Month: March 2020

Using Auto-name to Save Reports to PDF

As the Coronavirus problem persists and more and more employees work from home, we’re getting questions from customers who are trying to adapt reporting applications to generate PDFs. Specifically, they are looking at ways of automatically saving these PDF reports without any user intervention.

The easiest way to do this is to enable our Auto-name Files feature. It can be found by clicking on the PDF Options… button on the main Win2PDF file save window as shown below.

Here are a few tips on using the Auto-name Files feature:

  • There are a variety of predefined options to use which allow you to include the document title, date, and time in the naming of the file. However, there is also a User Defined option which gives you much more flexibility. You can use any number of variables to make a customized file name based on document titles, as well as the time and date.
  • Not only can you use these User Defined variables to customize the file name, but you can also customize the folder(s) you are trying to save to. For example, if you used the following variables as the User Defined name:
%PDFYear%\%PDFMonth%\SalesReport-%PDFMonth%-%PDFDay%-%PDFYear%.pdf

You’d end up with the following results whenever you saved the PDF file.

[Default Save-to folder] \ [Current year] \ [Current Month] \ SalesReport-MM-DD-YYYY.pdf

In other words, folders will automatically be created (if they are not already present) for the year and month, and the appropriate sales report for the day will be placed in each location.

  • You can also create multiple Win2PDF printers and set auto-name for specific departments/people. For example, suppose you want to keep the normal Win2PDF printer for use with day-to-day PDF creation, but you want to make a copy named “Reports from Win2PDF” that will be used to generate PDF files from a specific application (without any user interaction). You’d simply need to
    1. Add a copy of the Win2PDF Printer and name it “ Reports to Win2PDF”
    2. Turn on the Auto-name feature (as discussed earlier in this post) for this new copy of Win2PDF
    3. You can repeat steps 1-2 to create any number of specialized Win2PDF printers that save PDF files automatically, with names and locations defined by an application, department, location, etc.
  • You can also apply Auto-Name settings to all users. To do this:
    1. Configure Auto-Name in PDF Options…
    2. Open the Win2PDF Admin Utility. The file name definition shows up on the File Name tab.

    1. Check Apply to all users
    2. Click Apply, and Auto-Name will apply to all users

The Auto-name feature is very powerful.  If you have reports you want generated on a regular basis, and you want to define your file names and eliminate any input from the user, use these tips and let us know if you have any questions.

Working From Home Using Terminal Servers

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus and COVID-19, we’re seeing more interest in the use of terminal servers in many enterprise environments. This article from Citrix, for example, gives an overview of this shift in workplace culture that many companies are now exploring.

If you’re not familiar with the term, a terminal server is essentially a central server that hosts applications, files and shared resources like printers (virtual or physical), and then shares these programs and resources over a local network or over the internet to “terminals” (sometimes called “thin clients”). Since the applications are all loaded on just one server, it allows remote users (in this case we think of work-from-home terminals or computers) to run the business programs they need without having anything required on the local machine.

One enormous advantage to this type of solution is that the remote work-at-home “terminals” can be practically anything — home PCs, Windows laptops, Apple iMacs or Macbooks, iPads, Tablets, etc. Each work-at-home terminal would simply run applications from the server and be able to print on the server. The business doesn’t need to worry about each individual client’s hardware, operating system, or local program availability.

This is where our Win2PDF Terminal Server Edition (TSE) comes into play, as a way to share and view documents remotely. Win2PDF TSE is the same as our desktop Win2PDF software (it has the exact same interface and features), but it has been adapted for a server-based, multi-user environment. It allows remote workers working from any work-at-home terminal to access company software programs and then create PDF files that can be saved on the server or on a local PC client, printed to a network drive or hard-copy printer, or e-mailed to a group of recipients. After you install Win2PDF TSE on the server, it is automatically available as an available printer to all published applications on the server.

There are a variety of solutions that handle this type of terminal server deployment that are available from companies like Microsoft, Citrix, and many others. They use slightly different terms (i.e., Microsoft calls terminal services “Remote Desktop Services” and terminal servers “Remote Desktop Session Hosts“) and product names, but they work in the same general way.

If your company is considering Terminal Server deployments and wondering about PDF solutions for remote workers, download the trial version of Win2PDF TSE and let us know if you have any questions. Win2PDF TSE is licensed ‘per server’, and each server can support unlimited numbers of users or clients at no additional cost. Volume pricing for multiple servers or server farms is available as well.

Working from Home Due to Coronavirus? Remember WinPDF Can Help

With more and more office workers now being asked to work from home, it’s probably a good time to revisit how PDF files can help with your day-to-day workflow. Here are a few tips:

  • First and foremost — Win2PDF makes it easy to go paperless! Just use PDF files for document transfers instead of printing and sharing paper! PDF is an acronym for Portable Document Format and it can be shared with any type of user using any type of operating system. If you send a Word or Excel file, a smartphone user or a coworker on an Apple iMac or Macbook may not be able to open the document if they don’t have a Word or Excel viewer installed. PDF files, on the other hand, are universal and can be read by Windows computers, Apple computers, Chromebooks, Unix and Linux computers, iPhones, Android phones, tablets, etc.
  • Second, if you’re using Win2PDF, remember to use the ‘Send file’ option to automatically attach a PDF file to a new email message. It’ll save you a few clicks each time you create a PDF file if you need to share it with others.
  • Fourth, even the free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC program (which is installed on most PCs) has basic tools to comment, annotate, and sign documents. It’s a good way to share feedback when you do send or receive PDF files.
  • Fifth, convert legacy reporting programs to paperless systems by using the Win2PDF Auto-name feature. Need to share different reports with different departments? Add separate copies of Win2PDF and configure them for users of each department. Once reports are in PDF format instead of paper, they’re easy to view and share with users wherever they are located.
  • And lastly, make sure Win2PDF is loaded on your home PC as well. Did you know that the Win2PDF end-user license agreement allows you to install the desktop software on both a work computer and a home computer at no additional charge? You do now.