I wanted to print a PDF in Portugal.
I sent it as an attachment via the web form, but there was a 2 MB limit and I could not send a large file.
I tried compressing the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro, but it hardly got any smaller.
I had no choice but to attach each page of the PDF as an image.
Wouldn’t it be easier to do this using the Automator application on the Mac? So, using the standard Mac function Automator, I converted the PDF pages into images in one batch.
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What is Automator?
Automator is an automation tool that comes standard with macOS. Even if you have no programming knowledge, you can reduce work time by automating repetitive tasks. Operations can be easily performed by drag-and-drop, and workflows can be created by combining the prepared actions.
Convert all pages of a PDF file to image files in one batch.
With Automator, PDF files with dozens of pages can be converted into images in batches.
Launch Automator.
Press ‘command + spacebar’ and Spotlight will appear.
Type ‘Automator’ in the search window. Press Enter to start the application.
Creating workflows
Here is how it can be automated by selecting an ‘Action’ and setting it up on the right-hand side of the screen.
First, drag the ‘Render PDF page as image’ action into the workflow on the right-hand side.
Then drag the ‘Move Finder Item’ action into the workflow on the right.
The following workflow is created.
Here you can set the image formats you want to convert and where you want the created files to be saved.
Once the configuration is complete, you can save the automated application by clicking on ‘File’ in the menu and then ‘Save’.
In this case, we have chosen ‘PdfToJpeg.app’.
Execute the workflows you have created.
Open the Finder to view the workflow you have created.
Drag and drop the PDF file you want to convert to this ‘PdfToJpeg.app’ and the image-enabled file will be placed in the specified folder.
