Print a PDF of an entire workbook?

[Alan Quirt]

I've searched the archives and the help files without success.

If I print an entire workbook to PDF, Excel appears to print each page
to a separate PDF file, each time using the file name I specified. Each
page replaces the previous page, so I end up with a PDF file containing
only the last page of the workbook.

Of course I could print each page separately (a real pain if there are
many) but then I'd have to somehow combine all the individual PDF files.

Is there any way to make Excel print the whole workbook as a single
print job that ends up in a single PDF file?

 

[CyberTaz]

I don't know of a way to do so using the standard [read as: basic]
capability in OS X. Acrobat Pro (and perhaps others) offer a setting to
include entire workbook in a single PDF.

Otherwise, you can output each sheet independently of the others in the wkbk
& use one of the 'stitcher' apps available to tie them up into a neat little
bundle... check on VersionTracker.com for pdf stitchers.

 

[Tom Stiller]

I have a solution for Tiger that works well for me.

I use the freeware virtual printer, "cups-pdf", which can be downloaded
from VersionTracker at
<http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29368>. I could use
the "Print to PDF" option but the virtual printer requires fewer steps
when printing.

Step 0: Download and install the PDF virtual printer.

Step 1: Create a launchd plist file (example below) in directory
"~/Library/LaunchAgents". I named mine "rename_pdf"

Step 2: create an _executable_ perl script (example below) to do the
work. I named mine "rename_pdf". You can put the script file anywhee,
so ling as you specify the complete path in the launchd plist.

What all this does is to watch the folder ~/Desktop/cups-pdf for any
change in contents. When a change is detected, any file whose name
begins with the "_" character will have that character stripped. The
virtual printer produces a fine named "_test.pdf" when the file "Test"
is printed. As soon as the name is created, the daemon strips the "_"
and so subsequent worksheets will not overwrite the prior ones.

Note: If you don't use the virtual printer, you must remember to prefix
the filename with the "_" character, and specify the correct path to the
"watched" folder.

Note: Examine the scripts carefully, changing any pathnames to suit your
installation.

I know it's bad form to reply to one's own post, but I inadvertently
included an incorrect version of the perl script. A correct example is
given below.

Also, I should have mentioned that if one doesn't use "Lingon" to manage
the launchd agents and daemons, it will b necessary to either logout/in
or execute 'launchctl load <name of plist file>' to activate the agent.


example script:
------------------------ cut here -----------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl

@list = `ls /Users/tms/Desktop/cups-pdf/_*`;

foreach $was (@list) {
chop($was);
$is = $was;
$was =~ /^(.*)\/_([^\/]+)(\.pdf)$/ &&
($dir = $1) && ($name =$2) && ($suf = $3);
$name =~ s/_$//;
$i = 1;
while ( -f $dir ."/" . $name . $mod . $suf ) {
$mod = sprintf("[%03d]", $i++);
}
rename($was, $dir . "/" . $name . $mod . $suf)
unless $was eq $dir . "/" . $name . $mod . $suf;
}
----------------------- cut here -----------------------

 

[Alan Quirt]

Thanks for this info.

I will probably use the solution suggested by another poster. But I'm
curious. Why does Excel print each worksheet as a separate print job? I
can see having that option for very large worksheets that each print as
multiple pages, but it seems strange to me that there is no way to
over-ride it.

I don't know of a way to do so using the standard [read as: basic]
capability in OS X. Acrobat Pro (and perhaps others) offer a setting to
include entire workbook in a single PDF.

Otherwise, you can output each sheet independently of the others in the wkbk
& use one of the 'stitcher' apps available to tie them up into a neat little
bundle... check on VersionTracker.com for pdf stitchers.

--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I've searched the archives and the help files without success.

If I print an entire workbook to PDF, Excel appears to print each page
to a separate PDF file, each time using the file name I specified. Each
page replaces the previous page, so I end up with a PDF file containing
only the last page of the workbook.

Of course I could print each page separately (a real pain if there are
many) but then I'd have to somehow combine all the individual PDF files.

Is there any way to make Excel print the whole workbook as a single
print job that ends up in a single PDF file?