I had hoped to find a batch converter from docx to pdf for mac, but either they don’t work well (the simple formatting is lost or garbaged, chunk of text are underlined for example) or they are far too expensive and I didn’t even bothered to test. It seems that on windows there are plenty, and you can even open a word document in acrobat and to batch conversions.
There’s not much point in having a “Compile iBooks Author Chapters” to PDF feature, seeing as iBooks Author cannot import PDF files. Docx is by far the best format to use for going to iBooks Author, which is why this is the only option, and will remain so.
If you want to export separate chapters, you can do so one at a time, but in general, Scrivener’s Compile feature is for compiling to one large document, and not for creating multiple files. iBooks Author is the only exception, and only because there is no other way of going to iBooks Author.
I used the term “Compile Chapters” because of its immediate result (automated division per chapters), and having similar compile function for PDF would allow us to mark up digestible chunks of PDF on a tablet (consider how cumbersome and clumsy can be to navigate long PDF on small devices).
The value of marking up PDF on tablets is descsribed on David Hewson’s blog.
And now I soIemnly promise I won’t come back on this wish, I think I have taken up to much forum bites with my “whines”.
I managed to find a good Applescript to batch convert docx to pdf, you can find it here: http://goo.gl/IAl4h
In order for it to work you need o have the docx in a folder since and when you click “proceed” you must select just the folder.
The applescript had been posted in this discussion on how to use automator to batch convert doc to pdf: https://discussions.apple.com/message/15177401#15177401
Thank you all for your attention and prompt replies.
Docx is by far the best format to use for going to iBooks Author, which is why this is the only option, and will remain so.