A bit of Apple Script

Here’s how to create a combined workflow in Mac Automator that first converts .pages documents to PDF, then merges the resulting PDFs into a single PDF file.

Steps to Create a Combined Workflow in Automator

First, brew install poppler

Next, Open Automator:

• Open the Automator app and create a new Quick Action.

Set the Input Type:

• Set the Workflow receives current option to files or folders in Finder.

Add “Run AppleScript” to Convert .pages Files to PDF:

• Add a Run AppleScript action.
• Paste the following AppleScript to convert each .pages document to a PDF.

on run {input, parameters}
    set exportFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Select folder to save exported PDFs")
    set pdfFiles to {}

tell application "Pages"
    activate
    repeat with filePath in input
        open filePath
        delay 1 -- Wait for the document to open

        set docName to name of front document
        set exportPath to ((exportFolder as text) & docName & ".pdf") as «class furl»

        export front document to exportPath as PDF
        close front document saving no

        -- Store the PDF path in the list
        set end of pdfFiles to (POSIX path of exportPath)
    end repeat
end tell

return pdfFiles -- Return the list of PDF paths for the next step

end run

This code exports each .pages document as a PDF in a chosen folder and collects their paths for the next step.

Add “Run AppleScript” to Combine the PDFs:

• Add another Run AppleScript action.
• This AppleScript will use pdfunite to merge the PDFs created in the previous step:applescript

on run {input, parameters}
    -- Choose save location for the combined PDF
    set outputFile to choose file name with prompt "Save combined PDF as:" default name "CombinedDocument.pdf"
    set outputPath to POSIX path of outputFile

-- Collect POSIX paths of all PDF files from the previous step
set pdfPaths to ""
repeat with pdfFile in input
    set pdfPaths to pdfPaths & quoted form of pdfFile & " "
end repeat

-- Use full path to pdfunite
do shell script "/opt/homebrew/bin/pdfunite " & pdfPaths & quoted form of outputPath

display dialog "PDFs combined successfully!" buttons {"OK"} default button "OK"
return outputFile

end run

• This code takes the list of PDF paths, combines them with pdfunite, and saves the final PDF in the specified location.

Save the Quick Action:

• Save the Quick Action with a descriptive name, like Convert and Combine Pages to PDF.

Running the Workflow

• Select multiple .pages files in Finder.
• Right-click, go to Quick Actions, and select your newly created Convert and Combine Pages to PDF.
• Choose the folder to save the intermediate PDFs, then select a location and filename for the final combined PDF.

This workflow should now convert .pages documents to PDFs and combine them into one.