set extension hidden of currentFile to true
        set theName to displayed name of currentFile
        set thePDF to (theOutputFolder & theName & ".pdf" as text)
        tell application "Numbers"
            open currentFile
            export front document to file thePDF as PDF
            close front document
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell

-press Run the script (⌘R)
You will be asked to select the Numbers documents, multiple documents can be selected, the script will open each one in Numbers and export it as PDF in the same folder.

 

[Markusjd]

WOW! Thank you so much that worked perfectly, you're a genius!!! Thank you, I really appreciate that

Mark

 

[gregmac19]

I’m sorry, I’ve just tried and it doesn’t seem to work with files created by Numbers version 13.1. It generates blank or incomplete PDFs.

I can’t get LibreOffice 7.6.4.1 to correctly open even the simplest Numbers version 13.1 files. I am tempted to open a thread to find out if others have this issue, but I thought I would check with you first to see if you have any insight into the problem.

 

[bogdanw]

I can’t get LibreOffice 7.6.4.1 to correctly open even the simplest Numbers version 13.1 files. I am tempted to open a thread to find out if others have this issue, but I thought I would check with you first to see if you have any insight into the problem.

I can only confirm that even the simplest numbers file (Basic – Blank template) doesn’t open correctly in LibreOffice 7.6.5 or 24.2.0.

 

[gregmac19]

I can only confirm that even the simplest numbers file (Basic – Blank template) doesn’t open correctly in LibreOffice 7.6.5 or 24.2.0.

Thanks for checking!

I tried to open simple Numbers files using LibreOffice on both Monterey and Ventura, so I was somewhat confident that there is an issue. However, I was surprised that I couldn’t find anyone complaining about the problem because it seems others would be regularly using this translator, and your September 7, 2023 post from above indicates the problem has been around a while.