Introduction
One of the major new "building blocks" contained in Print Wizard 4 is a PDF reader. We've been creating PDFs for quite some time, but now we can use them for input. (Strictly speaking, version 3 had some PDF input capabilities, but it was severely limited -- it could handle only image PDFs.)
This is a completely home-grown solution, as are most of our building blocks. And like other building blocks, it can be used in many ways.
Uses for PDF Input
- Let's explore some ways you can use a PDF file.
- As the primary file, you can have Print Wizard print your PDF on any printer, without operator intervention. You can fax your PDF. You can combine it with an overlay.
- As an overlay file, you can easily configure your program to print on government forms, or forms issued by other parties. Overlays can be one page or many pages.
- You can view a PDF, using Print Wizard's preview capability, then decide whether you want to print it.
- You can shrink a PDF, and place it anywhere on the page, in order to make printing on top of it easier.
- You can attach a PDF to an email, a fax, or a print job.
- You can even go PDF to PDF, outputting certain pages, adding overlays, signing on the dotted line, and more.
Limitations
We won't claim to be able to handle all possible PDFs. The specification manual is massive! But we believe we have supported the set of features most likely to be found in business document printing. Some things we don't currently handle:
- ICC-based colorspaces.
- Separation-based colorspaces.
- Higher-complexity decryption.
- Indexes, tables of contents.
- Attachments.
If you need Print Wizard to read and process a particular PDF, please email it to support@anzio.com and we'll see if it's doable.
Last reviewed and edited July 8, 2014