Question:
Hi,
I have downloaded an evaluation copy of your product to determine its suitability for inclusion with our ECM software. Currently, it seems to be the best we have encountered, however, we have encountered an issue that seems to occur intermittently, where it is rasterising some of the text before printing (not only making it unselectable, but also altering its appearance). I have attached 2 documents demonstrating this – the original PDF I "printed" to the XPS document printer, and the resulting XPS document. If you look from page 10 onwards, the symptoms are easily seen.
If this can be repaired, or at least explained, then I have no doubt that this product will solve our document management criteria.
Regards,
Answer:
Thank you for your inquiry, and we appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. To resolve the problem where some of the text is being rasterized before printing, we recommend using the following command lines to print your PDF file again:
- Pdfprint.exe -winfont C:\test.pdf
- Pdfprint.exe -winfont -winfont2 C:\test.pdf
These commands utilize the -winfont and -winfont2 parameters, which should help resolve the issue of rasterizing text. The -winfont flag is particularly useful in ensuring that TrueType fonts are processed properly during the PDF-to-XPS conversion. The additional -winfont2 parameter helps to fine-tune font rendering, which may improve the output by avoiding unexpected text rendering issues.
If the problem persists despite using these options, please let us know, and we will continue investigating alternative solutions.
We hope this will address your concerns and that our pdfprint SDK will meet your document management needs.
Key Background Information:
-
PDF (Portable Document Format): A widely used file format developed by Adobe, designed to present documents in a consistent manner across devices and platforms. PDFs are known for preserving fonts, images, and layout exactly as intended by the author.
-
XPS (XML Paper Specification): A document format developed by Microsoft that is used for representing paginated documents. Similar to PDF, XPS is intended to maintain the integrity of a document's layout, fonts, and graphics regardless of the device used to view or print it.
-
Rasterization in Printing: Rasterization refers to the process of converting vector graphics or text into a raster image (a grid of pixels). When text is rasterized, it becomes unselectable and loses its scalability and clarity. This often occurs when a printer or document converter cannot handle the original text or font properly, leading to pixel-based rendering.
-
ECM (Enterprise Content Management): ECM software is designed to help organizations manage, store, and organize documents and content across their enterprise. It integrates tools for document capture, workflow automation, and content storage.
-
pdfprint SDK: This software development kit (SDK) provides developers with tools to automate the conversion of PDF files to various formats, including XPS, while offering features like command-line execution for streamlined integration with other systems, such as ECM software.
If you are incorporating this tool into an ECM solution, it’s important to ensure that the PDF-to-XPS conversion aligns with your document integrity requirements. The -winfont options are specifically intended to address text rendering issues during this conversion process.