Clip and Insert Images Into PDFs
Quickly and easily insert images into PDFs
I have several shortcuts on my task bar along the bottom of my computer screen so that I can easily access them without having to reduce a bunch of windows in order to see my desktop, and without having to search for programs in the Windows search field. Shortcuts to all my major programs are on the taskbar, as well as some handy programs I use all day, every day:
Microsoft Notepad - mostly for writing and editing scripts.
The Windows Snipping Tool - for taking a screenshot by dragging the cursor over a specific area of the screen.
Windows Snipping Tool Microsoft Paint - Mostly for marking up screenshots with arrows, circles, etc. (the image at the top of this post was created using the Snipping Tool to grab a screenshot, then mark it up using Paint).
Converting Screenshots Into Stamps
After you have your screenshot in the clipboard, activate the stamp menu and select (near the bottom of the menu) Paste Clipboard Image as Stamp Tool, then stamp the page. You can now select the stamp, resize it, reposition it, and even rotate it. Chances are you’ll have to resize it smaller because it seems to stamp a lot larger than original screenshot for some reason. This can be accomplished by selecting the stamp and dragging a corner inward (or outward to increase size). 22-second video:
Stamp Menu Shortcut
I have my stamp menu in Adobe Acrobat on the regular toolbar because I use it so much. You can do this by Customizing Quick Tools (with the “new Acrobat” disabled). This video shows you how:
Locking The Stamp
There are three ways to “lock” the stamp after placing and positioning it:
Locked property - Right-click the stamp and select properties. In the appearance tab, select the Locked check box and click OK. Nobody will be able to resize or delete the stamp. Also, anybody will be to resize or delete the stamp, by right-clicking, selecting properties, and unchecking the Locked box.
readOnly property - If the readOnly property is set to true, users will not be able to resize or delete the stamp. They can copy and paste it elsewhere, but they also won’t be able to resize or delete the pasted stamp. The readOnly property can only be set with a script. Here’s how. Select the stamp then run the following script in the console:
this.selectedAnnots[0].readOnly=true;To add some scripting confusion into the mix, the “read only” property of a form field is readonly (all lower case).
The readOnly property can also only be turned off using a script. The same technique is used. Select the stamp and run the following script in the console:
this.selectedAnnots[0].readOnly=false;Flatten the stamp - This will embed the stamp into the graphics of the PDF and it will no longer be a stamp. This must also be done with a script. Unfortunately, it flattens specific pages, not specific stamps. This includes all markup annotations and form fields. The following script, when run in the console, will flatten all pages in the document:
this.flattenPages();You can specify a range of pages by including the nStart and nEnd parameters like this:
this.flattenPages(1, 5);The script above flattens pages 2 through 6 (pages numbers are zero-based in JavaScript for Acrobat). There’s another input parameter into this document method that allows some control over which form fields and annotations are flattened. It’s the nNonPrint parameter, which allows you to control how non-printable fields and annotations are handled. It takes one of 3 integers:
0: Non-printing annotations are flattened (annotations includes form fields). This is the default, meaning if it is ommitted it is assumed to be 0.
1: Non-printing annotations are not flattened and left as is.
3: Non-printing annotations are removed from the document.
Separating Annotations to Flatten Specific Ones
If you have a document with form fields and markup annotations, including stamps, and you only want to flatten one stamp, it can be done. The process is complicated. It is as follows:
Loop through all form fields and get a list of their display properties.
Set the display property of all form fields to noPrint.
Loop through all other annotations and set the Print property to false for all except the stamp you want to flatten.
Flatten all pages with the nNoPrint parameter set to 1. There are at least two ways to write this script:
//Without name the parameters(order must be kept nstart, nEnd, nNonPrint):
this.flattenPages(0, this.numPages-1, 1);
//Naming the parameters (order doesn't matter):
this.flattenPages({nEnd: this.pages-1, nStart: 0, nNonPrint:1});Restore the original display properties of the form fields.
Restore the original display properties of the other annotations.
If you find this too complicated, or don’t want to be bothered, I created a reasonably price stamp flattening tool that does it all for you. Simply select the stamp and activate the tool.
If you want to learn JavaScript for Acrobat and how to quickly find answers and test the scripts, consider taking my eLearning course on JavaScript for Acrobat Pro. Send me a private message if you’re interested and I’ll give you $100 off.