Information
  • Author: Appian Corporation
  • Type: Plug-in (Function & Smart Service)
  • Support: This is an Appian supported plug-in. To the extent that this plug-in does not conform to its documentation, please submit a ticket to Appian Technical Support. Appian does not support customer-created customizations or outdated versions of the plug-in.
  • Industry: All Industries
  • Compatible Version(s): 24.2
  • First Released:
  • Last Updated:
  • Cost: Free - Appian Supported
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Home » AppMarket » PDF Tools

PDF Tools

Overview

Contains multiple Smart Services and Functions for interacting with PDF Documents.

Key Features & Functionality

Smart Services:

  • Merge PDF - Merges multiple PDF documents into a single document.
  • Extract PDF Pages - Extracts a range of pages from an existing PDF into a new PDF.
  • Fill PDF - Populates the fields of a PDF Form and optionally flattens it disallow further changes.
  • Create PDF Content - Allows text to be added to a PDF with control over the style, position, and angle. An existing PDF can be updated or a new one created from scratch.
  • Convert PDF to Image - Creates an array of images or a multi-page tiff from a PDF.
  • Compress PDF - Compresses the images in the PDF to make it smaller.
  • Un-protect and Copy PDF - Using the document password, create an un-protected copy of a protected PDF.
  • Convert Image to PDF - Creates a PDF starting from one or many images. It also supports multi-page tiff images.
  • Encrypt PDF - Encrypts an existing PDF with a password,
  • Split PDF Pages In Half - Supports spitting individual pdf pages horizontally or vertically with an overlap
  • Rotate PDF - rotate entire pdf by 90, 180, or 270 degrees

Functions:

  • Get PDF Metadata - Retrieves metadata on the PDF: page count, title, author, security, encryption, etc.
  • Get PDF Text - Retrieves the text content from a PDF.
  • Get PDF Form Fields - Retrieves the populated form field values of an unflattened PDF.
  • Get PDF Signature Fields - Retrieves the populated signature field values of an unflattened PDF.
  • Get PDF Bookmarks - Retrieves the list of bookmarks and associated page number in the PDF

Anonymous
  • in reply to harikanthk0004

    When you say "able to edit", what exactly does that mean?  Are you talking about fillable fields still being fillable when opened normally (which i had thought "flatten" might take care of), or do you mean like you're able to open it in Adobe Acrobat (the full version with editing capabilities) and still switch to "Edit" mode?  If it's the second one, I'm not sure what the solution is, though you might need to look into a way to LOCK pdf's.

  • in reply to Mike Schmitt

    Update: this deployment issue has now been fixed, per the comment below by Michael C.  I've confirmed in my own environment that it allows the upgrade now.

  • in reply to Michael Chirlin

    fyi:

    Image Compression smart service is working as normal, both before and after updating PDF Tools to 2.8.2

    PDF Tools 2.8.2 still fails to produce usable files when running the PDF to Image(s) smart service -- the output continues to be an unnumbered array of output files with zero file size.  Are you saying this should be fixed by another environment restart?  I want to make sure before asking Support to restart us again, since the last restart (on 2.8.1) didn't actually fix it.

  • in reply to Michael Chirlin

    Appian Support reverted me back to 2.8.1 last night then performed a restart after I was done with work for the day - testing out the PDF to Image smart service (back in the 2.8.1 version) this morning, it still has the "generates array of blank image files" issue.

    I will now:

    1. test the Image Compression smart service to see if it's broken or not
    2. then, try to upgrade PDF Tools to 2.8.2 again
    3. finally, try the two affected smart services again, and post another update here
  • in reply to Mike Schmitt

    Have tried with "Fill PDF" with the parameter "flatten" as true. But no luck able to edit the PDF. Even tried smart service "Readonly PDF Converter" but issue still persists.

  • in reply to Michael Chirlin

    Fixed now, should be able to deploy 2.8.2 from the admin console.  Let me know if you still have errors with the other smart services after a restart and I'll take a look.

  • in reply to harikanthk0004

    Not sure, but I've gotten around this before by either using "Fill PDF" with the "flatten" property set to true, and/or the "Merge PDF" node and just passing in a single source PDF (and taking the output which is at least somewhat flattened and maybe read-only).

  • in reply to harikanthk0004

    happening to me now too.  let me know if you come up with a fix (it seems like there's a possibility a site restart would do it, at least since that seems to be the fix for some other recent issues, but not sure.)

  • in reply to Michael Chirlin

    Hold off on deploying this, it seems to be erroring from the admin console. I have a ticket looking into it.

  • in reply to Michael Chirlin

    ok, thanks - will a site restart also take care of the "plugin failed to deploy" error i'm now getting for 2.8.2?  (it happens whether i'm trying to update from 2.8.1 or after reverting to 2.5.2)

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