Converting several pages from PNG/JPG to PDF with Preview isn't working

Question

I have tried everything and unfortunately have not found a solution so far (although I am not very knowledgeable about it).

Preview has not been able to convert several files (e.g. PNG or JPEG files) into PDFs in one step for some time now (using 'Export as PDF' or 'Export Selected Pages').

I'm running 10.12.6 (Sierra) on one of my older Macs and am currently unable to upgrade it.

I've tried using the printer dialogue ("save as PDF") to no success.

How can I go about converting PNGs and JPGs into a PDF?

Answer 1

I really can't remember that far back, but you might check whether Sierra has a Finder Service that will convert images to a PDF. (Right-click on the image, and in the Services submenu it may list something appropriate.)

If not, you can certainly make one with Automator, as there's a "New PDF from Images" action.

Alternatively, you can use the Images to PDF workflow found here. PUt it in your user Library's Services folder. Then right-click on the images, as above.

Answer 2

This answer focuses on command line utilities because (IMO) they are much more efficient and flexible than the GUI tools like Preview.

Builtin sips command

macOS comes with a built in command called sips that can do simple image manipulation and conversion. You can get full details from the man page (man sips).

To convert a single PNG or JPEG to a PDF, macOS use the following command:

sips -s format pdf input.png —-out output.pdf

The limitation here is that sips will only process a single image at a time.

GraphicsMagick

This is a very robust image processing system. It’s available via Homebrew and MacPorts.

gm convert input.png output.pdf

GraphicsMagick does have the ability to combine multiple images into a single PDF

gm convert input_01.png input_02.jpg output.pdf

Answer 3

GraphicConverter can open PDF, PNG, JPEG, and many others and can save files in any of those formats (even if originally another).  It also puts "Services → Convert to JPEG …" on the Finder context menu—works on one or many selected file(s),

Answer 4

To get multiple images into a single PDF document, you can get them into a single Preview window. Open one of the images, and choose View > Thumbnails or select Show thumbnails from the pop-up menu next to the document name.

Drag your additional images into that sidebar.

Choose File > Print... and then select the Scale to Fit Page radio button, if needed. From there you can export to PDF using the lower left button.

If you want to convert each image individually, then I also recommend @Allan's sips option. You can process multiple images using a loop in a terminal window:

for F in *.png; do sips -s format pdf "$F" --out "${F/.png/.pdf}"; done