Merge Files in a Document Set into a Single PDF File

This is the third in a 3-part series reviewing the features of Adlib PDF for SharePoint that extends SharePoint 2010. The first post reviewed how to use the Document ID feature in SharePoint 2010 to link your PDF rendition back to the source. The second post discussed using Adlib PDF for SharePoint 2010 to include document conversion workflows created using SharePoint Designer.

Document Sets in SharePoint 2010  are a great way to group related documents in various formats for projects, investment bank pitch books, RFPs, etc.

It is much better to use Document Sets – rather than folders – to group documents in SharePoint because you can also associate workflows with Document Sets to make them more efficient to work with and to automate manual business processes.

For example, in the latest release of Adlib PDF for SharePoint we extend the value of Document Sets by enabling the merging of all files in a Document Set – in one operation – to a single PDF to make it more usable.

The resulting PDF is enhanced with PDF bookmarks and a table of contents for more efficient navigation. This format is much more useful for the end user.

Advantages of using Document Sets over using individual files include:

• Save time opening and examining individual documents
• Easy to search within the collection
• Efficient navigation using the generated table of contents and PDF bookmarks
• Page numbering across the entire document

Metadata  is used to control the order in which the documents are merged and whether they are to be included in the report.

This functionality was shown as part of the demo portion of our recent webinar - Go with the Workflow: PDF for SharePoint 2010. The demo begins at the 28 minute mark of the video.