Combining pdf files with MacGhostscript 2.8

[John Hill]

I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
"Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
...."

I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
helpful. All I get is a window with boxes for files to be merged and
output file name, but no matter what I put in either, the application
repors an unrecoverable error.

The user guide recommends using a script, but I cannot find anything
that looks relevant.

Can anybody help me?

John.


--
Beware the SPAMblock - if your mailer doesn't see my Reply-To:, use
john at yclept dot freeserve dot co dot uk

[Terry McDanel]

In article <1fyif6n.1aunib590nwqN%nemo@erewhon.invalid>, John Hill
<nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

> I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> ..."
>
> I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> helpful. All I get is a window with boxes for files to be merged and
> output file name, but no matter what I put in either, the application
> repors an unrecoverable error.
>
> The user guide recommends using a script, but I cannot find anything
> that looks relevant.

I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
(link below) but was reminded of it by your message.

[url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]

GUI:
[url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

[John Hill]

Martin <fake_address@fake_address.com> wrote:

> > I cannot find out how to work this miracle

>
> I don't know about MacGhostscript, but if you install
> fink and then type "fink install psutils" in the Terminal,
> it will install among others an utility called "psmerge"
> which allows to merge several postscript files into one
> (type "man psmerge" for help). I don't know if it works for
> pdf files as well, but in any case you can convert your pdf to
> postscript with pdf2ps and then back to pdf with ps2pdf.
> (I am not sure if these two tools come with MacOS X, maybe
> teTeX installed them or maybe it comes with psutils.)

That sounds complicated! I think I'd prefer to leave the PDF files
separate rather than attempt all those conversions :-(

I'm going to try JoinPDF as recommended by Terry McDanel.

Many thanks.

John.

--
Beware the SPAMblock - if your mailer doesn't see my Reply-To:, use
john at yclept dot freeserve dot co dot uk

[John Hill]

Terry McDanel <tmcdanel@NO.iname.SPAM.com> wrote:

> In article <1fyif6n.1aunib590nwqN%nemo@erewhon.invalid>, John Hill
> <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:
>

> > I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> > "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> > can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> > ..."
> >
> > I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> > helpful. All I get is a window with boxes for files to be merged and
> > output file name, but no matter what I put in either, the application
> > repors an unrecoverable error.
> >
> > The user guide recommends using a script, but I cannot find anything
> > that looks relevant.

>
> I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
> found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
> (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
>
> [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
>
> GUI:
> [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

I find Ghost positively hostile... It's probably fine for the
experienced user, but the "documentation" is little use to a newbie like
me.

JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

Many thanks.

John.
--
Beware the SPAMblock - if your mailer doesn't see my Reply-To:, use
john at yclept dot freeserve dot co dot uk

[Stroller]

[email]nemo@erewhon.inva[/email]lid (John Hill) wrote in message news:<1fyif6n.1aunib590nwqN%nemo@erewhon.invalid>. ..

> I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> ..."
>
> I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> helpful. All I get is a window with boxes for files to be merged and
> output file name, but no matter what I put in either, the application
> repors an unrecoverable error.
>
> The user guide recommends using a script, but I cannot find anything
> that looks relevant.

ISTR finding the user manuals pretty bulky & obscure. I have only used
the functions ps2pdf & pdf2ps in the Ghostscript package (v7 on
Linux), and it's my understanding that popular commands like these
(and your merge2pdf) are just simple tools that are provided with (and
sit on top of) the Ghostscript library, which is in fact a much bigger
set of lower-level tools for manipulating ps & pdf files.

Likely merge2pdf is run at the command-line. Try opening a terminal
window & typing `merge2pdf` - if it returns "usage:" and a bunch of
stuff, then you know you're on the right track.

Ghostscript has quite possibly installed manpages (man-ual pages) on
your system, but I don't know how often OS X updates the manpage
database, so make sure it's up-to-date by running `sudo
/usr/libexec/makewhatis`.

Then try:
[apple:~] apropos pdf
(which lists all the manpages with something about pdf in them)

And maybe:
[apple:~] man merge2pdf
This latter should give a bit of an explanation of how to use it, &
the command-line arguments required.

HTH,

Stroller.

[John Hill]

John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

> > > I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> > > "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> > > can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> > >
> > > I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> > > helpful.

> >
> > I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
> > found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
> > (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
> >
> > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
> >
> > GUI:
> > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

>
> JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

I installed joinPDF.pkg, no problem, but when I tried to join my files
using the GUI interface joinPDF GUI 1.0b2 engl. (included with the
joinPDF download) it reported "Files do not conform", explaining that
this could be because they were bitmaps (they are not) or because they
may have security restrictions imposed (they do not).

So I tried again with the alternative PDFJoiner0.40b (the 19904
download) and it showed my target files greyed out and inaccessible.

Maybe this was why I coudln't get merge2pdf to work either?

The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in
Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the
text therein.

My need is not sufficiently pressing for me to pursue the matter any
further :-(

Many thanks for all the advice.

John.

--
Beware the SPAMblock - if your mailer doesn't see my Reply-To:, use
john at yclept dot freeserve dot co dot uk

[Terry McDanel]

In article <1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid>, John Hill
<nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

> John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:
>

> > > > I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> > > > "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> > > > can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> > > >
> > > > I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> > > > helpful.
> > >
> > > I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
> > > found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
> > > (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
> > >
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
> > >
> > > GUI:
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

> >
> > JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

>
> No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> PDF" facility, but got nowhere.
>
> I installed joinPDF.pkg, no problem, but when I tried to join my files
> using the GUI interface joinPDF GUI 1.0b2 engl. (included with the
> joinPDF download) it reported "Files do not conform", explaining that
> this could be because they were bitmaps (they are not) or because they
> may have security restrictions imposed (they do not).
>
> So I tried again with the alternative PDFJoiner0.40b (the 19904
> download) and it showed my target files greyed out and inaccessible.
>
> Maybe this was why I coudln't get merge2pdf to work either?
>
> The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in
> Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the
> text therein.
>

If you can open them in GraphicConverter they are bit mapped. As far
as i know GraphicConverter only handles graphic files in a pdf format
shell.

[Elliott Roper]

In article <240720031012453874%tmcdanel@NO.iname.SPAM.com>, Terry
McDanel <tmcdanel@NO.iname.SPAM.com> wrote:

> In article <1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid>, John Hill
> <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:
>

> > John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

> > The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in
> > Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the
> > text therein.
> >

>
> If you can open them in GraphicConverter they are bit mapped. As far
> as i know GraphicConverter only handles graphic files in a pdf format
> shell.

Nah, later versions do an excellent job of opening any PDF file. It
does a great job of creating PDFs from graphic sources too, but that
was not in question.. They are of course bitmaps inside. What do you
want? OCR with font recognition?

I use GC to convert FaxExpress multipage Tiffs, which are unreadable by
just about anything else, to perfectly manageable PDFs.

Amzing piece of software. It should be a criminal offence not possess a
registered version. They should put you away for not recognising great
value when you see it.

[Stroller]

[email]nemo@erewhon.inva[/email]lid (John Hill) wrote in message news:<1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid> ...

> John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:
>

> > > > I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> > > > "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> > > > can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> > > >
> > > > I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> > > > helpful.
> > >
> > > I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
> > > found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
> > > (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
> > >
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
> > >
> > > GUI:
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

> >
> > JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

>
> No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?

....

> The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in
> Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the
> text therein.
>
> My need is not sufficiently pressing for me to pursue the matter any
> further :-(

Aw, it's gonna really bug me now, not knowing if those man pages are there or not.
Did you try running `merge2pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf` in the terminal..?

Stroller.

[Stroller]

[email]nemo@erewhon.inva[/email]lid (John Hill) wrote in message news:<1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid> ...

> John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:
>

> > > > I downloaded MacGhostscript 2.8 because the blurb on MacUpdate said that
> > > > "Two new conversions have been added macsps2df. With merge2pdf the user
> > > > can merge a collection of Postscript and PDF files into one PDF file.
> > > >
> > > > I cannot find out how to work this miracle, and the user guide is NOT
> > > > helpful.
> > >
> > > I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago and
> > > found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried JoinPDF
> > > (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
> > >
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
> > >
> > > GUI:
> > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]

> >
> > JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

>
> No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?

....

> The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in
> Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the
> text therein.
>
> My need is not sufficiently pressing for me to pursue the matter any
> further :-(

Aw, it's gonna really bug me now, not knowing if those man pages are there or not.
Did you try running `merge2pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf` in the terminal..?

Stroller.

[Jon B]

> > >
> > > JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will investigate.

> >
> > No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> > PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

>
> Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?
>

Works fine here
--
Jon
[email]jon.bradbury@btinternet.com[/email]

[Elliott Roper]

In article <385cfcc.0307241004.6e60a832@posting.google.com> , Stroller
<stroller@bigfoot.com> wrote:

> [email]nemo@erewhon.inva[/email]lid (John Hill) wrote in message
> news:<1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid> ...

> > John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

<snip>

> > No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> > PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

>
> Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?

Probably. John clearly does it. I do it.

Word makes the joiner necessary. Word may split the output into
separate PDFs at section boundaries.

[John Hill]

Stroller <stroller@bigfoot.com> wrote:

> > > > I dont know much about Ghost. I looked at it again a few days ago
> > > > and found it to be much less than friendly. And i havent tried
> > > > JoinPDF (link below) but was reminded of it by your message.
> > > >
> > > > [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18954[/url]
> > > >
> > > > GUI: [url]http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19904[/url]
> > >
> > > JoinPDF sounds more promising... I've downloaded, and will
> > > investigate.

> >
> > No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> > PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

>
> Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?
>
> ... > The files in question open perfectly well in Adobe Reader 6.0, in >
> Preview and in GraphicConverter. Also, I can select, copy and paste the >
> text therein. > > My need is not sufficiently pressing for me to pursue
> the matter any > further :-(
>
> Aw, it's gonna really bug me now, not knowing if those man pages are there
> or not. Did you try running `merge2pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf` in the
> terminal..?

No - and as I note elsewhere, I've solved my immediate problem, so I
sha'n't experiment further.

But let's face it, I'm not really into command line operation - IMHO,
that's what Macs are NOT about. -- Beware the SPAMblock - if your mailer
doesn't see my Reply-To:, use john at yclept dot freeserve dot co dot uk

[Stroller]

Elliott Roper <elliott@yrl.co.uk> wrote in message news:<250720031239578600%elliott@yrl.co.uk>...

> In article <385cfcc.0307241004.6e60a832@posting.google.com> , Stroller
> <stroller@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>

> > [email]nemo@erewhon.inva[/email]lid (John Hill) wrote in message
> > news:<1fyltpa.dv3ut81339jhoN%nemo@erewhon.invalid> ...

> > > John Hill <nemo@erewhon.invalid> wrote:

> <snip>

> > > No dice. I was trying to join PDF files produced by the OSX "Print to
> > > PDF" facility, but got nowhere.

> >
> > Is it just me who is unable to get M$ word to use this facility..?

>
> Probably. John clearly does it. I do it.
>
> Word makes the joiner necessary. Word may split the output into
> separate PDFs at section boundaries.

Ah! I seemed to need to customise the toolbar (maybe because I've
customised it wrongly before?), so that the "Print.." icon is used
instead of the "Print" one. The former uses the printing defaults, and
the latter brings up the menu I'm used to.

Thanks, guys,

Stroller.