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.

A Win2PDF Step-by-Step Guide: Reformatting File Names with Microsoft PowerRename

What do you do when you need to convert a PDF document into multiple images (1 per page), but with a very specific file name format? Consider this recent customer situation:

The customer had a PDF product manual (i.e., ‘Widget Manual.pdf’) and wanted to convert each page of the manual to a JPG image file. And, each JPG file needed to be named in a format that included its corresponding page number and with a uniform file name length (e.g., “Widget_Page001.jpg”).

While they were able to convert the PDF file to JPG (using the File ➔ Export ➔ JPEG option in Win2PDF Desktop), they weren’t able to control how the resulting file names would be formatted.

Rather than add complexity to the Win2PDF Desktop interface, we suggested using the free Microsoft PowerRename utility.

You can use this same methodology for other situations as well, so we can generalize the procedure. Here’s how:

Step 1) Download and install Microsoft PowerToys.

The easiest way is to just search for this app in the Microsoft Store and click Install.

Make sure you have the latest version of PowerToys installed, as older versions may not support regular expressions which will be necessary in our example.

Step 2) Save the multi page PDF file to a series of JPG files

The easiest way to convert the PDF to JPG is to use the Win2PDF Desktop Export feature, as shown here:

When exporting, the base file name defaults to the name of the PDF file, which can be changed if needed.

Upon file Save, multiple JPG files are created.

Win2PDF Desktop creates one JPG file for each page in the PDF and names them with the base name of the PDF file and increments of 1 (with preceding/following ‘.’characters). So, this is what you get:

Widget Manual.pdf ➔ Widget Manual.1.jpg, Widget Manual.2.jpg, Widget Manual.3.jpg, …

What you need, however, is to have it look like this:

Widget Manual.pdf ➔ Widget_Page001.jpg, Widget_Page002.jpg, Widget_Page003.jpg, …

Step 3) Select the JPG files and open PowerRename

After the files have been converted to JPG, you can select all of them in Windows explorer and right-click to choose PowerRename.

Step 4) Search and replace text using a regular expression

This step shows how regular expressions can be used to augment the file name. In many cases, a simple “search and replace” will be sufficient. But, since the customer in our example wants each JPG file to be a page number in a specific format (3 digits long padded with zeros), we can use the regular expression shown below to accomplish our goal.

Note: the icon for Enumerate items under Text formatting must be selected.

You’ll see a preview of the file name conversions on the screen, and when it looks correct you can select Apply. And that’s it! If you make a mistake after you’ve applied the rename, you can go back to Windows explorer and select the “…” option shown below and choose Undo.

This is obviously a very specific example but it shows how it can be done. We highlighted this example using a regular expression because it is such a powerful and expansive tool that most programmers are familiar with.

If you’re renaming PDF files, the Win2PDF Pro Auto-rename feature is an easier to use solution that also supports renaming based on the content of the PDF.

If you need assistance with renaming files with specific criteria, let us know. Just as in the case of this customer, we can usually help, even if it requires finding a solution from another source.

Win2PDF on A Mac? Win2PDF Pro Now Works On Windows for Arm devices, Including Macs

For years (decades, actually), Win2PDF has been providing customers with software to create, convert, and modify PDF files on their Windows computers. Typically, these have been Intel-based PCs, servers, and even older Macs/Macbooks with Intel-based processors (running Windows virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare).

But now we’re starting to get requests for Windows on Arm-based devices, which are increasingly popular for light-weight notebooks, tablets and especially with the newer Apple Mac M1 and M2 computers.

Starting today, with our Win2PDF Pro 10.0.159 prerelease, we’re providing limited support for Windows on Arm in our Win2PDF Pro software.

What is Arm? If my computer is running Windows, why does it matter?

For most users, it doesn’t. It does matter, however, to software developers like us. Additional coding is required to make software compatible with Windows for Arm, and we’ve just started that process with this prerelease. Very simply put, historically Intel processors have been more powerful and versatile (requiring comparatively higher resources and power). Arm processors, on the other hand, are newer, more efficient, require less power, and are increasingly matching or exceeding performance compared to Intel chips.

That’s why Arm processors are popular right now. Their low power consumption makes them ideal for lightweight mobile products like Apple MacBooks and Microsoft Surface.

Will Win2PDF Pro fully support Windows on Arm?

The Win2PDF Pro software contains three primary components – a PDF printer (named “Win2PDF”), an Image printer (named “Win2Image”), and a Win2PDF Desktop App. The Win2PDF printer creates PDFs by printing from any application, the Win2Image printer creates image files by printing from any application, and the Win2PDF Desktop supports multiple format conversions to and from PDF, batch convert, advanced rename features, and email options.

Currently, the Win2PDF Pro for Windows on Arm prerelease only supports the Win2PDF Desktop App and command line functionality. The reasons for the limited support are lengthy and technical, but in a nutshell, the first two components – Win2PDF and Win2Image – are printers, and these printers are more difficult to adapt to work on different hardware. We’ll continue to evaluate and work on expanded support for Windows on Arm in the future, but for now, it’ll just work with the Win2PDF Desktop App and command line.

Ready to get started?

Head over to the Win2PDF website to download Win2PDF Pro for Windows on Arm now.

If you do not already have a Win2PDF Pro license, request a 30-day trial license and put “Win2PDF Pro for ARM” in the Subject field.

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.

ChatGPT’s Latest Update: Analyzing PDFs for Powerful Insights

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has received a substantial update, allowing users to upload PDF documents and have the AI-powered chatbot analyze them. This newfound feature promises to be a game-changer in various scenarios where quick and efficient data extraction is required.

The power of this feature becomes evident when considering its real-world applications. Users can now feed ChatGPT specific PDF documents, enabling it to generate summaries, extract data points, and even create graphs and charts based on the provided information. What are the key points of this report? Can you summarize its conclusions? Can you help me write a slide show presentation for this document? Just think of the many ways that any type of PDF file can be analyzed.

“…you can now feed ChatGPT specific PDF documents and have it extract summaries, various data points, or even write graphs and charts based on that data.”

ChatGPT’s new ability to analyze PDFs is a remarkable advancement, expanding its utility beyond natural language understanding and generation. This update underscores the ever-evolving capabilities of AI-powered tools and their potential to transform the way we work with information.

We’ll continue to monitor the developments in the AI space to see how and where Win2PDF can be used to facilitate the PDF integrations. If you have any questions or specific use cases in this area, please let us know. We’re always interested in how our users may be incorporating or interfacing with this type of application.

Celebrating 15 Years of Excellence: Dane Prairie Systems, LLC and the BBB

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, it’s a remarkable feat for a company to not only survive but thrive for over two decades. Dane Prairie Systems, LLC has achieved this impressive milestone, marking 23 years of unwavering commitment to its customers and innovative solutions. Additionally, the company has proudly been a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for 15 years, earning an A+ rating. This achievement speaks volumes about Dane Prairie Systems’ dedication to ethical business practices and outstanding customer service. This rating not only highlights Dane Prairie Systems’ integrity but also gives customers the confidence that they are dealing with a company that values their trust.

From all of us at Dane Prairie Systems, LLC, we thank our customers for their continued support! We appreciate your business and we look forward to serving you for many years to come. You can always reach out to us for customer support, feedback, or requests through the Win2PDF online support portal.

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.

New Win2PDF Pro TSE Feature: Run Watch Folder As A Service

Continuing our feature posts about the 10.0.154 Win2PDF Update, let’s now take a look at running the Watch Folder as a Windows Service.

Previously, the watch folder needed to be initiated by a user, and an open window needed to be running on the machine for the Watch Folder to work. Now, it can be set up as a Windows Service in the background. This feature is ONLY available in the Win2PDF Pro Terminal Server Edition (TSE) version of the software.

[Recommended: If you haven’t used the Watch Folder and Convert feature in the past, it’s recommended that you start by running the feature interactively by starting the “Watch Folder and Convert” shortcut from the Windows Start menu. This allows you to see any errors as you configure the folder and convert type options.]

When everything is working correctly when running interactively and you’re ready to run the feature as a service, you should close the interactive Watch Folder window. Next, right click on the “Watch Folder and Convert” shortcut from the Windows Start menu, and choose “Run As Administrator…“.

The title of the window will display “Service Config: Watch Folder and Convert“, and this is where you can select your watch folder and conversion format. The last used settings are restored in this Window.

When you click on the Save Config button, Win2PDF installs and starts a Windows service using the settings in this window. The service will automatically start with Windows, and does not require that anyone is logged in to the server. You can verify the service is running by viewing the Services window from the Windows control panel.

The service runs under the local system account by default. If the “Convert files from” or “Save To Folders” are not accessible from the local system account, you can configure the service to run under a different user using the “Log on” tab of the “Services” applet in the Control Panel Administrative Tools.

If you want to try this feature please request a 30-day evaluation license. Make sure to include that you need this specific feature in your request so we can send you the Win2PDF Pro TSE evaluation version.

New Win2PDF Pro Features: Batch Convert To A Single PDF File

In our previous blog post announcing the 10.0.154 Win2PDF Update, we mentioned a couple of new features that are specific to Win2PDF Pro. Let’s take a closer look at the first.

Batch Convert to a Single Merged PDF File

Previously, the batch convert feature in Win2PDF Desktop converted a folder of files in one format to another folder with a different format. If you had 10 .JPG files, for example, you could create 10 PDF files with batch convert.

However, suppose you had a folder of image files that were scanned pages of a book or document and you wanted to convert them all into a single PDF file, and one that had searchable text?

That’s where the new feature comes in. To use it, you just need to open the Win2PDF Desktop app and choose Batch Convert…

Select the folder that has your original files (Convert Files From). These can be PDF files, image files, or documents in various formats. And select the output folder (Save To Folder), and then choose the Save Type to be “Merged File…” When any of the “Merged File…” options are selected, you will be able to input a Merged File Name for the resulting file.

In our example, we’ll convert a folder of seven .PNG image files (each representing a scanned survey result), and store the results in as a Searchable (OCR) PDF file named ‘Survey Results.pdf’. Note: Any type of PDF output format can be used, but the OCR feature will make sure the results are searchable.

Notice that there are several Merged File options, which allows you to control the order in which the files are merged together. They can be sorted by alphabetical order (based on the original filename), or based on the time the original files were created or modified. When you press the Convert button, you’ll see the following pop-up.

And that’s really all there is to it. In this case, the seven individual image files (pages) in one folder have been saved to a single PDF file, and one that is searchable.

The Win2PDF BATCHCONVERT command line has also been updated to support merging to a single PDF.

Batch Merge PDFs To A Single PDF

In addition to batch converting between formats, you can also batch merge folders of existing PDF files to a single merged PDF. You aren’t limited to only converting between files types, you can also merge multiple PDF files together.

It operates in the same way by opening the “Batch Convert…” window and then choosing a folder of PDF files as the input. Again, you can choose the order of merging based on the file names, or the dates of creation or modification of the files.

You can also combine multiple PDFs into a single merged PDF from the command line using the BATCHCONVERT command.

This has been a frequently requested feature. In prior releases, Win2PDF could only append one file at a time, and we’ve had many customers wanting to merge multiple PDFs together in a single operation. Now you can with one click!

If you want to try this feature please request a 30-day evaluation license for Win2PDF Pro.

Win2PDF Update Adds New Features for Batch Converting, Watch Folders, and Command Line Printing

The newest release of Win2PDF 10.0.154 is now available on the Win2PDF Download site.

New features in this update include the following.

For Win2PDF Pro only:

For Win2PDF Pro Terminal Server Edition (TSE) only:

For all versions of the Win2PDF command line:

  • Added a tray selection option to the command line PRINTPDF command.

For all versions of Win2PDF:

________

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.

We’ll be providing a more detailed look at these new features in the subsequent blog posts.