Can PreS Connect combine multiple small AFP files into a single file?

Hello mcdonaldj,

Unfortunately there is no way to merge AFP files together at the moment. Indirectly this can be possible, but it’s not trivial:

  • AFP Input data mapping configuration
  • Template that prints the input as a background (so it’s a 1-to-1 relationship between input pages in the AFP and files generated by the template)
  • Output preset that generates AFP.
  • A workflow configuration that:
    • Takes all the AFP input files and create content items
    • Uses the Retrieve Items task to pick up the content items
    • Output them all together in a single AFP file.

Note however that this is not super efficient, because this generates an intermediary PDF (the Content Items) so it’s effectively doing a double conversion.

I will suggest that we create a Merge AFP task in the automation module, assuming the AFP licence is present on the system. But that won’t be available for a few versions…