◆ Acrobat · combine

Incomplete Candidate Folders

HR sent 14 applicants and half the files are scattered: resumes emailed, references on a separate drive, and one candi…

1ready prompt
1real task
3roles

When to use it

real situations

AI prompts

1 way to ask · copy any one
CDecide — “help me choose”HR sent 14 applicants and half the files are scattered: resumes emailed, references on a…+
HR sent 14 applicants and half the files are scattered: resumes emailed, references on a separate drive, and one candidate’s portfolio as a web link. I need to compile secure packets so hiring managers can interview without hunting. Diagnose whether to centralize now into a locked PDF packet per candidate or to create a secure folder with an index, tell me the security and audit trade-offs, and give the short instruction to send to HR so they deliver complete packets by 9am tomorrow.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed.

How to do it

the tool · the steps · what to avoid
  1. 1

    Open Adobe Acrobat.

  2. 2

    Go to File > Combine Files.

  3. 3

    Click Add Files and select the PDF files you want to merge.

  4. 4

    Arrange the files in your desired order by dragging and dropping them within the list.

  5. 5

    Click Combine to merge the selected files into a single PDF document.

  6. 6

    Save the new combined PDF to your preferred location.

You can preview and reorder files before combining to ensure the final PDF is in the correct sequence.

This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.

Glossary

words on this page
Combine FilesAn Acrobat feature that puts multiple documents or images into a single PDF.ExampleYou use this Acrobat feature to gather several reports and images into one PDF.
BookmarkA link in a PDF that helps you jump to a specific part of the document.ExampleClicking the 'Exhibit A' bookmark takes you directly to the relevant court document.
ThumbnailA small picture that shows what a page or file looks like.ExampleClicking on the thumbnail of page 5 quickly displays the full content of that page.

The real tasks

the one, listed here
We’re starting interviews tomorrow and candidate folders are incomplete.

Who does this

3 roles
Office AdministratorLegal AssistantAcademic Coordinator

FAQ

about this task
  1. When combining files, keep 'Preserve Bookmarks' turned on.
  2. This makes each original file a top-level bookmark in the new PDF.
  3. Users can then click these bookmarks to quickly move between the different sections of your combined document, making it much easier to read and find information.

The 'Combine PDF' operation in the Adobe API is a way for computer programs to automatically merge multiple documents into a single PDF. It's useful for developers who want to build applications that can create combined PDF packets without manual user input. This operation supports combining up to 20 files and allows for specifying page ranges from each source document.

If your original files already had page numbers, combining them will likely result in those numbers restarting with each new document. To fix this, you should add continuous page numbers to the entire combined PDF after it's created. Acrobat has a 'Header & Footer' tool that allows you to add new, sequential page numbers across all pages of your merged document, overriding any previous numbering.

You should keep your original files for a few days after combining them. This is because if you need to make changes or re-merge the documents for any reason, you will still have the source files available. Deleting them immediately could cause problems if the combined PDF needs to be updated.

No, merging files rarely makes the PDF file size smaller. In fact, it might even make the file larger because it's bringing all the different file types and their data into one document. If you need a smaller file, you should compress the combined PDF after you have finished merging it. Acrobat has a 'Optimize PDF' or 'Reduce File Size' feature for this purpose.

Sources

where this comes from
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