Tool

Creating one pdf file from a directory of multiple .png scans.

Using kooka and my Cannon scanner, I have been scanning some articles into my computer, these usually require several pages of scans, and I save the images as .png files. Kooka saves the images in the format kscan_0001.png , kscan_0002.png , and so on. As long as you scan in pages in the same order you want them in the pdf, you won't have any need to re-number the scanned image files. (You could save the scanned files in almost any image format you wish. Simply change the script to work with the image format you want to work with.)

The goal was to get ONE pdf document that was cross platform compatible created from the multiple scans... all with minimal effort on my part other than the scanning. Using bash, I created a quick script to do the repetitive work.

What it does:
First it takes .png scans from the current directory and creates a .pdf file for each one with imagemagick.
Then, with pdftk, all the .png scans are rolled into one larger .pdf file.

Code:

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#!/bin/bash
# FILE : makepdf.sh
# Function: Creates ONE pdf file from a directory of multiple png scans.
# Copyright (C) 2006 Dave Crouse <dave NOSPAMat usalug.org>
# ----------------------------------------------------------------- #
#
# NOTES:
# Scans must be in .png format, or change the imagetype variable.
# Converts each png image file to a pdf file.
#

#######################
# VARIABLE: Change this to jpg, bmp, or whatever image file type your
converting from.
imagetype="png"
#######################

# Test to make sure required programs are installed.
if [[ -z $( type -p convert ) ]]; then echo -e "ImageMagick -- NOT
INSTALLED !";exit ;fi
if [[ -z $( type -p pdftk ) ]]; then echo -e "pdftk -- NOT INSTALLED
!";exit ;fi

read -p "What would you like to name your new pdf file ? :" newname;
for i in *.${imagetype} ; do convert $i $i.pdf;done;
pdftk *.pdf cat output $newname.pdf;
for i in *.${imagetype} ; do rm -f $i.pdf;done;
echo "Conversion complete. PDF file ${newname}.pdf created.";

exit

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In my .bashrc file I have added: