Overview

StampPDF Batch® is a server-based, command-line driven application that stamps new text and/or images into PDF documents. Any additions become permanent document content.

What You Can Do

• Add watermarks, page numbers, headers, and footers
• Control text attributes: font, style, size, RGB/CMYK color
• Position stamps: top, bottom, diagonal, vertical center
• Justify text: left, right, or center
• Layer stamps above or below existing content
• Select pages: every page, alternating, or custom intervals
• Set precise page margins for stamp placement
• Apply Bates numbering for legal documents
• Make stamps removable via undo labels

Installation

Memory Requirements

Minimum: 512 MB free memory.

Windows

Installation is handled by the standard installer. No special procedures required.

Unix -- Environment Variables

Version 5.1+ requires two additional environment variables for all UNIX platforms. If running via the provided stamppdf script, these are configured automatically. Direct stamppdfapp execution requires manual setup:

export APPLIGENT_HOME=/usr/local/appligent

# Linux / Solaris / HP-UX
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs

# AIX only
export LIBPATH=${LIBPATH}:${APPLIGENT_HOME}/APDFLX.X.X/Libs

Registration Numbers

StampPDF Batch accepts registration from two sources:

1. License file in ${APPLIGENT_HOME}/license directory (created by the installation script)
2. Command-line -r option (overrides the license file)

A valid license file eliminates the need for the -r flag on every invocation.

$stamppdfapp -r XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX [other options]

Using Fonts

Supported Types

• Base 14 (built-in PDF fonts)
• OpenType
• TrueType
• Type 1 (PostScript)
• Unicode / CJK fonts

Specifying Fonts

Version 5.2.2+: specify the font name only -- the FontFile parameter is deprecated. Discover available fonts with:

$ stamppdf -listfonts

Base 14 Font Substitution

Classic fonts (Times, Helvetica, Courier) are no longer shipped with the application. Automatic substitution occurs but appearance may differ. For exact rendering, place the original system fonts in your font directories.

Font Directories

Fonts live under APDFLX.X.X/Resource/Font within the above directories.

Quick Reference

stamppdf [options] <stamp file> <pdfdoc1> [<pdfdoc2> ...]

Stamp File Structure

A stamp file is a plain-text file with two main components:

1. Options Block -- defines general properties for the entire document: stamp file version, page margins, and viewer settings.
2. Stamp Items -- one or more blocks, each specifying parameters for a specific stamp. Unlimited quantity per file.

Comments

Use # at the start of a line. Comments must be on their own line:

# This is a valid comment
Begin_Message  # This is NOT valid -- comments must be on their own line

Parameter Format

Parameters use the syntax Parameter (value) with at least one space between the parameter name and the parenthesized value:

Position (Top)
Size (12)
Font (Helvetica Bold)

Options Block

The options block appears at the beginning of the stamp file and consists of three sections: Label, Positioning, and Viewer Options.

Inches to Points Conversion

1 inch = 72 points. A standard letter page (8.5 x 11 in) = 612 x 792 points.

Page Boundary vs. Stamp Margins

Page boundary margins (in the options block) define the overall usable stamping area. Stamp margins (in individual stamp items) override the page boundary margins for that specific stamp. When a stamp item specifies its own margins, Position and Justification work relative to the stamp item's rectangle, not the options block margins.

Viewer Options

Sample Options Block

Begin_Options
    Version (2)
    TopMargin (36)
    BottomMargin (36)
    LeftMargin (36)
    RightMargin (36)
    ViewMode (FitPage)
    OpenMode (ShowNone)
End_Options

Stamp Item Types

Every stamp item begins with Begin_Message and ends with End_Message. The Type parameter determines which kind of stamp is created:

• Text -- plain text content
• UTF8 / UTF16 -- Unicode characters (CJK)
• Image -- JPEG or TIFF images
• PDF -- embed a PDF page as a stamp
• Barcode -- Code 128 barcodes

Label Parameters

Pagination Parameters

PageRange (1,3,6,8)

Positioning Parameters

Position (Angle)
Angle (45)

# OffsetX example
Left (60)
OffsetX (36)
# Result: 60 + 36 = 96 points from left edge

# OffsetY example
BottomMargin (72)
OffsetY (-20)
# Result: 72 + (-20) = 52 points from bottom

Text Options

Base 14 Fonts: Courier, Courier-Bold, Courier-Oblique, Courier-BoldOblique, Helvetica, Helvetica-Bold, Helvetica-Oblique, Helvetica-BoldOblique, Times-Roman, Times-Bold, Times-Italic, Times-BoldItalic, Symbol, Zapf Dingbats.

# Item 1 -- Helvetica
Font (Helvetica)
Text (The circumference of a circle is 2    r.)

# Item 2 -- Symbol (for the pi character)
Font (Symbol)
OffsetX (176)
Text (                                   p)

# Result: "The circumference of a circle is 2pir."

Color

ColorSpace (DeviceRGB)
Red (102)
Green (51)
Blue (204)   # purple

ColorSpace (DeviceCMYK)
Cyan (0.63)
Magenta (0.76)
Yellow (0)
Black (0)   # purple

Additional Text Options

Sample Text Stamp

# -- Stamp Item --
Begin_Message
    Name (Watermark)
    Type (Text)
    StartPage (1)
    EndPage (-1)
    PageIncrement (1)
    Position (diag-topleft)
    Justification (center)
    Underlay (yes)
    Size (84)
    Font (Helvetica Bold)
    TextMode (1)
    Text (Confidential)
    WordWrap (no)
    Opacity (1)
    Gray (50)
    PageBox (CropBox)
    UndoLabel (undoStamp)
End_Message

Using Variables in Stamps

Variables substitute dynamic, document-specific information into the Text parameter at runtime. They are preceded by the % character and are case-sensitive.

Text (This file was created on %a., %b. %d.)
# Result: "This file was created on Wed., Oct. 07."

Variables Reference

Stamping Page Numbers

Use %g for the current page number. Optionally prefix with a start number:

# Page number starting at 1 (default)
Text (%g)

# Start stamping at page 5, number = 5
StartPage (5)
Text (%g)

# Start stamping at page 5, but number it as 1
StartPage (5)
Text (%1g)

Page X of Y

Text (Page %g of %G)
# Result: "Page 3 of 30"

Bates Numbering

Use %J for fixed-digit Bates numbers with leading zeros. Default is 6 digits.

# Default 6-digit Bates number
Text (%J)
# Page 2 -> 000002

# Start at number 501
Text (%501J)
# Page 1 -> 000501, Page 2 -> 000502

# With prefix
Text (CaseABCD %J)
# Page 1 -> CaseABCD 000001

# Custom digit count
BatesDigit (3)
Text (%J)
# Page 2 -> 002, Page 4145 -> 4145

Consecutive Bates Across Multiple Files

Use %C instead of %J to number consecutively across all files in a single batch run:

Multi-line Stamps

Use %n to insert line breaks:

Text (Appligent, Inc.%n22 East Baltimore Avenue%nLansdowne, PA 19050 USA)

# Result:
# Appligent, Inc.
# 22 East Baltimore Avenue
# Lansdowne, PA 19050 USA

Document Properties

Stamp fields from File > Properties > Description using %i(FieldName):

Text (Title: %i(Title))
Text (Author: %i(Author))
Text (Subject: %i(Subject))
Text (Keywords: %i(Keywords))

Sample Stamp with Variables

Begin_Message
    Name (Current Date)
    Type (Text)
    StartPage (1)
    EndPage (-1)
    PageIncrement (1)
    Top (620)
    Left (44)
    Position (top)
    Justification (left)
    Underlay (no)
    Size (12)
    Font (Helvetica)
    TextMode (0)
    Text (%A %B %d, %Y)
    WordWrap (No)
    Gray (0)
    Opacity (1)
    UndoLabel (undoStamp)
End_Message

Image & PDF Page Stamps

StampPDF Batch can stamp JPEG images, TIFF images, or full PDF pages onto documents. Standard JPEG and Photoshop JPEG formats are both supported.

Image Stamp Parameters

Image stamps share the same label, pagination, and positioning parameters as text stamps, plus these image-specific options:

Image Stamp Example

Begin_Message
    Name (Company Logo)
    Type (Image)
    StartPage (1)
    EndPage (1)
    Position (Top)
    Justification (Right)
    Underlay (No)
    Path (C:\Images\logo.jpg)
    Scale (0.5)
    UndoLabel (undoLogo)
End_Message

PDF Page Stamps

Stamp a page from one PDF onto another. All shared parameters (pagination, positioning, underlay) apply.

PDF Stamp Example

Begin_Message
    Name (Letterhead)
    Type (PDF)
    StartPage (1)
    EndPage (-1)
    Position (Top)
    Justification (Center)
    Underlay (Yes)
    Path (C:\Templates\letterhead.pdf)
    PageNumber (1)
    UndoLabel (undoLetterhead)
End_Message

Adding URLs to Image Stamps

To make an image stamp clickable, create two stamp items: the image stamp first, then a text stamp with LinkURL in the same position:

# Item 1: Image stamp
Begin_Message
    Type (Image)
    Path (C:\Images\banner.jpg)
    Position (Top)
    Justification (Center)
End_Message

# Item 2: Clickable link overlay
Begin_Message
    Type (Text)
    Text ( )
    Position (Top)
    Justification (Center)
    LinkURL (http://www.example.com)
    TextMode (3)
End_Message

Complete Command-Line Options

Logging Behavior

The interaction between -l (log file) and -p (progress) flags:

Optimization Details

The -optimize flag performs these operations:

1. Encodes non-encoded streams with Flate compression
2. Removes ASCII85 filters from streams
3. Replaces LZW with Flate encoding
4. Merges identical XObjects and images
5. Optimizes page content sequences
6. Merges identical font descriptors and encodings

Encryption Options

Enable encryption with the -encrypt flag, then configure with these options:

# Example: Encrypt with 128-bit key, allow printing only
stamppdf -encrypt -keylength 128 \
  -ownerpass "s3cret" -userpass "read" \
  -nomodify -nocopy -nonotes \
  stamp.txt input.pdf -o output.pdf

Unicode Text Stamping

StampPDF Batch supports CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) characters using UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding.

UTF-8 Method

Enter Asian characters directly in the Text parameter. Set Type (UTF8) and specify the appropriate encoding:

Type (UTF8)
Font (KozMinPr6N-Regular)
Encoding (UniJIS-UTF16-H)
Text (Japanese characters here)

UTF-16 Method

Enter characters as big-endian hexadecimal. Four hex digits per character, no spaces or prefixes:

Type (UTF16)
Font (KozGoPr6N-Medium)
Encoding (UniJIS-UTF16-H)
Text (51855BC6306E)

Multi-line Unicode

Set MultiLine (yes). Use \r for line breaks in UTF-8, or Unicode 2028 in UTF-16:

# UTF-8 multi-line
MultiLine (yes)
Text (First line\rSecond line)

# UTF-16 multi-line (2028 = line separator)
MultiLine (yes)
Text (51855BC6306E202851855BC6306E)

Shipped Fonts

The following fonts ship with StampPDF Batch (version 5.2+):

Legacy CJK Fonts (5.1 and earlier)

Complete Stamp Parameters