Manual

Section 2 - The Basics

This section provides instructions on populating your batch with PDFs, customizing the file sequence, starting conversion, canceling if needed, and expectations when restarting a canceled process.

You will learn simple steps for adding single or multiple files to KitBatch, removing any you do not want, rearranging their order, initiating the batch, stopping a running batch, and what happens when restarting after cancellation.

Adding Files

When you first open KitBatch, you'll see an empty screen prompting you to add files for conversion.

There are a few ways to import PDFs:

Drag and drop PDF files or folders directly onto the KitBatch window. This is the fastest method.
If no files have been added, click the plus (+) button to open a Finder window and select files or folders to import.
Use the keyboard shortcut ⌘+O to open the Finder file selection window.
If you add a folder, KitBatch will automatically detect and import only the PDF files it contains.

If you add a folder, KitBatch will intelligently scan its contents and import only the PDF documents.

Helpful notes before converting:

KitBatch will not re-import duplicate PDFs if the same file is added twice.
For password-protected PDFs, you will be prompted to enter the password before the file can be imported.
Very large PDF documents may take a brief moment to generate the thumbnail preview. KitBatch is optimized to keep the interface responsive.

Once your PDFs are imported, they will populate the main file list view, granting you access to conversion and management tools. To add more files later, click "Add Files" or drag and drop directly onto the list.

Removing Files

If you need to remove any PDFs you've imported, there are a couple approaches.

To remove individual files, click on each one you want to take out of the batch. You can use Shift/Cmd + click to make multiple selections. Or use the ⌘+A shortcut to select all files currently imported.

Once your files are selected, you have three options to remove them:

Click the "Remove Files" button in the left toolbar
Use the keyboard shortcut ⌘+F
Simply press the Delete key

Removing the files takes them out of the current conversion batch, but does not affect the original PDFs themselves. You can always reimport later.

To remove all the imported PDFs in one step, click the "Remove All" button in the left toolbar, or use the handy ⌘+R shortcut. This will clear your entire file list, giving you a fresh slate.

Organizing Your Batch

The files in your batch will be converted in the order shown in the list.

To rearrange:

Click and drag any file(s) to the desired position in the list
Release the mouse button to drop the file(s) in place

That's all there is to it! KitBatch will process your newly ordered batch from top to bottom.

Organizing your files helps ensure the batch processes in the sequence you want.

For example, you may want to:

Group certain PDFs together in the list
Prioritize some files by moving them to the top
Process the longest or largest files first

The flexibility to reorder your batch allows you to optimize it for your specific workflow and needs.

Starting a Batch

After importing your PDFs and configuring the output settings, you're ready to start the batch conversion.

In the lower left corner, click the "Start Batch" button to begin processing your files.

You can track the progress in the file list:

A spinner icon means the file is currently converting
indicates the file finished successfully
signifies an error occurred for that PDF, or the batch was canceled before all of the pages were processed

The batch will run top to bottom, converting your PDFs one by one in sequence. Once finished, you'll have a brand new set of optimized image files.

Canceling a Batch

If you need to stop a running batch, click the "Cancel Batch" button in the bottom left.

Canceling stops the batch immediately, even if a PDF file is partially processed.

You'll see status icons on each thumbnail:

indicates the batch was canceled during the processing of this PDF
signifies this file completed successfully before canceling
No icon means this file was not yet processed

Only fully converted image files will be present in your selected output folder.

If you canceled the batch due to needing to make a change to the configuration of a file, and some files in your batch list have already been processed, you may safely remove those completed files from your batch list prior to clicking "Start Batch" again.

If you click "Start Batch" again, it will restart processing from the beginning, even if some files were already completed. If you have not removed the already completed files from your batch list, overwrite file prompts may appear due to duplicate filenames.

Canceling ends the current batch so you can restart fresh if needed. All imported files and configurations will remain in place.