Interleave merge pdf files

[Chirayu Krishnappa]

Hi,

I need to scan documents with pages having printed matter on both
sides. It is easiest to stack them in the autosheet feeder and let it
scan. I end up with one file (say A.pdf) containing the odd pages in
sequence. Similarly, I can end up with B.pdf containing the even pages.
I want to combine them into result.pdf which contains A.1, B.1, A.2,
B.2, A.3, B.3, ... (A.1 = page 1 of A.pdf).

Does someone know a simple way to achieve this? I noticed the other
thread on this newsgroup about merging lots of pdf files and
multivalent tools and pdftk were mentioned. However, I could not find a
way to do this using them. I am interested in another free tool or a <
25 lines python script (which may use any freeware library) to do the
same.

Thanks,
Chirayu.

[Mark Jackson]

Re: Interleave merge pdf files

"Chirayu Krishnappa" <chirayuk@gmail .com> writes:[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> I need to scan documents with pages having printed matter on both
> sides. It is easiest to stack them in the autosheet feeder and let it
> scan. I end up with one file (say A.pdf) containing the odd pages in
> sequence. Similarly, I can end up with B.pdf containing the even pages.
> I want to combine them into result.pdf which contains A.1, B.1, A.2,
> B.2, A.3, B.3, ... (A.1 = page 1 of A.pdf).
>
> Does someone know a simple way to achieve this? I noticed the other
> thread on this newsgroup about merging lots of pdf files and
> multivalent tools and pdftk were mentioned. However, I could not find a
> way to do this using them. I am interested in another free tool or a <
> 25 lines python script (which may use any freeware library) to do the
> same.[/color]

I face exactly the same problem. Based on examination of the pdftk man
page I *think* it can be done by something like (untested):

pdftk A.pdf burst output %04d_A.pdf
pdftk B.pdf burst output %04d_B.pdf
pdftk *_?.pdf cat output combined.pdf

assuming fewer than 10,000 pages per document, of course.

I would be interested in an alternative approach which does not
generate a ton of intermediate pdfs.

--
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
It is difficult for men in high office to avoid
the malady of self-delusion. - Calvin Coolidge

[ssteward@accesspdf.com]

Re: Interleave merge pdf files

Mark Jackson wrote:[color=blue]
> "Chirayu Krishnappa" <chirayuk@gmail .com> writes:[color=green]
> > Hi,
> >
> > I need to scan documents with pages having printed matter on both
> > sides. It is easiest to stack them in the autosheet feeder and let it
> > scan. I end up with one file (say A.pdf) containing the odd pages in
> > sequence. Similarly, I can end up with B.pdf containing the even pages.
> > I want to combine them into result.pdf which contains A.1, B.1, A.2,
> > B.2, A.3, B.3, ... (A.1 = page 1 of A.pdf).
> >
> > Does someone know a simple way to achieve this? I noticed the other
> > thread on this newsgroup about merging lots of pdf files and
> > multivalent tools and pdftk were mentioned. However, I could not find a
> > way to do this using them. I am interested in another free tool or a <
> > 25 lines python script (which may use any freeware library) to do the
> > same.[/color]
>
> I face exactly the same problem. Based on examination of the pdftk man
> page I *think* it can be done by something like (untested):
>
> pdftk A.pdf burst output %04d_A.pdf
> pdftk B.pdf burst output %04d_B.pdf
> pdftk *_?.pdf cat output combined.pdf
>
> assuming fewer than 10,000 pages per document, of course.
>
> I would be interested in an alternative approach which does not
> generate a ton of intermediate pdfs.
>[/color]

Here is a page that offers a couple related scripts (one bash script,
one DOS batch script) for doing this with pdftk in one swipe:

http://www.accesspdf.com/article.php/2005020408520076

Sid