This is an interesting Blog ‘Multiple Document Assembly to PDF in SharePoint’
written by Paul Dyck, Product Manager, Adlib Software. Adlib software are
one of our Sliver Sponsors at the European
SharePoint Conference 2011 in Berlin 17th-20th October. To find
out more on the European SharePoint Conference please click
here
One problem that we hear about from customers when we talk about
document conversion to PDF in SharePoint is the inability to merge
multiple documents into a single PDF file.
There are a lot of uses for document assembly, the most common
being the creation of proposals for RFPs (Requests for Proposals),
and Meeting Books for Boards or Trustees.
Creating a single, cohesive PDF file from a collection of
documents in different formats such as Microsoft Word, financial
information in Excel, engineering data in AutoCAD DWG format,
PowerPoint presentations, etc., produces a more professional
looking result, and makes it much more efficient for the reader to
use this information. The merged PDF file can be made much
easier for users to navigate through its contents with the addition
of a table of contents and PDF bookmarks for the entire document,
and an index of terms used along with a hyperlink to the exact
location.
for SharePoint includes a workflow that enables the
merging of documents in a document library into a single PDF file.
A “Merge Documents” column is used to include/exclude
documents in the library from the merge. A “Merge Order” column is
used to define the order of the documents to be merged in the
resulting PDF.
Using this method, instead of extracting documents from
SharePoint to merge them using a desktop application, will make
multiple document assembly of SharePoint content much more
efficient and reliable.
