Search Multiple PDFs for Files with Attachments

If you want to search through multiple PDFs files to find which have attached files embedded inside, follow this approach.

1. In Advanced Search, click 'Show More Options', and then check off 'Include Attachments' at the bottom.

2. Search for a simple string (such as 'a') which is sure to appear at least once in any file. (You can also try searching for multiple such strings.) The search results will show the hits in the attached files on the second level of the tree. See the references to the 'utf8test.txt' files, attached to 'TCPDF Example 041' below.

3. Save the results to a .csv file.

4. At the end of the .csv file, the attached files will be listed at the bottom with a reference in the 'Search Instance' column to the number of occurrences to the search term(s).

Extract Multiple Page Ranges from Multiple Source PDFs as Separate PDFs

You can use Adobe Acrobat to extract multiple ranges of pages of multiple PDFs, and then save them as separate files.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to File . . .Create . . Combine Files into a Single PDF

2. In the new dialog box that opens add the files you need to process and then designate the Page Ranges in the field next to the File Name column. For any one PDF you can enter multiple ranges this format, "3-7, 10-12, 25-40".

3. Next on the upper right click on "Options'. Select the radial button to save the designated ranges as a portfolio.

4. In the resulting portfolio each excerpted range will be displayed as a separate PDF.

5. Go to File . . .Extract Files from Portfolio, and each separate extracted range will be saved as its own PDF.

Dead Links in PDF/A Files

The legal world is becoming more aware of the PDF/A archive format, and as discussed in the Litigation Support Tip of the Night for September 25, 2015, many court require that filings be in this format. Beware that saving a Word document in the PDF/A format may cause hyperlinks in the resulting image to deactivated.

If you're done editing a Word document, and you choose to select the built-in option under File . . . Save to convert to a PDF file (note that I'm using Word 2016).

. . . you'll see you can click on Options and check off the option to save in the PDF/A format.

If this option is selected, instead of the link being active as shown here:

. . . a URL prefix will be added and the link will be dead.

Courts have put attorneys on notice about this problem. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Alabama has a notice on its site about the problem and states that "the court may want to advise filers to use unmasked links in their documents".

The notice includes its own tip on how to solve the dead link problem. In Adobe Reader under Edit . . . Preferences, select the Documents category and set 'View Documents in PDF/A mode" to 'Never'. The links will then function without taking any further action.