The options are: ViewMode (FitPage, FitWidth, FitHeight, FitVisible, ActualSize). AppendPDF Pro can save a document with the user’s choice for View Mode. These options reflect those that appear as buttons in Acrobat for choosing how a document appears on the screen. The default for ViewMode is FitPage.
What options are available for setting the Open Mode of a PDF document?
The options are: OpenMode (ShowBookmarks, ShowThumbnails, ShowNone). AppendPDF Pro users may choose to show the bookmark pane, show the page thumbnails, or choose none and open the document without bookmarks or thumbnails.
What kind of fonts can I use?
You can use all Adobe Type 1, any Barcode Type, Open Type or True Type fonts. NOTE: Symbol and Zapf Dingbats (Base 14 fonts), may not always stamp properly.
What is the proper way to use comments in the parameter file?
AppendPDF Pro requires that all comments be at the beginning of a line and must start with the # symbol. If you are using comments in your parameter file, make sure they are entered properly.
What flexibility does the Table of Contents option offer?
The Table of Contents page has many features. Among them are:
- The user is able to specify how information is printed on the page: in what font, size, position and color.
- Entries in the Tables of Contents support line-wrapping.
- All text entered by AppendPDF Pro on the Table of Contents page is hyperlinked to the respective pages in the new PDF document.
- Entries in the Table of Contents can use leaders between the entry text and the page number for that entry.
- If the Table of Contents needs to run on to a second (or third, etc.) page, a copy will be made of the first page to accommodate the additional listings.
- AppendPDF Pro applies its own bookmark for Table of Contents pages.
- The TOC block in the parameter file also supports a stamp file, enabling stamps such as page numbers, headers, etc. to be placed anywhere on the TOC page.
What do I need to keep in mind when setting LineSpace for use with multi-line TOC entries?
The LineSpace parameter available in the TOC (Table of Contents) block does not account for multi-line TOC entries. If LineSpace is set to 3 and there is a TOC entry that wraps a line, the space between that entry and the next will only be the equivalent of one blank line.
If your document has long TOC entries, make the appropriate adjustments to LineSpace to (a) achieve the desired spacing and (b) prevent lines from overlapping (a LineSpace of 2 and a TOC entry that wraps to 3 lines will overwrite the first line of the following TOC entry).
Why am I unable to search the extracted pages?
Regular searches should work fine. To do an index search, first the appended file(s) must be added to the index. Though appended PDFs are made up of pre-existing ones, AppendPDF Pro actually creates entirely new files.
Why are there extra bookmarks listed ahead of the cover page?
If your cover page document contains bookmarks, AppendPDF Pro will list them ahead of the auto-generated “Cover Page” bookmark. If you do not wish to have the bookmarks listed before the cover bookmark, open the cover page file in Acrobat, click on the bookmark, choose to delete the bookmark from the bookmark dropdown menu located on the top right of the bookmark pane.
How do I accurately define the page numbers I want stamped into my output PDF?
Users need to keep in mind that page numbers specified in stamp files (i.e., StartPage) need to be Acrobat page numbers and not the page numbers as defined by AppendPDF Pro. Acrobat page numbers are the page numbers as they appear in your Adobe Acrobat window (i.e., 3 of 20).
If -f is used, page counting will begin on the cover page and AppendPDF Pro numbers will be the same as Acrobat numbers. If -f is not used, number counting is reset to 1 at the start of the body of the appended document (this will not correspond to the 3 of 20 in your Acrobat window). Therefore, be sure to refer to the page numbers as they appear in Acrobat when specifying pages in stamp files.
What causes the message “error while loading shared libraries. libDLXXpdfl.so: cannot open shared object file”?
There are two additional environmental variables that need to be set for AppendPDF Pro on all UNIX platforms. If these variables are not set, you will receive the message “error while loading shared libraries. libDLXXpdfl.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory.”
The first environmental variable that needs to be set is APPLIGENT_HOME. This stores the location of the Appligent home directory. The default location for the Appligent home directory is /usr/local/appligent. The Appligent home directory contains the library files and resources needed to run AppendPDF Pro. It also contains license information for AppendPDF Pro.
Example for setting this variable:
export APPLIGENT_HOME=/usr/local/appligent
The second environmental variable is LD_LIBRARY_PATH on UNIX (except AIX, see below). The APDFL library path must be added to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory.
The path should be set to:
${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
Example for setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
FOR AIX USERS ONLY!
The environmental variable is LIBPATH. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory. The path should be set to:
${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
Example for setting the LIBPATH variable:
export LIBPATH=${LIBPATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
How important is the construction of my parameter files?
Misspelled keywords (i.e., BeginSource instead of begin_source) or keywords left out will cause AppendPDF Pro to fail. Also, it is best to use full paths to each input PDF file.
Does AppendPDF Pro work with portrait AND landscape pages?
Yes. AppendPDF Pro functions properly on portrait and landscape pages in documents to be appended.
Does AppendPDF Pro support PDF Forms?
AppendPDF Pro cannot append PDF files that contain active form fields, however you can append form documents where the form fields have been flattened. You would first need to use the form-flattening feature in another product, FDFMerge. Form flattening is a process whereby form data is stamped directly into the document, and the form fields are effectively removed. You can then successfully append your files with AppendPDF Pro.
Does AppendPDF Pro support Acrobat Articles?
No. AppendPDF Pro does not support articles at this time. If a file with articles is used, Acrobat will generate errors when viewing the output file.
Does AppendPDF Pro run on documents that are encrypted / secured?
No. AppendPDF Pro will not work with encrypted or write-protected input PDF files. Full permission on all files and paths are required for AppendPDF Pro to work properly.
AppendPDF Pro does have the ability to apply standard Acrobat security to the appended output PDF file. If you have an earlier version that does not have the ability to apply security and you would like to upgrade, please contact our Sales Department.
Does AppendPDF Pro support multi-line TOC entries?
Yes. AppendPDF Pro supports Multi-line TOC entries as well as multi-line text stamping throughout the entire appended document.
Do I have to use spaces between parameters in the parameter file?
Yes. AppendPDF Pro requires that there is (at least) one space between parameters and the parentheses that hold the value for the parameter, like this:
parameter1 (value), parameter2 (value)
Do I have to include a Cover or TOC page with my appended file?
No. You may choose to include or not to include a cover and TOC pages with the new appended file. AppendPDF Pro does not require it. You may also choose to include one and not the other. You may have an output file with just a cover and no TOC pages, or just TOC pages and no cover.
Can a parameter file have more than one source files block?
Only one source files block per parameter file is permitted. If you try to add more than one source files block to your parameter file, AppendPDF Pro will ignore it. Add all files to be appended together into one block; use multiple parameter files to generate multiple output PDF files.
Can I extract page ranges from just one file?
Yes. AppendPDF Pro will extract page ranges from only one file if you choose. You do not have to append additional pages or files to it for the append to be successful. Examples below of how parameter file should be constructed. These examples are setup to extract pages 2, 3 & 4 from Sample4.pdf:
XML Parameter:
<sourcepdfs>
<inputpdf>
<file>c:\Appligent\AppendPro\samples\pdfs\Sample4.pdf</file>
<startpage>2</startpage>
<endpage>4</endpage>
</inputpdf>
</sourcepdfs>
Legacy (text) Parameter
begin_source
c:\Appligent\AppendPro\samples\pdfs\Sample4.pdf,2,4
end_source
Can I copy my bookmarks over to the new document?
Yes. The -b option in AppendPDF Pro will copy the bookmarks from the individual PDF files into the output PDF file.
Example:
appendpro -b paramerFile.txt
Can AppendPDF Pro stamp my output documents during the appending process?
Yes. AppendPDF Pro can place stamps, watermarks, page numbers, etc. on documents. This feature is used in the Cover, TOC, and Extras blocks of the parameter file. Base 14, PostScript Type 1, True Type and Open Type fonts are supported. Margins can be modified for individual stamps as well as for full pages. JPEG, TIFF and PDF stamping is supported. See the documentation for details and instructions.
Why don’t my links work after appending?
Non-Named Destination Links should work in your appended documents unless you are only appending a portion of a document where the link destination page is not included within the new appended file. Check the link value to make sure you have appended all the pages needed for your links to work.
What causes the message “error while loading shared libraries. libDLXXpdfl.so: cannot open shared object file”?
There are two additional environmental variables that need to be set for AppendPDF on all UNIX platforms. If these variables are not set, you will receive the message “error while loading shared libraries. libDLXXpdfl.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory.”
The first environmental variable that needs to be set is APPLIGENT_HOME. This stores the location of the Appligent home directory. The default location for the Appligent home directory is /usr/local/appligent. The Appligent home directory contains the library files and resources needed to run AppendPDF. It also contains license information for AppendPDF.
Example for setting this variable:
export APPLIGENT_HOME=/usr/local/appligent
The second environmental variable is LD_LIBRARY_PATH on UNIX (except AIX, see below). The APDFL library path must be added to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory.
The path should be set to:
${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
Example for setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
FOR AIX USERS ONLY!
The environmental variable is LIBPATH. The APDFL library path is located in a subdirectory of the APPLIGENT_HOME directory. The path should be set to:
${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs
Example for setting the LIBPATH variable:
export LIBPATH=${LIBPATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X
Does AppendPDF support PDF Forms?
Does AppendPDF support Named Destination Bookmarks?
Yes. AppendPDF version 2.7 and later supports named destination bookmarks. If you have an earlier version that does not support these types of bookmarks and you would like to upgrade, please contact our Sales Department.
Does AppendPDF support encrypted / secure files?
No. AppendPDF will not work with encrypted or write-protected files. Full permissions on all files and paths are required for AppendPDF to work properly. AppendPDF does have the ability to apply standard Acrobat security to the appended output file.
Does AppendPDF support Acrobat articles?
No. AppendPDF does not knit together article threads across appended portions of a PDF document. If your documents have article threads and you append them, an warning box will pop up in your Acrobat window on viewing.
Can I prevent on-screen progress messages from also appearing in a log file?
At this time AppendPDF Pro will not write progress messages to the screen (using -p) without writing to a log file.
Can I change security settings with APCrypt?
Yes. APCrypt can change security options on any PDF file with an owner password. The owner of the document can change the password and permission settings of a previously encrypted PDF document.
APCrypt also has the ability to completely remove security settings by supplying the -remove flag along with the -d <owner password> on the command line.