Print multiple PDFs at once

Opening thirty drawings one by one and pressing Print thirty times is how a morning disappears. Here is how to print the lot in one go, on the right paper, without uploading anything.

The quick way

1. Open batchprint.co.uk and press Add a folder, or drag the folder onto the page. Sub-folders come too.
2. Check the folders it makes. Drawings bigger than A4 go in a Drawings folder printed on A3; A4 sheets and Word and Excel files go in an A4 folder. Or choose Folders by sheet size to get A0, A1, A2, A3 and A4 folders.
3. Set each folder once: paper, copies, in sets or together, and a stamp if you need one.
4. Press Print all. Each folder becomes one print-ready PDF, so your print dialog opens once per folder, not once per file.

Why one PDF per folder

A web page isn't allowed to send work to a printer on its own, so every browser shows a print dialog. Joining each folder into one PDF means you pick the printer and paper once for the whole set. Copies come out in the order you set, and each sheet keeps its own orientation.

What it handles

• PDFs of any size, JPG and PNG pictures, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), CSV and text files.
• A PDF with pages of different sizes is flagged when you add it, so an A4 schedule inside an A1 set doesn't catch you out.

Straight to the printer, no dialog

The desktop app sends each folder to its own named printer (the plotter for A1, the office printer for A4) with no dialog at all, plus double-sided, colour and paper tray settings.

Just need to edit a PDF? PDF Picasso, also from SiteHelm, marks up, signs, merges and redacts PDFs free in your browser.