Frequently Asked Server Questions

No, file names should not contain commas. AppendPDF Pro tries to interpret commas as part of a page range for the 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

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

Yes. AppendPDF Pro supports Multi-line TOC entries  as well as multi-line text stamping throughout the entire appended document.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Make sure all file and pathnames are correct. If you are working in one directory and AppendPDF Pro lives in another (or vice versa), you must account for that in your parameter file and command line. It is best practice to always use full paths to all files in the parameter file.

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.

If a TOC (Table of Contents) page is used, a TOC entry should be made for each source file. If not, bookmarks will not be consistent with the documents used.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite are available for the HP-UX platform. Please contact our Sales Department to purchase.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite are completely thread safe.

When stamping images into a PDF, the user has only a limited ability to control the size and positioning of the image within the form field. FDFMerge scales images equally in the horizontal and vertical directions to best fit the fields. It also centers images within the fields so any blank area is evenly divided between right and left or top and bottom. Users cannot specify that they want the image to always touch the upper left corner of the field or that they always want a 50% scaling.

If using a limited number of images, the user can choose the field size and proportion of height and width to best display those images. For example, if all images are scans of 8.5″ x 11″ portrait-oriented pages, the ratio of height to width can be set to 22 x 17, meaning fields could be 66 units high and 51 units wide, or 220 units high and 170 units wide, or any other similar ratio.

However, if using something like a random selection from a clip art library, results are not likely to be consistent.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite will allow you to successfully merge data into read-only form fields.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite have the ability to merge information into a secured/encrypted PDF. The PDF file must have an owner password set and this password must be supplied using -d (owner password).

No. The FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite license is for one computer. The FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite license allows you to use one copy of the software on a single server and make one backup copy of the software, provided your backup is not installed or used on any computer. To run the application on more than one server you would have to purchase additional licenses. Contact our Sales Department for additional licenses and information on multiple license discounts.

Yes, you can save the new pdf form output file anywhere on your computer provided the directory permissions allow you to do so. If you require information about permissions, please check with your system administrator.

No. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not merge any other kind of file or data other than FDF (Forms Data Format) into a PDF Form. FDF files can be created in any text editor including Word, but if they are not in FDF Format, FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite cannot merge the data.

Yes. Button fields are supported in both FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite (version 3.7 and higher).

No. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support signature fields. Although the Adobe Acrobat forms tool may be used to add a Signature field, it will be ignored by FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite. Fields supported are: text, multi-text, radio buttons, checkboxes, combo and list boxes. Button fields have been supported since version 3.7.

Since FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite deliver a completed PDF file and do not deliver an FDF file to your browser, you do not need to set the Type for FDF files to use FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite. If you want to add the type for another reason, it is application/vnd.fdf.

We do not currently support forms created by Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.0.  See How to create forms with Acrobat for the steps to add form fields to a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat.

Form fields can be added to your PDF file using the AcroForms tools.

In Acrobat 6 and 7, the the forms toolbar is under:
Tools Menu > Advanced Editing > Show Forms Toolbar.

In Acrobat 8 and 9, the forms toolbar is under:
Tools Menu > Forms > Show Forms Toolbar.

In Acrobat X and XI, the Forms Palette is located in the Tools section at the top right of the screen.

In order to stamp using a barcode font, you will need to use a FormInfo file. A FormInfo file contains information on the attributes in a PDF form field that will be applied to the fields in the output file. Here is a sample entry for a FormInfo file:

BeginField
FieldName (Field1)
FontName (Enter the font name here)
FontFile (enter the complete path to the font here)
FontSize (enter optional font size. If omitted, the font information from the original PDF form field will be used)
EndField

Make sure there is (at least) one space between the parameter and the value above. Once you have your FormInfo file created, you would use the following command line syntax:

fdfmerge -p -f forminfofilename.txt -o outfile.pdf inputfile.pdf inputfdf.fdf

FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support FDF Templates. The Form Data Format (FDF) supports a construct known as ‘Templates’; where, within the Acrobat environment, the FDF file will cause additional pages to be added to the PDF file as they are needed. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support FDF Templates and will not add additional pages to a PDF file.

Causes of the “File Open Error” are:

1. There are not enough permissions on the files. All files need full access permissions. (rwxrwxrwx)
2. The file is open. Make sure files are closed in all other applications before merging.
3. Wrong filename or directory path. (Most common and easiest mistake to make.)
4. File is checked as Read Only (Windows). Go into your General Properties and uncheck Read Only.

The PDF file’s source begins with %PDF. The application checks to see if the file is truly a PDF File. If it is not, it will return this error. Make sure that you list the PDF filename before the FDF filename on the command line. If the FDF filename is before the PDF file name, the application will return an error message.

Correct Example:

fdfmerge sample.pdf sample.fdf

Incorrect Example:

fdfmerge sample.fdf sample.pdf (Wrong!)

FDF stands for Forms Data Format, the file format used for Adobe Acrobat Forms data. This file would contain the form information that gets merged into a PDF form by FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite. Forms Data Format is included as part of the ISO 32000 standard for Portable Document Format.

An article explaining Forms Data Format can be found on Appligent Labs.

You can find ASP, Perl, Java, PHP and Visual Basic script examples for FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite on our website at Sample Scripts.

Liquid Office uses grayscale colors for white, black and shades of gray. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite expect RGB colors only. You can fix this in two ways:

1. Use Liquid Office to change the checkbox backgrounds to transparent or any color but pure white, pure black, or a shade of gray.
2. Using Acrobat, examine the properties of each checkbox field and click Ok. You don’t need to change anything, just click Ok.

It is good practice to format your fields directly within the FDF file as you would like the data to appear in your output PDFs. If you are flattening formatted form fields (e.g. “currency”), you will need to include the entire data string for that value in your FDF file. For example, if the value of the field is to be $1,234.00 in the output PDF file, the value in the FDF file needs to be /V ($1,234.00). The value /V (1234) in the FDF file will appear in the flattened PDF file as 1234. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite have a new command line feature, -norebuild, which can be used to allow for formatting of merged fields. However, this feature will not work on stamped fields.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite are available for the HP-UX platform. Please contact our Sales Department to purchase.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite are completely thread safe.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite will allow you to successfully merge data into read-only form fields.

Yes. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite have the ability to merge information into a secured/encrypted PDF. The PDF file must have an owner password set and this password must be supplied using -d (owner password).

No. The FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite license is for one computer. The FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite license allows you to use one copy of the software on a single server and make one backup copy of the software, provided your backup is not installed or used on any computer. To run the application on more than one server you would have to purchase additional licenses. Contact our Sales Department for additional licenses and information on multiple license discounts.

Yes, you can save the new pdf form output file anywhere on your computer provided the directory permissions allow you to do so. If you require information about permissions, please check with your system administrator.

No. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not merge any other kind of file or data other than FDF (Forms Data Format) into a PDF Form. FDF files can be created in any text editor including Word, but if they are not in FDF Format, FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite cannot merge the data.

No. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support signature fields. Although the Adobe Acrobat forms tool may be used to add a Signature field, it will be ignored by FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite. Fields supported are: text, multi-text, radio buttons, checkboxes, combo and list boxes. Button fields have been supported since version 3.7.

Yes. Button fields are supported in both FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite (version 3.7 and higher).

Since FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite deliver a completed PDF file and do not deliver an FDF file to your browser, you do not need to set the Type for FDF files to use FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite. If you want to add the type for another reason, it is application/vnd.fdf.

We do not currently support forms created by Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.0.  See How to create forms with Acrobat for the steps to add form fields to a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat.

You may receive a PDF form that does not merge and produces errors. This is generally due to “mal-formed” PDF files that have been created by software other than Adobe’s Distiller. We usually run problem files through Distiller as a way to “clean” them up. Listed below are instructions for running your file through Distiller:

• Open your PDF in Acrobat and remove all the form fields
• Go to the File Menu > Hit Save As
• Give the file a new name
• Under Save As Type, choose PostScript File (*.ps)
• Open Distiller and browse for this file or go to the directory where the file exists and double click on the file – this will open and run Distiller
• Once you have your “distilled file”, open both the original file and the distilled file in Acrobat.
• You need to copy and paste all the form fields from the original file onto the distilled file:
• To do this under Acrobat 6 or 7, you need to go to the Tools Menu > Advance Editing> Select Object Tool
• Hit Ctrl+A or go to the Edit Menu>Select All (all form fields will be highlighted)
• Hit Ctrl+C or go to the Edit Menu > Copy
• Open the distilled file and hit Ctrl+V or go to the Edit Menu > Paste – at times when you paste fields onto a page, they are not in the exact location, so you will need to move the fields around on the page – You will need to copy and paste the form fields for each page following the steps mentioned above.

Form fields can be added to your PDF file using the AcroForms tools.

In Acrobat 6 and 7, the the forms toolbar is under:
Tools Menu > Advanced Editing > Show Forms Toolbar.

In Acrobat 8 and 9, the forms toolbar is under:
Tools Menu > Forms > Show Forms Toolbar.

In Acrobat X and XI, the Forms Palette is located in the Tools section at the top right of the screen.

FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support FDF Templates. The Form Data Format (FDF) supports a construct known as ‘Templates’; where, within the Acrobat environment, the FDF file will cause additional pages to be added to the PDF file as they are needed. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite do not support FDF Templates and will not add additional pages to a PDF file.

Causes of the “File Open Error” are:

1. There are not enough permissions on the files. All files need full access permissions. (rwxrwxrwx)
2. The file is open. Make sure files are closed in all other applications before merging.
3. Wrong filename or directory path. (Most common and easiest mistake to make.)
4. File is checked as Read Only (Windows). Go into your General Properties and uncheck Read Only.

The PDF file’s source begins with %PDF. The application checks to see if the file is truly a PDF File. If it is not, it will return this error. Make sure that you list the PDF filename before the FDF filename on the command line. If the FDF filename is before the PDF file name, the application will return an error message.

Correct Example:

fdfmerge sample.pdf sample.fdf

Incorrect Example:

fdfmerge sample.fdf sample.pdf (Wrong!)

FDF stands for Forms Data Format, the file format used for Adobe Acrobat Forms data. This file would contain the form information that gets merged into a PDF form by FDFMerge or FDFMerge Lite. Forms Data Format is included as part of the ISO 32000 standard for Portable Document Format.

An article explaining Forms Data Format can be found on Appligent Labs.

You can find ASP, Perl, Java, PHP and Visual Basic script examples for FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite on our website at Sample Scripts.

Liquid Office uses grayscale colors for white, black and shades of gray. FDFMerge and FDFMerge Lite expect RGB colors only. You can fix this in two ways:

1. Use Liquid Office to change the checkbox backgrounds to transparent or any color but pure white, pure black, or a shade of gray.
2. Using Acrobat, examine the properties of each checkbox field and click Ok. You don’t need to change anything, just click Ok.

Yes. SecurSign 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.

SecurSign 2.4 and later has the ability to completely remove security settings. By supplying the owner password, you can remove security features from a PDF file. If you are using an earlier version and would like to upgrade, please contact the Sales Department.

No. SecurSign is a PDF only security application.

To export your Certificate from Microsoft Internet Explorer:

• From the Tools Menu > Internet options > Select Content Tab
• In the certificate area, click on the Certificates button
• Select the certificate and then click Export and follow the steps
• Select yes to export the private key > export file format – should be personal information exchange (pkcs#12 or .pfx)
• Enter password twice, then specify the filename and click Save

To export your Certificate from Mozilla Firefox or Netscape Navigator:

• From the Tools Menu > Internet options > Select Advanced Tab
• Click on the View Certificates button
• Select the certificate and then click Backup and follow the steps – do not change any options
• Give your backup file a name and choose a location. Default file type is PKCS12
• Enter password twice and click OK

When you open a PDF document that has a signature, Acrobat will attempt to verify the signature based on trusted certificates.

If the signature(s) cannot be verified, you will see an indication that they need to be verified, usually a question mark symbol. To verify a signature, click on the signature and the Signature Validation Status dialog should open. Click on the Signature Properties button to open the properties dialog. Here you can verify the signature(s). For assistance on how to do this use Acrobat Help.

As a standard policy, we never recommend overwriting your original files.

SecurSign supports any X.509 version 3 digital certificate available from almost any certificate authority; including VeriSign, Network Solutions, GoDaddy, Comodo, etc. These certificates can be purchased from the certificate authority using your standard internet browser.

Once purchased, the certificate can be exported from your browser as a standard Public Key Cryptography Standard PKCS#12 file. PKCS#12 files usually have a .p12 extension (such as my_cert.p12) or a .pfx extension (such as my_cert.pfx). PKCS #12 is the Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard.