Javascript to remove blank pages from PDFs

Evermap has posted the below Javascript here , which is designed to delete blank pages, (blank in the sense that they don't contain any searchable text), from sets of PDFs. I successfully tested the script tonight.

In order to run the script in Adobe Acrobat go to Tools . . . Action Wizard and click 'Create New Action . . . '. Under 'More Tools', in the 'Choose tools to add' section, click on 'Execute Javascript', then uncheck 'Prompt User' and click on 'Specify Settings' on the right. Put the script in the JavaScript Editor . . .

Click OK and save and rename the new action. Add the files you want to process and then click start.

A new file will be created for each source file, with the blank pages removed and '_Original' added to the end of the file name.

// Acrobat JavaScript Code - www.evermap.com // DELETE PDF PAGES WITHOUT TEXT // IMPORTANT: This script assumes that page is blank if it does not contain any "pdf words" // OUTPUT: An output PDF file is created by appending _Original.pdf to the filename try { var newName = this.path; var filename = newName.replace(".pdf","_Original.pdf"); this.saveAs(filename); for (var i = 0; i < this.numPages; i++) { numWords = this.getPageNumWords(i); if (numWords == 0) { // this page has no text, delete it this.deletePages(i,i); } } } catch(e) { app.alert(e); }

Java Script to Extract SSNs

Tonight, I tested out a Java script posted here by EverMap which is used to extract social security numbers from PDFs. My test set has SSNs listed in the first page of a short document; in a table in another short document; and hidden in a very long document. The script found each SSN.

Enter the below script in Adobe Acrobat by going to Tools . . . Action Wizard and clicking 'Create New Action . . . '. Under 'More Tools', in the 'Choose tools to add' section, click on 'Execute Javascript', then uncheck 'Prompt User' and click on 'Specify Settings' on the right.

Enter the script in the JavaScript Editor . . .

Click OK and save and rename the new action.

Add the files you want to process and then click start. A new PDF will be generated for each source PDF that lists each of their SSNs.

/* Extract US Social Security Numbers From the Document */ // This script will scan all pages of the input document // and extract : // Social security numbers: // Output PDF document will be placed in the same folder // as input. The name of the output document will be: // Original filename + "_Extracted_SSNs" // Visit www.evermap.com for more useful JavaScript samples.

var reMatch=/(?!000)([0-6]\d{2}|7([0-6]\d|7[012]))([ -])(?!00)\d\d\3(?!0000)\d{4}/g;

var strExt = "_Extracted_SSNs.pdf"; var strIntro = "Social Security Numbers extracted from document: "; var strFinal = "Total number of SSNs extracted: " ;

ExtractFromDocument(reMatch,strExt,strIntro,strFinal);

function ExtractFromDocument(reMatch, strFileExt, strMessage1, strMessage2) { var chWord, numWords;

// construct filename for output document var filename = this.path.replace(/\.pdf$/, strFileExt);

// create a report document try { var ReportDoc = new Report(); var Out = new Object(); // array where we will collect all our emails before outputing them ReportDoc.writeText(strMessage1 + this.path); ReportDoc.divide(1); // draw a horizontal divider ReportDoc.writeText(" "); // write a blank line to output for (var i = 0; i < this.numPages; i++) { numWords = this.getPageNumWords(i); var PageText = ""; for (var j = 0; j < numWords; j++) { var word = this.getPageNthWord(i,j,false); PageText += word; } var strMatches = PageText.match(reMatch); if (strMatches == null) continue; // now output matches into report document for (j = 0; j < strMatches.length; j++) { Out[strMatches[j]] = true; // store email as a property name } } var nTotal = 0; for (var prop in Out) { ReportDoc.writeText(prop); nTotal++; } ReportDoc.writeText(" "); // output extra blank line ReportDoc.divide(1); // draw a horizontal divider ReportDoc.writeText(strMessage2 + nTotal); // save report to a document ReportDoc.save( { cDIPath: filename });

} catch(e) { app.alert("Processing error: "+e) } } // end of the function

Blank page with an OFFENDING COMMAND at the end of your hard copy of a PDF

When printing PDFs it's possible to experience a postscript error. (Postscript is a page description language that allows for on the fly rasterization which interprets text and images as straight lines and curves.) The first several pages of the print-out may appear normal, but the document can be cut off at the end with missing pages and a final blank page with an odd message at the top left:

ERROR: undefined

OFFENDING COMMAND: &-2~

STACK:

When a got this error message at the end of a PDF print-out today (the PDF itself worked normally) I was able to fix this problem and print the full hard copy by accessing the advanced settings for the printer. Disabling the setting for "PostScript Pass through" (on a Konica Minolta 558) did the trick.