How do I remove extra extension when creating a PDF?

Question

Since upgrading to Mavericks, I've noticed that when creating a PDF from another file, such as Pages, the file extension is included in the file name. Is there any way to turn this off?

For example, let's say I create a Pages document called "Proposal.pages". When I'm ready to e-mail the proposal, I'll create a PDF of the document by selecting CMD+P and then "Save as PDF".

The default title that will be chosen is "Proposal.pages.pdf". Fairly simply thing to change, but when you generate PDFs all day, it becomes bothersome.

Does anyone know of a way that I can remove the ".pages" extension when creating the PDF file?

Answer 1

Looks like the "Save as PDF" option in the Print dialog just takes the document title (which is set to the document name by Pages) and adds a .pdf suffix to it. As the new Pages doesn't seem to offer an option to change the title within Pages you might be out of luck here.

Alternatively you could use the "Export to... PDF" menu entry to export to PDF directly.

Answer 2

When you click "Save as PDF," you get a window with a top row starting as "Save as." On the right side of that row is a downward pointing arrow. Click on it to expand this window to see all your options. At this point, at the bottom left of the window is a "Hide extension" button.

Answer 3

All 3 iWork apps, (Pages, Numbers and KeyNote) neglect to remove their file extension from PDFs when Saving As PDF from the print menu. (Also, the Finder option to show file extensions has to be on.)

It is possible to create a script that deals with this, saving it as a PDF Service, which will be accessible from the PDF button of the print menu. (Any script or app in ~/Library/PDF Services will be shown there. You may need to create this folder.)

This python script will remove the iWork file extension, offer a file dialog, and save the PDF.

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding=utf-8

# SAVE PDF FROM STUPID iWORK  
# PDF Service to strip iWork file extension before saving PDF to designated folder   
# Save this file in ~/Library/PDF Services. It will then be available in the 
# PDF button of the print menu.

import os
import sys
import Quartz as Quartz
from Foundation import NSURL
from AppKit import NSSavePanel, NSApp


def save_dialog(directory, filename):
    panel = NSSavePanel.savePanel()
    panel.setTitle_("Save PDF document")
    myUrl = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_isDirectory_(directory, True)
    panel.setDirectoryURL_(myUrl)
    panel.setNameFieldStringValue_(filename)
    NSApp.activateIgnoringOtherApps_(True)
    ret_value = panel.runModal()
    if ret_value:
        return panel.filename()
    else:
        return ''

def main(argv):
    (title, options, pathToFile) = argv[:]

    # Set the default location where the PDFs will go (you'll need to make sure this exists)

    destination = os.path.expanduser("~/Desktop/")


    stripTitle = (os.path.splitext(title)[0])
    stripTitle += ".pdf"
    outputfile = save_dialog(destination, stripTitle)

    # Copy file to selected location. 
    if outputfile != "":

        pdfURL = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_(pathToFile)
        pdfDoc = Quartz.PDFDocument.alloc().initWithURL_(pdfURL)
        if pdfDoc:
            pdfDoc.writeToFile_(outputfile)

    # Delete original PDF from spool folder
    os.remove(pathToFile)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main(sys.argv[1:])