PDF Merger & Stamper

Merges PDFs chronologically and stamps each with ACK numbers (ACK-001, ACK-002, etc.)

Installation

cd /Users/admin/Scripts/pdf-merger
npm install

Usage

Merge PDFs

node merge-stamp.js merge <input-directory> [output.pdf]

Add page numbers to existing PDF

node merge-stamp.js paginate <file>

Regenerate index from existing PDF

node merge-stamp.js regenerate <file> [output-directory]

Examples

Merge PDFs and save to default location:

node merge-stamp.js merge "/Users/admin/Desktop/EMails for affidavit"

Merge PDFs and specify output:

node merge-stamp.js merge "/Users/admin/Desktop/EMails for affidavit" "acknowledgments.pdf"

Add page numbers to an existing PDF:

node merge-stamp.js paginate "/Users/admin/Desktop/merged-document.pdf"

Regenerate index from a cleaned PDF (after removing pages):

node merge-stamp.js regenerate "/Users/admin/Desktop/cleaned-document.pdf"

Features

• Reads all PDFs from input directory
• Sorts chronologically by filename (yyyy_mm_dd format)
• Stamps every page of each PDF with ACK-001, ACK-002, etc. (not just the first page)
• Stamp appears at top center, above the email header
• Merges all PDFs into one final document
• Preserves all pages from all PDFs
• Generates index table with columns:
  • Exhibit (ACK-001, ACK-002, etc.)
  • Document (Email from sender to receiver)
  • Date (dd.mm.yyyy format)
  • Page(s) (e.g., 1-4, 5, 6-10)

Output

Three files are generated:

1. Merged PDF: <input-directory>/ACK-001 - ACK-XXX.pdf
2. Index PDF: <input-directory>/ACK-001 - ACK-XXX Index.pdf
3. Index ODT: <input-directory>/ACK-001 - ACK-XXX Index.odt (OpenOffice Writer format)
4. Statements ODT: <input-directory>/ACK-001 - ACK-XXX Statements.odt (Legal statements)

Or specify custom output (index files will be named automatically):

node merge-stamp.js merge "/path/to/pdfs" "my-affidavit.pdf"
# Creates: my-affidavit.pdf, my-affidavit Index.pdf, and my-affidavit Index.odt

The ODT files can be opened in OpenOffice Writer, LibreOffice Writer, or Microsoft Word for further editing.

Advanced Usage

Workflow for cleaning documents:

1. Merge documents: node merge-stamp.js merge "/path/to/pdfs"
2. Clean the merged PDF (remove unwanted pages in a PDF editor)
3. Add page numbers (if needed): node merge-stamp.js paginate "/path/to/cleaned.pdf"
4. Regenerate index: node merge-stamp.js regenerate "/path/to/cleaned.pdf"

This workflow allows you to remove pages and then automatically rebuild the index to match the cleaned document. Page numbering is now a separate step that can be applied after cleaning.

Page Numbering Features:

• The paginate command adds page numbers at the bottom right corner of each page
• When run multiple times, it will automatically cover existing page numbers with a white background before drawing new ones
• This prevents overlapping or double page numbers when renumbering cleaned documents