Snow Leopard preview.app - working with pdf files

[feuerschlange]

I have a pdf file, I want to copy certain pages from to a new file and rename the pages afterwards.
This is the awkward behavier, preview.app gives me, trying to do so:

It does not let me create a new pdf out of the program (command + N or file/new file) - why?
Instead, I have to drag one of the pages I want on the desktop, to create a new pdf file there.

Once I created a new pdf and dragged the wanted pages into my new file, I cannot rename the pages, which have now meaningless names including "(dragged)" in the middle. I have found no logical way, to rename these pages - why?

Do not ever plan, to save time in just selecting more than one page, to drag and copy over to your new pdf - you will end up with an alias in your sidebar of the new pdf file, which of no reason making sense to me is undeletable - which means - start over again!

Does anybody have any insight of these particular points?

 

[darkpaw]

Cmd+N will create a new document using what's in the clipboard. If you have nothing in the clipboard that Preview can accept, it won't do anything. You'll find the File menu's "New with Clipboard" item is disabled.

When you drag a page onto your desktop, the file that gets created is called "your original PDF filename (dragged).pdf". If you want to rename it, rename it in the Finder on your desktop before you open the file in Preview. Preview isn't a file manager. It's simply showing you the file.

With regards to the alias that gets created in your sidebar, you can right-click it and choose "Close".

Here's how to get multiple pages in a new document:
- Open the source document in Preview.
- Drag any page onto the desktop.
- Open the new document from the desktop. (You should now have two files open.)
- In the source document, select ALL the pages you want, and drag them to the sidebar of the other document. This will create the alias you mentioned.
- Now, right-click the alias in the sidebar and choose "Save a Copy to Folder..."
- Navigate to where you want to save it, and click "Choose".

You have now saved a document with just the pages you wanted. Rename the document in the Finder.

Hope this helps.

 

[old-wiz]

Not to mention that the preview app is never intended to be a PDF editor.

 

[feuerschlange]

Cmd+N will create a new document using what's in the clipboard. If you have nothing in the clipboard that Preview can accept, it won't do anything. You'll find the File menu's "New with Clipboard" item is disabled.

When you drag a page onto your desktop, the file that gets created is called "your original PDF filename (dragged).pdf". If you want to rename it, rename it in the Finder on your desktop before you open the file in Preview. Preview isn't a file manager. It's simply showing you the file.

With regards to the alias that gets created in your sidebar, you can right-click it and choose "Close".

Here's how to get multiple pages in a new document:
- Open the source document in Preview.
- Drag any page onto the desktop.
- Open the new document from the desktop. (You should now have two files open.)
- In the source document, select ALL the pages you want, and drag them to the sidebar of the other document. This will create the alias you mentioned.
- Now, right-click the alias in the sidebar and choose "Save a Copy to Folder..."
- Navigate to where you want to save it, and click "Choose".

You have now saved a document with just the pages you wanted. Rename the document in the Finder.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tips Darkpaw! It all is very clunky opposed to the usual Macintosh user experience so far.

I expected creating a new pdf extract with several pages as easy per drag and drop and site renaming as all other usual file operations on OS X.

I have found, I can drag all wanted pages from a multi page pdf to the desktop, rename them as desired and end up with properly named single page pdf files.

If I could only find out, how to pack those single page files into 1 multi page pdf.

 

[darkpaw]

If I could only find out, how to pack those single page files into 1 multi page pdf.

I already told you how to do it. Drag them into the sidebar of another PDF document, right-click and save to a folder. It saves it as one multi-page document.

 

[feuerschlange]

I already told you how to do it. Drag them into the sidebar of another PDF document, right-click and save to a folder. It saves it as one multi-page document.

No darkpaw, I am afraid, it is not possible. The way you described (which seems the only way, to summon multi page pdf files in preview.app) does save multiple files into one pdf. It does so without the correct takeover of proper names. It will rename the pages at will.

So far I stick to the one page only documents and rename the pages manually for their proper naming until I have found a reasonable pdf editor.

 

[Ashka]

Double click one of the single page, renamed pdfs on the desktop so it opens in preview > show sidebar and drag the other pages into the side bar in the order you want.
S.

 

[feuerschlange]

Double click one of the single page, renamed pdfs on the desktop so it opens in preview > show sidebar and drag the other pages into the side bar in the order you want.
S.

Doesn't work since Snow Leopard unfortunately.
Preview.app does allow now for multiple files opened in one session. When I try to safe the pdf, I created that way, it safes all the nicely aligned single pages as single documents again

I have the impression, this is one of the many slight flaws, that might be ironed out later in snow Leopard. You can't blame Apple, they made a major reprogramming of pretty much everything and for what Snow Leopard is, it does work nicely except the small things here and there.

 

[darkpaw]

Okay, Preview is not a fully-fledged PDF editor. If you want to do advanced things, I guess you'll have to buy Adobe's Acrobat. Sorry.