Adobe Merge PDFs from Array

[SylvieLet17]

Hi all,

I have a Flow that gets attachments from a SharePoint list, creates PDFs out of them using the Adobe convert image to PDF action. The number of list items and attachments will vary. 

Now I need to use the Adobe Merge PDFs action to merge all of these PDFs. 

It needs to be dynamic. 

I've tried adding the file contents to an array like in this guide and then dropping the array into the File Content part of the Merge PDFs, but I get the error:
"For application/pdf mime-type The input file appears to be corrupted and cannot be processed."

Has anyone done anything similar?

[ChristianAbata]

hi @SylvieLet17  you can find here some options

Solved: Merging two pdf files - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

Solved: Merge PDF Files - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

[SylvieLet17]

Thanks Christian, I won't be getting a subscription, and I need a sustainable solution so no free trials. I will look at the Cloudmersive tool, but specifically wondering if anyone has experience with the Adobe action, since it seems to be capable of accepting arrays and I'd rather use the actual Adobe tool.

Thanks again.

[SylvieLet17 · Accepted solution]

Looks like it was an issue caused by an earlier step in my flow, the action is now working properly. 

[timbo23]

Hi SylvieLet17, I'm running into the same issue. Would love to connect with you to learn how you were able to use the Adobe Merge PDF from Array too.  Could you share how you constructed your array please?  Thanks.

[SylvieLet17]

Hope this helps:

[timbo23]

Thanks - helpful to guide how to construct the array.  I'm still getting the same error unfortunatley.  What was the issue you noted earlier in your flow?  Maybe it's the same for me too...Thanks.

[SylvieLet17]

Hey timbo23, sorry this took me so ridiculous long to answer...things get in the way you know?

I JUST fixed it properly (I think) :

Basically - try adding the "$content-type=application/pdf" part and the curly brackets. That should work

[timbo23 · Accepted solution]

Hi SylvieLet17,

Thanks for your answer.  It was a help, and got me a long way down the road.  I found a solution which seems to work now and I'll put it into production tomorrow.

I don't seem to have permission to upload a photo, so let me try to explain what I did:

1.   After getting the file content, I set the value of my first "Append to array" command to be the "File Content" dynamic content item.

2.  Then, after getting the file content for the subsequent files, I had to set the value of all subsequent "Append to array" commands to include the base64 function like this:

Note - the expression for the "$content" comes from the expression builder, and is actually:  

trim(base64(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']))

The catch was that I had to use both the 'trim()' and the 'base64()' expression in the JSON. 

• The base64() expression solved the issue of the subsequent PDF files being merged in as blank pages (i.e. i struggled with an issue where the first doc merged fine, but all subsequent docs were just blank pages).
• The trim() expression solved the issue of the base64() dissapearing when I went back into the flow to check, edit and test it.

The actual MergePDF command was as simple as you show it, and I can then use the output either on sharepoint or attach it to an email.

Thankyou for your help.