Before you attempt to perform a silent conversion with more than one file, you need to get set up.
You will need to create 3 folders ( you can name them however you choose - the following are just examples). The best place for these folders is directly in your C: drive:
InputFolder: Place all the PDF files that you wish to convert in this folder. Note that you can only convert using a single layout at a time, so if your files are different, you will want to keep them in separate folders.
LayoutsFolder: Place the layout file that is specific to the structure of the PDF files in your InputFolder. If you haven't created a layout file yet, open your user interface and create one. Then, export it into this folder.
OutputFolder: This is the file where your converted files will be saved to. Leave it empty.
Method 1
When performing a silent conversion on multiple files, use the " %%g" so that it's not necessary to type in the path to each file indivudually.
Here is a sample of a basic silent conversion with multiple files from a .bat file.
for /r "C:\InputFolder" %%g in (*.pdf) do "C:\Program Files (x86)\CogniView\PDF2XL\PDF2XL.exe" -input="C:\InputFolder\%%~ng.pdf" -layout="C:\LayoutsFolder\TheLayout.layoutx" -format=excelfile -range=all -output="C:\OutputFolder\%%~ng.xlsx" -noui -autoopen=off
When using the sample script above, be sure to change the paths ( example: C:\InputFolder) to properly identify where your files are stored, as well as the layout name (TheLayout.layoutx).
Method 2 (recommended)
There is a simpler method, however, that allows you to convert multiple files within a folder.
Note that you would enter your information in the top section like this example:
set SOURCE=C:\MyInputFolder
set DESTINATION=C:\MyOutputFolder
set TEMPLATE=C:\MyLayoutFolder\MyLayout.layoutx
set SOURCE=%1
set DESTINATION=%2
set TEMPLATE=%3
set PDF2XL="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\CogniView\PDF2XL\PDF2XL.exe"
for /r "%SOURCE%\" %%g in (*.pdf) do start /w "pdf2xl" PDF2XL -input="%%g" -layout="%TEMPLATE%" -format=excelfile -range=all -output="%DESTINATION%\%%~ng.xlsx" -noui -autoopen=off