Category: Win2PDF Plug-Ins

Win2PDF Now Supports PDF Direct Printing

What is PDF Direct printing?

PDF Direct is a feature available on many printers that allows PDF files to be sent straight to the printer without being processed through any software first. There may be slightly different names used by each printer company, but it’s typically referred to as PDF Direct Print or Direct PDF printing.

This feature is useful because it is a much faster way for printers to print PDF files since there is no intermediate conversion process needed by software.

Most business class printers from HP, OKI, Kyocera, Ricoh, Canon, and Xerox support PDF Direct printing, but most consumer inkjet printers do not support it. Look up your printer’s documentation for the specific model to see if it supports PDF Direct printing or not. If you aren’t sure, it’s safer to use the Win2PDF Print PDF command line. This is slower but will work for all printers.

One important caveat: If you attempt to use this feature on a paper printer that does not support PDF Direct printing, many pages of garbled text will be printed instead of the PDF.

This feature is available in the Win2PDF 10.0.142 version or higher, and it is a free update to all Win2PDF 10 users.

There are 2 ways to use the latest Win2PDF software to print PDF files directly.

  1. Use the command line option for Win2PDF PDF Print Direct [link goes to documentation for this feature].

This is probably most useful for larger organizations that are batching many PDF files to the printers, perhaps along with other Win2PDF command line options.

  1. Use the new Win2PDF Direct Print Plug-In [link goes to download page for plug-in].

This is probably most useful for users interactively generating PDF files.

When you install the plug-in setup, you will be prompted to select a PDF Direct Printer.

After this is selected and saved, a copy of each printed Win2PDF PDF file will be sent automatically to this PDF Direct Printer until disabled. To disable this feature, you can remove the Win2PDF Direct Print Plug-In using the Windows control panel.

This feature may not be useful to all PDF users, but for organizations that are processing large volumes of PDF files it can dramatically reduce the time needed for printing.

When we presented this for testing to a customer who wanted this feature, he replied:

There is no question why I highly recommend Win2PDF to all my clients and will continue to do so! Unbelievable service for an outstanding product!

Brian H., Hawaii

New Win2PDF Plug-In Adds a Terms & Conditions Sheet to a PO

We recently created a new Win2PDF Plug-In for a customer and it’s useful enough to share with all Win2PDF users. The Win2PDF Append File Plug-In allows you to append a standard file to any new PDF created using Win2PDF. While this Plug-In can be used for a variety of situations, here’s what the customer wanted:

When members of their accounting team printed a new purchase order (PO), they wanted to easily attach a standard company-specific Terms and Conditions sheet to each PO, like this:

While the Win2PDF Append feature has always been available, the new Plug-In streamlines the process to just a simple check-box. When the Plug-In is installed, a check-box for Append PDF appears on the main Win2PDF File Save Window, as shown here:

By simply checking this Append PDF checkbox on the main screen, the customer can add their Terms and Conditions sheet to POs without having to go through any extra steps. When printing other types of documents that do not need this extra sheet, they just uncheck this box.

To activate this Plug-In, download the Win2PDF Append File Plug-In setup file. Then run the compiled setup program and choose your pre-set file to append (e.g., “Terms and Conditions.pdf”).

While this particular customer had a Terms and Conditions sheet they needed to add to POs, the same Plug-In could be used for a variety of other applications, like:

  • Add a customer contact sheet to certain documents,
  • Add instructions to a specific form that is generated for clients,
  • Add a tax-exemption form to purchase orders,
  • Add payment options, bank details, etc. to invoices, or
  • Add any type of legal certificate or contract or addendum that may be commonly attached.

Do you have something in your PDF workflow that could be improved? If so, let us know.

Amazon S3 Upload Plug-In for Win2PDF

Win2PDF has a new Plug-In available to automatically upload PDF (or image) files to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket. Amazon S3 is a scalable, cloud-based object storage service that is part of Amazon Web Services (AWS). While Win2PDF itself is not cloud-based, it can save files to cloud-based services like Amazon S3, Dropbox, Slack, etc. This S3 Plug-In is a free optional extension to Win2PDF and must be installed separately from the main Win2PDF software.

With the new Configure Amazon S3 Plug-in, users can upload PDF or image files directly to their Amazon S3 buckets after the file has been created without any additional steps. This can be useful for distributing PDFs, modifying on PDFs using cloud based software, or integrating with 3rd party software such as Zapier.com.

To use this new feature, download and install the free Plug-In from our web site here:

https://get.win2pdf.com/plug-in/Win2PDF-S3-Upload-PDF-Plug-In.exe

When you run the Configure Amazon S3 Plug-In setup program, you will be presented with the following configuration window:

Configure Amazon S3 Upload Settings

The configuration options available are:

  • PDF Upload: Allows you to either Move or Copy the PDF file to S3, depending on whether or not you wish to keep a local copy.
  • Access Key ID & Secret Access ID: Your access Key ID and Secret Access ID are part of Amazon’s security credentials to verify who you are and whether you have permission to access the resources that you are requesting. AWS uses the security credentials to authenticate and authorize your requests.
  • Bucket Name: A bucket is a container for objects stored in Amazon S3, and needs to exist in your Amazon S3 account.
  • Folder Name (Optional): If you wish to upload the PDF file to a specific folder in the bucket, it can be specified here.
  • AWS Region: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has the concept of a Region, which is a physical location around the world where data centers are clustered. This setting must match the location of the specified bucket.

Once the Configure Amazon S3 Plug-In has been installed, you’ll have the option to select Send to S3 on the main Win2PDF file save window.

Win2PDF file save window with S3 Plug-In enabled

When this option is checked, the file will automatically be uploaded to your S3 bucket (using your configuration settings and access keys) without any further user interaction. If unchecked, it will only create a local PDF file and will not upload the file to your S3 bucket.

If you need to change your configuration settings in the future, you can return the Configure Amazon S3 Plug-In setup screen by selecting it from the Win2PDF Windows Start program group. (Please note you will need to re-enter your security access keys when you return to this screen. This is for security reasons, as the access keys will not be visible once saved.)

Configure Win2PDF S3 Upload Plug-In in Windows Start Menu

Also, we’ve had several blog posts previously that covered the Win2PDF Plug-In capabilities and how it can be used to extend the functionality of Win2PDF to do customer specific tasks or interface with other applications and services. Other Win2PDF Plug-Ins are available on our GitHub repository here:

https://github.com/win2pdf/Win2PDF.Samples/tree/master/plug-in

Like many Win2PDF features, this feature started with a suggestion from a Win2PDF user. Any questions, comments, or suggestions? Let us know.

Digital Signatures, Digital Certificates, and PDF Authentication

For centuries people used a wax seal on letters to prove to the recipient that the letter was from a trusted source and had not been tampered with.  Did you know there is a way to do this digitally with your PDF file?

We recently added a feature that allows you to apply a digital certificate to a PDF file when it is created by Win2PDF. The certificate — which can be created by you, or purchased from a certificate authority — allows the recipient to verify that the file was ‘signed’ from the sender and that it hasn’t been altered or modified.

Before we get into the specifics of this feature, we should probably do a little explanation of terms surrounding digital signatures and what is commonly known as “digitally signing” documents, because it can be a confusing topic.

There are several ways of doing this that largely break down into 2 categories.

  1. Electronic Signatures (or e-signatures):  This method of signing a PDF allows the user to apply a simple image representing a person’s handwritten signature.  It is simple and easy to implement, and is legally permissible for many types of documents, but also not very sophisticated.  For example, it would be easy for someone to scan a signature of someone else, and then use it to apply to PDF files without the signature owner ever even knowing about it.  Aside from the representation of the signature, there isn’t a formal way of authenticating the creator is who they say they are.
  1. Digital Signatures: This method of signing is more sophisticated and preferred by companies that require a greater level of source authentication.  With this type of digital signature, an encrypted certificate is embedded within the PDF file.  The recipient of the file can view the certificate and verify exactly “who” created it.  For example, if I create a trusted certificate as John Doe from Win2PDF Sales and applied it to a PDF file, the receiver of that file would be able to verify that “John Doe” really was the creator of the file and that the document hasn’t been modified since it was signed.  There are also different types of certificates that can be used, from simple digital IDs that you can create yourself in Adobe Reader, to more advanced ones that can be purchased and verified by an approved certificate authority (CA).

The new Win2PDF feature utilizes this second method — digital signature, or digitally signing documents using certificates.  It requires a valid Win2PDF Pro software license (request a trial version if you want to try this), and it assumes that you have already either created or obtained your own digital certificate.  Adobe’s web site provides documentation on how to create your own Digital ID in Adobe Reader.

Here is an overview of the steps needed to apply a digital certificate to a PDF file using Win2PDF:

  1. Download and install Win2PDF Pro 10.0.108 or later software. [Note: This links to the Win2PDF Pro Service Pack for the latest version.]
  1. Download and install the PDFSignWithCertificate Plug-In.
  1. Once these 2 components are installed, you will see a new checkbox on the Win2PDF file save window.  If this box is checked, you will get a pop-up to select a certificate when the PDF file is saved.

  1. When the PDF file is saved, choose your Digital Certificate.  If you used Adobe Reader to create your digital ID certificate, for example, the file would have a .pfx file extension and be located on your hard drive folder named:

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\Security


  1. When the Digital Signature file is applied, it will require you to enter in a password to complete the certificate application to the PDF file.  This password is something you set up when creating your Digital ID or obtained from a certificate authority.

  1. Lastly, when you open the PDF file in Adobe Reader, Adobe recognizes the PDF file as being signed with a valid digital certificate.  You can see how this is displayed in Adobe below.
  1. If you examine the certificate in the Adobe Reader software, it will show the details that were used. Here, the recipient could verify that the file was signed by John Doe from Win2PDF Sales. 

For advanced users, Win2PDF Pro also supports a command line to sign PDF files with a digital certificate.

This has just been an overview of the new Digital Signature feature in Win2PDF Pro.  If you have any questions please let us know and we’ll be glad to provide more assistance.

Get Into Your PDF Flow using Microsoft’s Power Automate Desktop Software

Soooo many requests:

“I wish there was an easy way to convert all of these text files to PDF automatically.”

“Why can’t I just save an entire series of web pages as searchable PDF files?”

“How can I consolidate weekly reports from different applications and formats to a single PDF file without spending my whole afternoon doing so?”

These and other questions arrive in our email inbox daily. It seems everybody has some level of repetitive PDF processing that they do and are looking for an easier way to get it done. And since many of these issues are specific to a particular application or to your own business process, it’s not easy to find a one-size-fits-all solution that gives you the type of “push button” solution you really want.

That’s one reason why we’ve been so focused on creating tools like Win2PDF Auto-name, Win2PDF command-line processing, Win2PDF Plug-ins, and Win2PDF mail integrations. All of these features give powerful automation control to the user to eliminate repetitive steps and reduce processing errors.

Now, there’s something that combines all of these Win2PDF “tools” into a single problem-solving toolkit that works with all of your files and other applications. And best yet, it won’t cost you a penny!

Microsoft’s new Power Automate Desktop software is a free download for Windows 10 users that allows you to easily automate any repetitive tasks from your desktop, including the creation or manipulation of PDF files using Win2PDF. Once installed, you just need to create a desktop flow (the series of steps that automate a specific action or task). And no, you don’t need to be a coder to use it. Microsoft has a simple interface that most anyone can use.

It’s quite easy to build your first desktop flow using either pre-built drag-and-drop actions or by recording your own desktop flows to run later. For this latter method, it works similar to macros in Microsoft Office, by recording repetitive actions from your desktop across multiple applications—like your web browser, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Win2PDF, etc.—and then lets you replay the automation whenever needed.

For example, a quick desktop flow to convert all TXT files in a folder to PDF using Win2PDF (using the Win2PDF Auto-name feature) might look something like this:

A very simple recipe like this could save you a lot of time if you are currently working with PDF files regularly and in the same manner.

We’ll be diving into this topic in a bit more detail in future posts, including some more detailed examples where this might be useful. In the meantime, get into the flow and download the Power Automate Desktop software today and look at the Win2PDF Power Automate documentation to see what it can do for you.

[Case Study] Converting TIFF to PDF Using New Command Line Tools

Win2PDF has expanded its Command Line Interface to support two new conversion features.

  1. TIFF to PDF — This option converts TIFF graphic images into PDF files.
  1. PDF Image Only — This option converts PDF files to an Image Only format. Image Only PDF files can be used to make the PDF unsearchable, “flatten” text fields for security, speed up loading time for complex PDFs, and reduce the PDF file size.

As an example, consider this example we recently solved for a customer. They wanted to merge a scanned TIFF image to an existing text-based PDF file.

To accomplish this, they created a small batch file. The first line of the batch file converted the TIFF file to a PDF.

Win2Pdfd.exe tiff2pdf "1.tif" "1.pdf"

The 2nd line merged the PDF into the existing text PDF. (where “2.pdf” was an existing searchable text-based PDF).

Win2Pdfd.exe append "1.pdf" "2.pdf" "New.pdf"

The 3rd line flattened the file to an Image Only PDF. This made the combined PDF file unsearchable.

Win2Pdfd.exe imagepdf "New.pdf" "NewImageOnly.pdf" mono

In terms of formatting for the batch file, full path names were used so that it looked like this when the batch file is run from the Windows command prompt:

They had been struggling to find a solution to do this one particular document conversion, and the batch file solution not only provided the final document with the formatting they needed, but also provided the flexibility to integrate this into their existing document management process.

As we expand the options available in the Win2PDF Command Line Interface, the ability to do these types of highly customized and automated solutions is becoming easier, especially when coupled with Win2PDF Plug-Ins.

As always, if you have a particular conversion or process need for your PDF files, let us know if we can help.

NEW! Win2PDF “Send to Slack” Plug-In

One of the requests we get is how to take some action after a PDF file is created, and do it automatically. The most common example is to take the PDF file and attach it to a new email message. While Win2PDF has supported this feature since the beginning, many customers want to expand this capability to integrate the PDF files with other applications. And since these processes may be unique to each customer, we’ve expanded our support into a flexible new feature called Win2PDF Plug-Ins.

A Win2PDF Plug-In is simply a small customizable program that can be created, modified, or installed that will give the user an option to take some action with the PDF file after it has been created.

Here’s one example we’ve created for our own internal software development team using the Slack business communication platform. When we download and install the Win2PDF “Send to Slack” Plug-in, it allows our users to check a box on the Win2PDF file save window and automatically send the PDF file into a specific channel in Slack.

Slack allows teams of users to share comments, images, files, etc. in different channels. [A slack channel is simply a topic-based message board that allows any team members who are subscribed to that channel a way to share and exchange information related to that topic. Examples might be channels like #features or #support or #sales.]

With this Win2PDF “Send to Slack” Plug-In installed and configured, it gives our Win2PDF development team an easy way to share PDF files without using email, and they will all be archived in a common channel for all team members. There are a few one-time steps to configure this Win2PDF “Send to Slack” Plug-In to work with your specific Slack workspace and channel.

This is just the first of many Win2PDF Plug-Ins we have in development, and we’ll also be providing more details in future posts on how users can create their own Win2PDF Plug-Ins, or modify ones that we’ve created.