Mail as a PDF? Can it work?

K

kevs

In the print options I see mail as a PDF, and it opens up MAIL, which I
don't use. Anything to tell Mac to use Entourage? Thanks.


Kevs
OS 10.4.4
Office 2004
 
M

Michel Bintener

Hi,

the save as PDF option available in the print dialogue is as a matter of
fact an Automator workflow, which explains why it uses Apple's Mail
application. There is an option to use Entourage, however, and to get it,
you'll need to create an alias of Entourage (ctrl-click Entourage in the
Finder and select "Make Alias"). You might want to rename that alias, but
that's optional; then drag that alias into the folder called PDF Services,
located in Macintosh HD>Library. You should now be able to send your PDF
file as an Entourage attachment through the PDF button.

Michel
 
K

kevs

Thanks Michael.
Ok, I did all that, and MAIL still launches when I choose to mail as PDF.












Hi,

the save as PDF option available in the print dialogue is as a matter of
fact an Automator workflow, which explains why it uses Apple's Mail
application. There is an option to use Entourage, however, and to get it,
you'll need to create an alias of Entourage (ctrl-click Entourage in the
Finder and select "Make Alias"). You might want to rename that alias, but
that's optional; then drag that alias into the folder called PDF Services,
located in Macintosh HD>Library. You should now be able to send your PDF
file as an Entourage attachment through the PDF button.

Michel
Click to expand...

OS 10.4.4
Office 2004
 
M

Michel Bintener

Hi,
well, that's normal, Mail as PDF always launches Mail. Now that you've got
the Entourage alias in the PDF Services folder, you should see an Entourage
entry in the list that pops up when you click on the PDF button in the Print
dialogue. Click on that, and it should work as advertised.
 
D

dcaz

I haven't revisited the Apple "print to PDF" function in a while, but
as someone who emails PDFs from Entourage all the time, I would
recommend using something like the shareware PDFCompress
<http://www.metaobject.com/Products.html#PdfCompress> instead.

PDF's rendered by OS X are enormous - often 1MB and larger. Better to
send smaller ones.
 
K

kevs

Boy, I'm really banging my head against a wall here.

I don't need PDF compress -- which I already have.

I have a filmmaker invoice of 5 pages.

I select print preview.

I see all 5 pages generate, but on my desktop is a pdf with only one page.

















I haven't revisited the Apple "print to PDF" function in a while, but
as someone who emails PDFs from Entourage all the time, I would
recommend using something like the shareware PDFCompress
<http://www.metaobject.com/Products.html#PdfCompress> instead.

PDF's rendered by OS X are enormous - often 1MB and larger. Better to
send smaller ones.
Click to expand...

OS 10.4.4
Office 2004
 
K

kevs

Oh Michael, thanks, did not see your new response, yes, I see it there in
the dropdown, and entourage launches. Only drag is that for some reason,
this filmmaker invoice which has five pages, and is even numbered 1-5, when
generates to a pdf, it creates five separate pdf all called "invoice 1" so
the client received 5 pdf s all called the same thing. Wondering if someone
know a bit about that.








Hi,
well, that's normal, Mail as PDF always launches Mail. Now that you've got
the Entourage alias in the PDF Services folder, you should see an Entourage
entry in the list that pops up when you click on the PDF button in the Print
dialogue. Click on that, and it should work as advertised.
Click to expand...

OS 10.4.4
Office 2004
 
D

Daiya Mitchell

Only drag is that for some reason,
this filmmaker invoice which has five pages, and is even numbered 1-5, when
generates to a pdf, it creates five separate pdf all called "invoice 1" so
the client received 5 pdf s all called the same thing. Wondering if someone
know a bit about that.
Click to expand...

Doesn't have anything to do with Entourage.

If the filmmaker invoice is in Word, it's probably because there are section
breaks between each page, and section breaks tend to get sent as different
print jobs. Try deleting the section breaks, if possible. Or google for a
utility called CombinePDF and recombine them--which will kill the Entourage
shortcut for this file, but it'll be useful other times.

If those simple answers don't work, probably best to ask in the forum for
the program that created the filmmaker invoice.
 
C

coffeegreek

Michel said:
Click on that, and it should work as advertised.
Click to expand...

It does. Thanks for this tip, although there is one small issue: Used
from within Word, the file in pdf is renamed with "Microsoft Word"
appearing before the original name. Any idea how to get rid of this
without saving, renaming, re-attaching?
Thanks
George
 
M

Michel Bintener

It does. Thanks for this tip, although there is one small issue: Used
from within Word, the file in pdf is renamed with "Microsoft Word"
appearing before the original name. Any idea how to get rid of this
without saving, renaming, re-attaching?
Thanks
George
Click to expand...

No, I haven't found out how to do that, sorry. It's the major reason why I
tend not to use that function too much.

Michel
 
C

coffeegreek

Michel said:
No, I haven't found out how to do that, sorry. It's the major reason why I
tend not to use that function too much.
Click to expand...

Just spent a couple of hours with automator and found a way to do it.
Create a workflow with:
1: "Rename finder items", replace text "Microsoft Word - " with
nothing. You can also add a second command to remove the .doc extension
if you wish.
2: "Open finder items", open with..., select "Entourage".
Then save the workflow in the PDF Services folder in Library. I have
also added at the beginning the command "Copy finder items", to
Desktop, replacing existing items, in order to save a copy of the pdf
file. This is useful for another reason. If you just send the pdf file
to Entourage (either with this workflow or with the simple entourage
alias trick) it will attach OK, but if you then open the attachment in
Preview before sending it and then close it, the attachment
dissappears! If it has been saved, there is no problem.
Cheers
George
 
M

Michel Bintener

Just spent a couple of hours with automator and found a way to do it.
Create a workflow with:
1: "Rename finder items", replace text "Microsoft Word - " with
nothing. You can also add a second command to remove the .doc extension
if you wish.
2: "Open finder items", open with..., select "Entourage".
Then save the workflow in the PDF Services folder in Library. I have
also added at the beginning the command "Copy finder items", to
Desktop, replacing existing items, in order to save a copy of the pdf
file. This is useful for another reason. If you just send the pdf file
to Entourage (either with this workflow or with the simple entourage
alias trick) it will attach OK, but if you then open the attachment in
Preview before sending it and then close it, the attachment
dissappears! If it has been saved, there is no problem.
Cheers
George
Click to expand...

Hi George,
I've just tried your solution, and it seems to work the way it should. Well
done!

Michel
 
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