Create a PDF or Combine Multiple Files into a PDF

Smokeball can easily help you convert a file into PDF or combine multiple files into one PDF.

Once documents, emails, images, etc. are created or imported into Smokeball, right click to convert to a PDF or to generate a PDF of multiple documents.

Smokeball can also help track and save changes when working with PDFs in Adobe.

Generate PDFs in Smokeball

Right-click on any file in your matter and then select:

• Select Create PDF to convert the file to a single PDF file
• Select Create multiple file PDF to combine a variety of files into one PDF

Selecting Create multiple file PDF will open the Select files for the PDF window. Select the Combined PDF toggle to access additional options for the file. 

Combined PDF Options

Cover Page: You can choose to set a cover page in the document which will mark the first document in the selected files list as the cover page. This document will be marked with a page icon.

Table of Contents: Select this option to include an auto-generated table of contents in the final copy of the combined PDF.

Pagination: Select this option to paginate the final document. You can set your preferences regarding the display, positioning and when to show/start the count of the page numbers.

Bookmarks: Select this option to generate a PDF with bookmarks that allow viewers to easily navigate between documents within the compiled PDF.

Bates Stamping: Use this option when you need to include Bates numbers in your combined PDF.

Secure PDF: Select Make PDF secure to create your own read and/or write passwords.

Preview: At any stage of compiling the PDF, you can preview what the document will look like before you save it. This will help with ensuring pagination does not overlap with any pre-existing pagination that may be on an individual document within.

Show/Hide Emails: You can opt to hide/show emails from the available file list to make it easier to locate relevant documents. 

You can also create a PDF and combine files into a PDF when emailing a client by adding an attachment and following the same step.

Create a Non-Editable, Read-Only PDF 

You can also create a copy of a PDF document that cannot be edited by third parties. To do so, right-click on a PDF document in a matter and select the "Create read-only copy" menu item.

Did You Know

• You can also use Nitro and Foxit reader programs, but Smokeball only has the capability to save changes made to a document from Adobe programs (standard and Pro). Learn more about PDFs and Smokeball.
• You can create templates to automate PDFs. Learn more about PDF Automation.
• [For Smokeball Prosper+ users only] Smokeball includes OCR for uploaded PDFs and images. OCR'd PDF's are searchable in Smokeball, and Any PDF created by Smokeball will be searchable in Smokeball.
  • OCR is only for PDFs which include images (e.g., scanned documents). Text will not be extracted at all if the PDF file exceeds 100 MB. 
  • Documents which come to Smokeball through data migration will not have OCR. Standard text will be extracted, however, if it is possible to do so to make them searchable.