This view displays multiple pages at reduced size, making page operations easier to perform, either between pages of a single document or between documents. The functionality is similar to using the Pages panel. The difference is that pages there are represented by static thumbnails, while in Document Assembly view the pages are just reduced in size, so many page editing functions remain available.
Assembling a single document
Choose Home > Pages > Document Assembly to place a set of miniature-sized pages from the current document in the Document Panel.
Use the Zoom tools to set the desired page size. To close Document Assembly View, click the Document Assembly tool again.
To copy or move pages or page ranges within a document:
Moving pages: Select one or several pages. Click on the bar with a page number below any of the selected thumbnails to drag it. A vertical red insertion bar indicates where pages get moved. You can also use the shortcut menu of one or more pages to move them to the start or end of the document or to a defined page number.
Copying pages: Select one or several pages. While holding down the Ctrl key, click on the small number below any of the selected thumbnails to drag it. A vertical red insertion bar indicates where pages get copied.
Assembling with multiple documents
When Document Assembly view is set, all open documents switch to this mode, as do all documents subsequently opened. This allows you to perform cross-document operations efficiently.
In Document Assembly view, a shortcut menu becomes available. Use it to insert pages from other files, replace, extract or delete pages, split the document, add headers and footers or renumber the pages. Many options are not available for security-protected files. Right-click on a page for a shortcut menu offering these and more operations:
New: Add blank pages. In the New Pages dialog box, type in the desired number of blank pages, specify their size and orientation, and where they have to be inserted, then click OK.
Insert: Display the Open dialog box and browse for one or several files of supported types, select them, then click Open. PDF files are added directly, non-PDF files are converted to PDF. You can add further source files from other locations by clicking Add in the Insert Pages dialog box. Click Up or Down to re-order source files if necessary. Select one file and click Preview to view it page by page. To select a page range to be inserted, you must insert a single file at a time. Click OK to perform the insertion.
Replace: Select one or more files as described above and click Open. In the Replace Page dialog box, specify the range of pages of the original document to be replaced. Add further replacement files from other locations by clicking Add. The same buttons are available as for inserting pages. Click OK to perform the page replacement.
Extract: In the Extract Pages dialog box, specify the page range to be extracted. Choose Selection to extract the selected page(s) only. You can either delete or keep this page range in the original document after extraction. Click OK. A new PDF document containing the extracted pages and named ExtractPage1 is opened in a separate window, also in Document Assembly view. Process it as desired and save it.
Delete: In the Delete Pages dialog box, specify the page range to be deleted. Choose Selection to delete the selected page(s) only. Click OK to perform the deletion.
Crop: In the Crop Pages dialog box, specify margin sizes to be removed and the range of pages to which such cropping should be applied.
Rotate: In the Rotate Pages dialog box, specify the angle of rotation and the range of pages to be rotated, Choose Selection to rotate the selected page(s) only.
Print: Choose this in a shortcut menu or from the File menu. Specify settings in the Print dialog box, see Printing Documents.
Note
Page ranges in Insert, Replace, Extract, Delete, Crop, Rotate, Print operations must be continuous.
Split Document: Process the document as described in Split Document.
Add Bookmark: Build up a bookmark structure for a page or the document as a whole as described in Bookmarks, Named Destinations.
Add Note: Place a sticky note onto any page or even outside the pages area as described in Note.
Search: Specify basic and advanced search options as described in Search dialog box.
Choose Edit > Insert > Headers and Footers to add, update, or remove headers and/or footers for all or selected pages. See Headers and Footers.
Assembling several documents
You can perform assembly operations on several documents opened in separate windows. Choose View > Document Assembly to switch to Document Assembly view, then choose File > Open and browse for other documents to be assembled. You can simply copy or move pages or page ranges among several documents:
Moving pages: Select one or several pages. Click on the small number below any of the selected thumbnails to drag it. As you hover with your pointer over a document in another open window, a vertical red insertion bar indicates where pages get moved.
Copying pages: Select one or several pages. While holding down the Ctrl key, click on the small number below any of the selected thumbnails to drag it. As you hover with your pointer over a document in another open window, a vertical red insertion bar indicates where pages get copied.
These documents can further be processed by any of the assembly operations described above for single documents.
Further assembly tools
The following tools appear at Home > Assemble only while Document Assembly view is set.
The Page Assembly tool lets you select a set of source files for document assembly – these do not need to be PDF files. Each opened document is presented in a separate tab. Page thumbnails let you view each document to determine which pages are needed. Select, drag and drop pages into the target PDF. Conversion to PDF is done when necessary and may take some time.
The Renumber Pages tool updates header and footer page numbering to the new page order built up in Document Assembly view. This tool becomes active only when for documents that have auto-generated page numbers inserted into a header or footer.
Page editing operations
Some page editing operations can be done in Document Assembly view that cannot be done with the Pages panel. These include:
using the Select tool to copy a selection to Clipboard for pasting to editable documents outside the program, or to be pasted into notes, text boxes or callouts in other pages or documents.
using the Select tool to copy a text selection for pasting onto a Typewriter tool cursor. This allows you to copy and paste real PDF text from one PDF page to another, even in other documents. When you save the target PDF, the pasted text becomes part of the PDF.
using the Edit Object tool to modify page content.
using the Comments tools to add notes, text boxes, drawing elements or marking up texts.
using tools from the Edit > Insert ribbon to add text, sounds, movies or 3D objects to the PDF.
Leaving Document Assembly view
Click the Document Assembly tool again. This restores the view last set under Scroll Options for each open document.