I have scanned pdfs containing a lot of grain size tests, one per sheet. Can I get gINT to assemble only the sheets I need, based on a selection of boreholes? (Yes, I could type all the lab results into gINT, but I'd rather not.)
What I suggest is a table with a PointID,Depth key set, whose parent is either POINT or LAB SPECIMEN. You will need at least one other field in addition to the specimen Depth key, and it should be a field of Any file type.
Data entry is then simple: for a series of grain-size test records from borehole "Bex" for samples at 2, 5 and 8 feet, with PDFs stored in the C:\GrainSize\ folder, you would select Bex from the object selector (the borehole must already be entered in the POINT table) and in the table, enter:
Depth: 2, 5, and 8 (one for each record)
Test Sheet (Any file field): Select for each record the C:\GrainSize\ path and the file name, eg: C:\GrainSize\BEX-2.pdf:
Data can be entered manually by selecting one file at a time from the folder where the PDFs are stored, or you can import data from an Excel spreadsheet. See the discussion in Paths to bitmaps... and Turn Bitmap preview off? here in the Forum.
So, if I understand you correctly, this would allow me to create a table with the paths to pdfs. I could then cut and paste the paths to Windows Explorer and save each page to an overall appendix pdf. More fool-proof than doing it without the table, but still a lot of work.
To clarify what I am hoping for, I don't suppose that gINT can automate the process of compiling these pdf pages into one? My guess is no. I imagine that if I saved them as bitmaps, I could probably create a report that put each bitmap on a page and exported the whole thing to pdf. However, that would probably compromise the quality.
While gINT can easily compile bitmaps into a single PDF (in some order imposed by the data included with the PDF path/filename information in the gINT table), we do not have a similar way to merge (attach) PDFs. (It may be possible to write a gINT Rule to do what you hope for - such a VBA would need to open Adobe Acrobat, then open the first PDF and attach any subsequent PDFs in the table.)
With a table of bitmap images, you are using gINT's own report generation capabilities to export to a "compiled" PDF. The initial quality of the bitmaps will be a large factor in the quality of the final PDF you generate.