Category: Win2PDF Updates

Update to Win2PDF Includes new Text to PDF Options for Legacy Reports

The latest Win2PDF update includes an additional command line feature to convert reports and other specially formatted documents to PDF using a fixed width font. This feature is needed for some reports to be rendered and viewed correctly, since many applications (especially older ones) were designed to send reports to a line printer or a simple fixed width text file. The results only look correct if each character is equally spaced.

Previously, the Win2PDF txt2pdf command line option would create a PDF file with variable width text. With the new command line option – formattedtxt2pdf – users can output the file with a fixed width text font instead of variable width text.

For example, here’s a portion of a report generated by a legacy application and saved to a PDF file using the original txt2pdf command.

Notice that the report doesn’t look right because the characters aren’t evenly spaced. However, here is the same report converted to a pdf file with the new formattedtxt2pdf command.

Now it looks correct, even though the text is exactly the same.

In addition to this command line feature, there’s a new Win2PDF Reformat As Text plug-in to simplify the creation of the files using this method.

First, download the plug-in setup file and double-click on it to configure the Win2PDF Reformat As Text plug-in. You will be prompted to enter the paper size, font size, and margin size to configure the plug-in values as shown below.

You may need to adjust these options to allow all text to fit on a page. Then, after the plug-in has been installed and configured, you can check the new box on the Win2PDF file save window labeled Reformat As Text. When saved, the fixed width formatted PDF file will be created.

Give it a try and if you have any questions, let us know.

Streamline Your Batch PDF Conversions with Nested Folder Support in Latest Win2PDF Update

The latest Win2PDF 10 Build 158 update brings forth a series of new features that have been requested by our customers. Let’s take a closer look at the notable additions and improvements:

1. Subfolder Support in Batch Convert (Win2PDF Pro only)

One of the most frequently requested additions in this update is the inclusion of subfolder support in the Batch Convert feature (and Batch Convert command line option). Previously, you could only batch convert files in a single folder. With this enhancement, however, you can convert documents within multiple nested subfolders.

For example, suppose you wanted to convert many scanned image files to .PDF files in a folder called “Invoices”. And under the “Invoices” folder you had subfolders for years (e.g. “2021”, “2022”, “2023”, etc.). And under each year subfolder you had additional subfolders for months (e.g. “Jan”, “Feb”, “Mar”, etc.). Now you can convert all files with a single operation just by selecting the topmost parent folder and then checking the ‘Include Subfolders’ option.

When you enable the “Include Subfolders” option, the folder structure in the “Convert Files From” is mirrored in the “Save To Folder” location.

2. Optional Margin Parameters in HTML2PDF Command Line

With the integration of optional margin parameters in the HTML2PDF command line, users gain greater control over the layout and presentation of converted HTML files into PDF format. This feature allows for customized margin settings (for top, bottom, left and right margins), ensuring documents maintain their intended formatting in the converted PDF files.

3. New SIGNWITHSTAMP Command Line option for PDF Signing (Win2PDF Pro only)

This update also adds the SIGNWITHSTAMP command line feature, which enables users to sign PDF documents with a certificate AND include a signature bitmap. Users can specify the size and location of the signature bitmap using new command line parameters.

4. Optional Width and Height Parameters in Image-to-PDF Command Lines

The update brings optional width and height parameters to various command lines (“TIFF2PDF“, “JPG2PDF“, “PNG2PDF“, “BMP2PDF“, “GIF2PDF“, “IMAGE2PDF“). This enhancement allows for precise customization of the output PDF dimensions, offering flexibility in document size and layout.

5. Improved DOCX to PDF Conversion (Win2PDF Pro only)

Win2PDF 10 Build 158 significantly enhances the DOCX to PDF conversion process in both the DOCX2PDF command line and Batch Convert DOCX to PDF feature. These improvements ensure better accuracy and fidelity when converting Microsoft Word documents to PDF format.

Upgrade and Trial Information

Existing Win2PDF 7 and Win2PDF 10 users can enjoy this update as a free upgrade.

This latest update contains features that were all created based on customer requests and feedback. Do you have a feature you’d like to have added or modified? If so, let us know and we’ll look into it.

Enhanced Printing Options: Win2PDF’s Latest Command Line Features

And in our final feature post about the 10.0.154 Win2PDF Update, we’ll look at the remaining new features.

New Command Line Support To Print Document and Image Files to a Windows Printer

Another frequently requested feature is the ability to print files directly from the command line, typically to a paper printer. There is a generalized PRINT command, along with commands used for printing specifically formatted image and document files. These are:

  • PRINT General Print command line option
  • PRINTDOCX ** Print Microsoft Word .docx files
  • PRINTRTF ** Print RichText Format .rtf files
  • PRINTODT ** Print OpenDocument Format .odt files
  • PRINTTXT ** Print Text .txt files
  • PRINTHTML Print HTML files
  • PRINTSVG Print Scalable Vector Graphic .svg files
  • PRINTXPS Print XML Paper Specification .xps files
  • PRINTTIFF Print TIFF .tif image files
  • PRINTJPG Print JPG .jpg image files
  • PRINTPNG Print PNG .png image files
  • PRINTBMP Print Bitmap .bmp image files
  • PRINTGIF Print GIF .gif image files

** feature requires Win2PDF Pro version of the software

And a couple of other new command line features were added as well:

  • PRINTPDFACTUALSIZE – used to print a PDF with no scaling
  • PRINTPDF – Added the ability to make a tray selection option from this command

And finally, two new save as types and “Configure Auto-name” file types were added — PDF Image Only – monochrome searchable (OCR PDF) and PDF Image Only – color searchable (OCR PDF).

These formats can be useful when using Auto-name search fields. Some applications, like Crystal Reports, use encoded text to prevent searching. In this case, Win2PDF’s search fields and content fields can’t be found. These two new file types help work around this issue and are worth trying if the standard Portable Document Format – Searchable (OCR PDF) file type doesn’t work.

Batch Converting Folders of OpenDocument Text (.odt) Files to PDF Using Win2PDF

In last week’s post, we announced details on the latest Win2PDF support of various Word Processing formats like Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), and Rich Text Format (.rtf).

While MS-Office files have always been an important format for documents, there is an increasing need to support OpenDocument (ODF) files as well, mostly due to its increasing adoption within government and international organizations.  The reason for this is simple:  they’re open and not dependent on changes imposed by a single company.

Microsoft Office Documents (.doc) were originally binary files used by Microsoft as a proprietary format.  Microsoft adapted the format to an standards-based format based on Open Office XML in 2007, and this became the (.docx) format.  Today, both (.doc) and (.docx) formats are maintained by Microsoft.  The OpenDocument format, on the other hand, is an open format that is documented and maintained by an independent non-profit consortium known as OASIS.  

[If you’re interested in more details, here’s Microsoft’s list of differences between (.docx) and (.odt) files].

For these reasons and more, Win2PDF now supports more conversion options with .odt files. 

You can now read .odt files in the Win2PDF Desktop App, and batch convert folders of .odt files into the following formats:

If you want to convert individual files instead of batch converting folders of documents, you can either use the “export to ODT” feature or the “convertto” command line with the source or destination set to an .odt file.

Whether you’re looking to share these documents with others by email or the web, or simply preserve their formatting in another format, Win2PDF can help you batch convert folders of .odt documents to PDF quickly and easily.  If your organization is using OpenDocument Formats and there’s something else you’d like to see in terms of conversion, let us know.  We’re always interested in making the conversion process between different file formats easier and more flexible.

New Win2PDF Features for Converting Word (.docx), Open Document Text (.odt), and Rich Text Format (.rtf) to PDF

Win2PDF has always been able to convert Microsoft Word (.docx), Open Document Text (.odt), and Rich Text Format (.rtf) files by printing from the programs that can view/print these types of documents. With the most recent 10.0.144 release, however, it is now possible to natively view and export in the Win2PDF Desktop App, do batch conversions, use command line options, and use the watch folder with these standard word processing documents. This native support does not depend on any external programs such as Microsoft Word, and requires Win2PDF Pro.

Here’s a summary of the new capabilities:

  • Open .doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt, and .txt files in the Win2PDF Desktop App

When you open the Win2PDF Desktop App, you can now open .doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf, and .txt files. This allows you to export these files to PDF, searchable PDF, image files, or other formats.

  • Export to .docx, .odt, and .rtf from the Win2PDF Desktop App (Win2PDF Pro feature only)

  • Batch convert .docx, .odt, .rtf, and .xps files in the Win2PDF Desktop App (Win2PDF Pro feature only)

The Win2PDF Desktop App’s batch conversion feature now supports the additional input formats:

.docx, .doc, .rtf, .odt, .txt

And supports the following output formats

.docx, .rtf, .odt, .xps
  • New Command Line Options for .docx, .odt, .rtf, and .txt  (Win2PDF Pro feature only)

DOCX2PDF

DOC2PDF

RTF2PDF

ODT2PDF

TXT2PDF

  • Enhanced ‘convertto’ command line option for other formats

There are new input and output formats in the convertto command.

This allows for more unusual combinations such as “TXT to JPG” or “DOCX to PNG”.

  • Use Win2PDF Watch Folder to dynamically convert .docx, .odt, .rtf, and .xps files that are added to a folder. (Win2PDF Pro TSE feature only)

The current version of Win2PDF can be installed from the Win2PDF download page, and this update is available at no charge for registered Win2PDF 7 and higher version users. If you have the standard Win2PDF and want to use the new Pro only features, you can upgrade to Win2PDF Pro.

Win2PDF 10.0.144 is now available

The latest release of Win2PDF (10.0.144) is now available on the Win2PDF Download site.

The biggest additions to this release are specific to the Win2PDF Pro version of the software, which now supports the ability to batch convert standard word processing documents (Microsoft Word, Open Document Text, and Rich Text Format) to PDF.

Here’s a summary of changes in this new version:

This Win2PDF 10 update is a free upgrade for all Win2PDF 7 and Win2PDF 10 users. If you have an existing Win2PDF standard edition license and wish to use any of the new Win2PDF Pro features, you can purchase a Win2PDF Pro Upgrade.

We’ll be posting more specific information on some of these features next week, with more details on changes to the interface and how these new features can be used. In the meantime, if you would like to evaluate one of the new Win2PDF Pro features (PDF watermark, PDF security, batch-convert, auto-rename, or watch folder), contact us for a free 30 day trial of Win2PDF Pro.

Name or Rename PDF Files Based on Content Below a Search Term

In previous blog posts [see 1, 2], we showed how Win2PDF can name (or rename) PDF files based on data contained within a file. This feature has been especially useful for users needing to manipulate invoices, as this twitter user has noted:

Brainsweat. Lots of it. We’ve been talking with a lot of users that are spending a lot of time trying to sort through massive numbers of PDF invoices and renaming them based on content, attaching them to emails, splitting them apart, etc.

We now have a free update (Win2PDF 10.0.141) that expands on the capability to make this happen. Namely, it adds the capability to capture the search field below a search term. Previously it only allowed you to select text that followed after a search term. As many of you may know, it’s not uncommon for the invoice number to reside on a different line, so now both types of searches are possible, as shown below:

To use this feature, you’ll first need to open a sample PDF document in the Win2PDF Desktop App to define the Auto-Name Search Field.

Then, based on the example file shown above, you’d enter in the Content Search Word of “Invoice #”, choose the search direction to be “Search Below”, and it will show you what the found search field is:

After you have defined this search field, you can do a few things.

One, you can use this term to rename a batch of PDF files if they already exist. You simply need to select the Auto-Rename menu option from the Win2PDF Desktop App, and then choose your Auto-Name variables including the “Search Field 1” text as shown below.

Two, instead of renaming existing PDF files, you can set your current printing method to use this Auto-Name method for new PDF files. You’ll just need to go to the Configure Win2PDF Auto-Name Settings page to set up how you’d like the PDF files to be named.

And three, you can use this feature via the command line interface for more advanced users. Previously we used the command line command “getcontentsearch” to find search text that immediately follows the search word. Now we’ve added the “getcontentsearchbelow” command, which finds the search text that is directly below the search word.

Hopefully, this is one additional feature to reduce the amount of brainsweat required for managing your invoices.

PDF Bookmarks, Import/Export Win2PDF Settings & More in Latest Win2PDF Update

If you have changed Win2PDF from the default settings and want to preserve them when you move to a new computer (or group of computers), there is a new feature in our most recent Win2PDF 10.0.140 release that will help. You can now export your Win2PDF settings to a file, and then import that file on a new machine once you have reinstalled Win2PDF.

Win2PDF Desktop Settings Export/Import

This is accomplished through the Win2PDF Desktop Application (shown above). It can also be used from the Win2PDF command line with the EXPORTSETTINGS and IMPORTSETTINGS commands.

The ability to export/import settings can be very useful if you use Win2PDF with multiple printers with different settings; this feature will export/import multiple Win2PDF printers if they are configured.

It is also useful if you have configured Win2PDF with the Auto-name feature, or have made numerous other changes to the standard Win2PDF settings. Once you’ve established your desired settings, you can use this feature to backup your configuration settings, or use it to copy to a group of other machines using Win2PDF (if you wanted all users to Auto-name files in the exact same way, for example).

Also included in this release is support for PDF bookmarks. Bookmarks are a quick and easy way to jump to a certain section of a PDF file with a single click from a bookmarked word or phrase. You can see an example of a PDF file with bookmarks in the following image (using Adobe Reader).

Bookmarks in PDF – Shown in Adobe Reader

You can now add or delete bookmarks using the following command line options:

  • The ADDBOOKMARK command line allows you to specify a title and page number to insert into a PDF file.
  • The ADDBOOKMARKAFTERSEARCH command line allows you to search through a PDF document for a keyword (like “Chapter” or “Invoice”, for example), and then add a bookmark to that section of the PDF file. This is probably the most useful bookmark command because it lets you add bookmarks without knowing what page the anchor text resides on. It makes it easy to create bookmarks on dynamically generated reports with anchor text that may vary when each report is generated.
  • The DELETEBOOKMARKS command line can be used to remove bookmarks from any PDF file.

Lastly, we added the ability to remove a trial license to the Win2PDF Desktop Application through the Help menu.

Win2PDF Desktop – Remove Win2PDF License

This makes it easy to enter a purchased license without having to uninstall and reinstall the software after the evaluation period.

If you would like to evaluate Win2PDF or Win2PDF Pro, contact us for a free 30 day trial.

This Win2PDF 10.0.140 update is a free upgrade for Win2PDF 7 and Win2PDF 10 users.

Win2PDF Pro and Command Line Enhancements Available Now

The latest release of Win2PDF 10.0.136 is now available on the Win2PDF Download site. The biggest feature additions are for Win2PDF Pro. You can now add PDF security and watermarks directly to an existing PDF file (without having to recreate it) in the Win2PDF Desktop App. In addition, there have been multiple enhancements to the Win2PDF command line options (based on customer feedback) and bug fixes.

Here is a summary of the enhancements in Win2PDF 10.0.136:

  • Customer reported bug fixes

This Win2PDF 10 update is a free upgrade for Win2PDF 7 and Win2PDF 10 users. If you would like to evaluate one of the new Win2PDF Pro features (PDF watermark, PDF security, batch-convert, auto-rename, or watch folder), contact us for a free 30 day trial of Win2PDF Pro.

Questions or comments? Contact at [email protected] or through the online Win2PDF HelpDesk.

New Split File Before Search Text Feature in Win2PDF

We recently had a hospital contact us with a request for Win2PDF. Due to new California regulations regarding how to provide notice for medical bills, they needed to modify their notification processes. One step was searching through a single large output PDF that had bills from hundreds of different patients, and then splitting the PDF into separate pages each time it encountered a “FINAL NOTICE” tag.

Win2PDF already had the ability to split a PDF file AFTER a search term, but in this case the search text appeared on the first page of the bill so the customer needed the file split BEFORE the “FINAL NOTICE” search term.

So, we added this to Win2PDF.

Win2PDF 10.0.133 supports a new “splitpagesbeforesearch” command line. It works the same as “splitpagesaftersearch“, but splits on the page before the search text. It can be used through the Win2PDF Desktop app or through the command line.

The second change needed to accomplish this customer’s issue is a new “getcontentsearches” command line. It works the same as “getcontentsearch“, but continues searching the entire PDF and outputs all matching text to standard output.

This is another example of adding or extending Win2PDF features based on customer requests. If you’re looking for a feature not supported by Win2PDF (or other PDF software), let us know! We may be able to adapt Win2PDF to meet your needs.