Use Action Wizard to automate repetitive tasks in PDFs

Suppose you have a folder with 217 PDF files spread throughout 38 subfolders and you want to reduce the size of all of those PDF files in Foxit PDF Editor. Do you have to open each file and reduce it one at a time?

Fortunately, the answer is no. You can use the Action Wizard in Foxit PDF Editor to create an action that does all the work for you.

Actions let you apply a sequence of commands to one or more files. There’s no scripting required. Here’s all you do.

1. Choose Action Wizard in the File tab, and click Create New Action > Create. The Create New Action dialog box appears. 

2. By default, the current open file will be the file processed by the action.

3. Then choose the tools needed for the tasks from the left column and add them to the right column. You can reorder the tasks by clicking Move Up/Down or delete a task by clicking Remove. The tasks will be executed in the order you set.

4. For some tasks (such as Add Header & Footer, and Add Watermark), you can predefine options by clicking Specify Settings.

5. For some tasks, you can check Prompt User so that you’ll be prompted to select options or specify settings when running the action.

6. More settings:

(1) Rename the panel by double-clicking the Untitled label. Click Add Panel to add more panels to group tasks.

(2) Choose a task and click Add Instruction to add an instruction below it.

(3) Add a divider line below the selected task by clicking Add Divider.

(4) Click Move Up/Down to move the selected task/instruction/divider line/panel, or click Remove to delete them.

7. Click Save.

8. Name the action and input the description for the action in the dialog box. Then click OK.

You can even use the Action Wizard with save as options in order to reuse a series of actions with changes so you don’t have to create the entire action again.

As you can see, using Action Wizard to save and run a defined set of command on any PDF file—or a bunch of PDF files—help automate your workflows, saving time and effort. Try it today.

For more details, check out our tutorial video here.