AutoBatch™ Plug-in / Run batch sequences from a command prompt

What is AutoBatch™ Plug-in?: AutoBatch™ is an advanced plug-in for Adobe® Acrobat Professional® software. AutoBatch™ adds a command-line batch file functionality to the Adobe® Acrobat Professional®. It allows users to execute any existing Acrobat batch sequence from a command-line prompt or a batch file. The plug-in provides easy to use interface for creating batch files that does not require any type of programming. The desired batch file is created automatically based on user selection of an existing batch sequence and a required action. The resulting batch file can be started from a command prompt and automatically launches Adobe® Acrobat Professional® that immediately starts executing a specified batch sequence. Adobe® Acrobat Professional® automatically exits once processing is completed. AutoBatch™ plug-in adds a missing functionality to the Acrobat software - ability to process PDF documents in the completely automatic mode. Acrobat batch sequences are a great way to automate many routine document handling tasks. You can apply sequence to a single document, to several documents, or to an entire collection of documents. However, Acrobat requires a human interaction in order to execute any batch processing sequence. AutoBatch™ comes very handy when you need to further automate your document processing workflow and/or link it into a bigger file or document processing system. Batch sequences can be now easily launched from outside of Adobe® Acrobat Professional® without any kind of programming or even typing.
How it works?: AutoBatch™ provides easy to use user interface for creating batch files that does not require any type of programming or typing. Just select a desired Acrobat batch sequence from the list and choose few other parameters. The plug-in will automatically write out a batch file for you. Batch files can be invoked from a command prompt or from other batch files. Adobe® Acrobat Professional® software is automatically started and exited once processing is completed. User can optionally specify additional actions that need to be applied to the processed PDF documents. Documents can be copied, moved, deleted or passed to another batch file or application. It's possible to overwrite input file or folder selection in the Acrobat batch sequence and pass a different path as a parameter of the batch file.
Related Links: Features Summary; Step-by-Step "How To" instructions; Features; Download Free Trial Version; Buy software online

Features Summary

Automatic Batch File Generation

No programming or even typing required. No guessing, errors and typos! Just select an existing batch sequence from the list and the software will do the rest. AutoBatch™ will automatically write out a batch file that is ready to use. Launching this batch file will start Adobe® Acrobat Professional® and begin execution of a selected batch sequence. AutoBatch™ plug-in adds a "Plug-ins > Create Batch File..." menu to the Adobe® Acrobat Professional® that provides an easy to use interface for selecting an existing Acrobat batch sequence and processing settings.

Launching Acrobat Batch Sequences from a Command Prompt

The resulting batch file can be started from a command prompt, another batch file or another application. Adobe® Acrobat Professional® software is automatically started and exited once processing is completed. AutoBatch™ plug-in displays a progress dialog that provides a way to visually monitor a current state of the batch sequence.

Post-Processing PDF Documents

Copy, move, or delete input PDF documents once they are processed by a batch sequence. You can even execute another batch file or application on input PDF documents. This type of processing adds an additional flexibility to the batch processing framework and allows linking to a bigger document processing system. It allows chaining of several processing steps together and adding an extra functionality that is not available or accessible in the Adobe® Acrobat®.

Processing Log

The plug-in maintains a processing log that records all details about files and batch sequences that have been processed by the application.

Passing Custom File or Folder

It’s possible to override an input file or folder selection in an Acrobat batch sequence and pass a different file or a folder path. This provides an additional flexibility to the user of AutoBatch™ plug-in because it allows using the same batch sequence with different input files and folders without editing the batch sequence itself. You can pass a custom input file or folder path as a batch file parameter (see example below). The alternative path is going to be used instead of input file or folder specified in the original batch sequence.

AutoBatch™ plug-in interprets this input parameter based on the settings in the original Acrobat batch sequences that it executes:
If an original batch sequence is set up to use “Selected files” as input source then this parameter is going to be used as an alternative file path. Only single file path can be passed as a parameter. If an original batch sequence is using a “Selected folder” as an input then this parameters is going to be interpreted as an alternative folder path. These settings can be specified on "Edit Batch Sequence" dialog.

For example, you have created an Acrobat batch sequence MyOCR that executes a “Paper Capture” command on the selected folder “c:\temp”. Now you want to execute this batch sequence from the outside of Adobe® Acrobat Professional® and created OCR.BAT batch file using AutoBatch™ plug-in (“Plug-ins > Create Batch File…”). However, if you want to execute this batch sequence on a different folder, then you have to edit the original MyOCR sequence and specify a different input folder. Alternatively, you can keep using the very same batch file and sequence, but pass a different input folder as a parameter. For example, to execute MyOCR on the folder “c:\data\pdfs” just pass this custom folder path to the OCR.BAT file when launching it:

[c:\] myocr.bat “c:\data\pdfs\”

The batch sequence will process all files in “c:\data\pdfs” folder instead of “c:\temp” folder that is specified in the original sequence description.

Executing Multiple Batch Files

Sometimes it is necessary to call several batch files from a single master batch file. The example below illustrates the use of the CALL statement to invoke individual batch files from a master batch file:

CALL myocr.bat “c:\data\pdfs\”
CALL myocr.bat “c:\data\docs\”
CALL myocr.bat “d:\temp\”

CALL statement safely calls one batch program from another. Refer to Windows 2000/NT/XP command-line syntax for more information about command-line batch files.

Running As Scheduled Task

You can execute AutoBatch-generated batch files at daily, weekly or monthly intervals using MS Windows Task Scheduler application. If you want to run a batch file without logging into your Windows account, then you have to make sure that the following options are set while generating a batch file using AutoBatch plug-in:

"Start Adobe Acrobat in minimized window" is ON.
"Display a progress dialog" is OFF.

This will ensure the correct execution of the batch file via Task Scheduler.

Software Limitations

IMPORTANT: "PDF Optimizer" options are not yet supported in the current version of the plug-in.

Step by Step How-To Instructions

1. Installing AutoBatch™ Plug-in: Download and install AutoBatch™ plug-in on your computer. Make sure you have Adobe® Acrobat Professional® installed on your system (see system requirements below) and it's not running while you are installing the plug-in.
2. Preparing an Acrobat® Batch Sequence: Start Adobe® Acrobat Professional® and select "Advanced > Document Processing > Batch Processing..." (Acrobat 8) or "Advanced > Batch Processing..." (Acrobat 6 and 7) from the menu. The "Batch Sequences" dialog should appear on the screen.; 1. Click "New Sequence..." button to create a new batch sequence that you want to execute. Give this sequence a name, for example "AUTOBATCH".; 2. Specify what will be an input for this sequence using "Run commands on" menu. Please note that by default, a batch sequence is using "Ask when sequence is run" option. This option will pop up a file selection dialog during the execution. Most likely, you do not want this type of behavior. Select either "Selected Files" or "Selected Folder" option. Please also note that if you intend to pass a file name as a parameter to a batch file, then you have to choose a "Selected Files" option. If you want to pass a folder name, then choose a "Selected Folder" option.; 3. Specify output folder and filenaming settings using "Select output location" menu. Please note that AutoBatch plug-in does not support "PDF Optimizer" options.; 4. Push "Select Commands" button to start building your processing sequence from individual "commands" using "Edit Sequence" dialog.; 5. Locate a desired command in the command list and click "Add>>" button.; 6. Click "Edit..." button to specify all required command parameters.; 7. Save your sequence after adding all desired commands. Now your batch sequence is completed and is ready for execution.; Consult Acrobat's online help and user's manual for more details on how to create and edit batch sequences. Exit "Batch Sequences" dialog once you have completed and saved a batch sequence.
3. Creating a Batch File: Select "Plug-ins > Create Batch File..." from the main menu. This menu entry is only available if AutoBatch™ plug-in is installed on your system. "Create Command-Line Batch File" dialog should appear on the screen. Select the batch sequence (AUTOBATCH) that you have created at the previous step from "Select Batch Sequence" list. Choose a final action ("Do nothing", "Copy to a different folder", "Move to a different folder", "Delete document from disk", "Execute application") to apply to each processed PDF document from the "Select Action" pull-down menu. Now you are ready to create a batch file. Click "Create Batch File..." button to create and save output batch file to disk.
4. Executing a Batch File: Make sure that Adobe® Acrobat Professional® is not running on your system. Open a Windows explorer window and navigate to batch file you have created at the previous step. Double-click on the file to start it. Adobe® Acrobat Professional® will be automatically started and you should see a "AutoBatch Status" dialog showing the batch sequence progress. Adobe® Acrobat Professional® will be automatically closed once the processing is completed.

System Requirements

Platforms:: Microsoft® Windows Vista/XP/2003/2000 (32-bit versions).
Software:: Full version of Adobe® Acrobat® Professional software is required (versions 6, 7, 8, 9) or Adobe® Acrobat® version 5. This software will not work with free Adobe Acrobat® Reader®.
(Adobe Acrobat Product Comparison Chart).
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