[Gllug] Combine multiple pdf files to single document

[Walter Stanish]

> I've been sent a 32-page document as 32 single page pdf files. Can anyone 
> point me to a method of combining them to a single pdf (ther than printing 
> out and re-scanning ...)

I have an unfortunately large amount of experience with this sort of thing.

There's a few possible routes, though due to various PDF options (encryption,
Unicode fonts, font licensing issues, etc.) and related limitations in some
(all?) of the open source toolsets, the problem is more complex than it
would otherwise be.

What I would recommend for the best possible output is to use Adobe's own
acroread to convert them first to PS then combine the resulting files to a
new PDF or PS.  This maintains the structured nature of the document instead
of requiring raster conversion.

Try:
 acroread [-level2] [-level3] [...other-options...] -toPostScript <pdf_file> [optional_ps_output_dir]

See also:
 acroread -help

You can also use the 'convert' tool from imagemagick, however this requires
specifying raster image options (dpi) for font rendering before acceptable
output will be achieved.  The command line is roughly 'convert *.pdf new.pdf'
but the DPI option has left my memory... 

Good luck :)

- Walter
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