I am attempting to batch import a folder full of PDFs as pictures. Everything works smoothly, except that FMP seems to be only importing a reference to the file, despite the fact that I have the "import only a reference" checkbox unchecked. Anybody know what I need to do to import a folder full of PDFs and have the data stored internally? (If this is a bug in FMP8 but has been fixed in FMP9, that would be good to know, as I have 9 on order.)

BTW I found (here on the forums) a nice script to batch import PDFs but it imports them as files rather than as pictures, and also doesn't traverse subfolders, so won't work for me.

AFAIK, when you import a folder of images, PDFs are imported as movies - not files or pictures - and movies are always imported as reference only.

I think you could do this in two stages: first, import the PDFs as reference only (the way you have it now), then loop through the imported records and replace the referenced movie with an embedded image:

Set Variable [ $path; Value:Substitute ( GetValue ( Table::Container ; 3 ) ; "moviemac" ; "imagemac" ) ] 

Go to Field [ Table::Container ] 

Insert Picture [ “$path” ] 

That worked great. A little slow when processing 500+ records at once, but it worked nevertheless. Thanks, you're awesome.

(One curious thing: If a PDF file doesn't have the extension .pdf at the end (e.g. if "Hide extension" is ticked in the Finder's Get Info box, then FMP says it can't import it as a picture, so it imports it as a file instead.)