Best way to create a frame for each page of an uploaded PDF (newbie)

  • 5 April 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 903 views
B

Hello all!  I’m a test-prep tutor, and I often need to annotate on, and to the sides of, pages of pdf test booklets which the clients then need to be able to save/export and/or print.  I’ll include a pic at the end to illustrate, but what I need is for each page of the uploaded document to get its own frame that:

  1. has the relative proportions of a Letter-sized page in Landscape orientation (see image)
  2. is centered on the given page of the pdf document

So far, I’ve successfully learned to:

  1. import the pdf file and extract all of its pages onto the board
  2. get the pages lined up in a single, vertical column
  3. add a frame that includes just one page of the document

Here’s what I don’t have figured out:

  1. How to make the frame have exactly the proportions I need?
  2. How to ensure the frame and document page are centered on each other...without ruining the vertical alignment of the document pages?
  3. How to do the above, and make sure the frames and pages are all Locked, for another 50-70 pages...sensibly?
  4. (bonus points if the frames can be given a background color)

Thanks in advance for sharing some wisdom!

 

5 replies

Robert Johnson
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@barncrow - The quickest way to create an evenly proportioned frame around an object is to select the object and then use the Create frame action from the context menu:

 

Visual Thinker | Volunteer Community Moderator
B

Thank you Robert!  That is a slick option!  When I do that, I get the situation in the image below, which is at least heading in the right direction.  What remains is:  I have to give the frame the proper size, lock the frame and page down, and repeat the process for 50 more pages.

 

 

Robert Johnson
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@barncrow - One more step you can take is to use the autolayout tool to remove the overlapping:

 

Visual Thinker | Volunteer Community Moderator
Robert Johnson
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@barncrow - Another approach is to:

  1. Put a frame around one page (to get the correct size)
  2. Duplicate that frame for each page (Ctrl/Cmd+D) is a shortcut
  3. Space out the frames and pages evenly
  4. Select all of the pages and drag them down into the frames.

Here is an example with five pages:

 

Visual Thinker | Volunteer Community Moderator
B

Thank you again!  I think I’m starting to understand the toolset a bit better now.

 

Is there any way to precisely set a custom size for new frames?  I’m going to need to generate a lot of frames that have exactly the height/width of a letter-sized page in landscape orientation.  I may even need to be generating such frames on-the-fly as I’m working with a client.

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