Hi,

Hi John,

    Thanks for the files: I received them and took a look. You sent me two files which were scanned documents. The two PDF files were created by "Canon", so I am assuming that your Canon has software that allows you to scan directly to the PDF format.

    I was able to duplicate the program as you described.

    I was able to merge the two files together, but only if I re-saved the PDF files using Adobe's Acrobat, or using PDF reDirect as follows:

PDF reDirect
    1. Added File1.pdf in the Merge List,
    2. Saved it as "File 1 - resaved w PDFR.pdf"
    3. Did the same thing for File2.pdf
    4. Then, added the resaved files to the Merge List
    5. Merged the two resaved files using PDF reDirect - with no errors.

Acrobat
    1. Loaded File1.pdf into Adobe's Acrobat
    2. Saved a copy as "File 1 - resaved w Acrobat.pdf"
    3. Repeated the same thing w File2.
    4. Merged the two resaved files using PDF reDirect - with no errors.

    What is interesting is that even though there are no obvious errors in the PDF files that you sent, somehow Adobe's Acrobat and PDF reDirect re-writing the files seems to remove any errors within the Canon generated files.

    So, it comes down to this: either PDF reDirect has a bug and does not handle a proper PDF generated by the Canon software, or vice-versa, the Canon generated PDF file has an error which PDF reDirect does not know how to handle.

    What to do next? You have two options: the first is to use the technique I have given above to create PDF files that you can merge later. However, there is an easier way. More than likely, your Canon software also comes with a "copier" or "photocopy" or "scan-to-printer" feature which will allow you to send the scanned document directly to a printer. You can use that feature to send the scanned document(s) to PDF reDirect. Repeat for all the pages, and then merge the scanner PDF files into a single PDF file. The biggest benefit is that you won't have to save intermediate single-page PDF files before being able to merge everything together. That's what I do here.

    I hope that helps!

Whoops,

I jumped the gun.  I cannot in fact resave my files in Redirect as it gives error message:  ...."file in use by reader"   when the file is NOT open or in use anywhere.  or merely "PDF not created properly"

I have un and re-installed this program also. 

Thanks Michel, for the reply

Actually mine were scanned to PDF with a Samsung multi-function printer.  Unfortunately, they were scanned by a third party and I must use what exists.

The project I am working on involves creating pdfs from a variety of (mostly outdated) source files.  By outdated, I refer to original documents in early Pagemaker, Works 4.0, and even WordStar in one case.   The wordstar documents are the ones which were scanned.  

My first post was only the tip of the iceberg regarding the constant annoyance of this task.  Each of the softwares has it's own compatibility issues and I do not have every version of Pagemaker, or Works to perform upward compatible SaveAs commands.

Late yesterday, I decided to install a 30 day trial of Acrobat 8 Pro and feel I am again making progress, albeit slowly.

Thanks again for your help.  I will continue to use Redirect and this forum in the future as it has been great for everything else I do.