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Release – 1.7

Updated on

Release Date: 15.12.2023

in this article you'll learn which

  • New features are available
  • Improvements for users have been implemented and which
  • Bugs have been fixed in version 1.7 of the PDF Editor

1. Overview

With version 1.7, users can take advantage of a number of new features in the area of analyzing and editing PDF files. In addition, improvements have been made to the user interface for simplified access to objects. Furthermore, licensing has been switched to the online license server.

1.1. New Features

The following new features were implemented:

  1. Li­censing process: Licensing has been simplified, it is now only necessary to import a WCLID file and ensure a network connection. All other processes run in the background. The license information dialog has also been adapted.. [PPDPDF-784]
  2. Handling of images: The new tab Images has been added. This allows external editing and the replacement of images on the page of the PDF that's being currently being edited. [PPDPDF-358]

1.2. Improved user guidance

The following improvements have been implemented to simplify handling:

  • Easier handling of layers: The selection of objects on layers as well as hiding and displaying multiple layers has been simplified. [PPDPDF-629]
  • Insert document dialog: The control elements of the dialog have been clearly arranged. [PPDPDF-848]
  • Settings area "Color": In the DeviceN color list, the color values are now displayed smaller than the Spot Color name.. [PPDPDF-863]
  • Context menu: Entries in the context menu had no lateral margins, which led to illegible entries - this has been taken care of. [PPDPDF-865]
  • Unavailable characters: For characters of a font that are not available in the PDF, a corresponding note is now displayed in the status bar. [PPDPDF-547]
  • Pipette Tool: If DeviceN colors were recorded with the pipette, only one color was displayed. From now on, the DeviceN list is displayed with all used colors. [PPDPDF-877]
  • Locked files on macOS: Files that are locked by the OS can now be unlocked and edited immediately.

1.3. Bug fixes

The following bugs were fixed:

  • Analyze tab: The headlines of the settings areas reacted equally to click and mouse-over, which led to unusual behavior. This bug has been fixed. [PPDPDF-852]
  • Open PDF from Workflow: When a PDF was opened from the Workflow by using the Check out function, it was not the document that was currently open. This error has now been fixed.
  • User interface on macOS: Truncated lists and windows have been fixed. [PPDPDF-858] [PPDPDF-864]
  • Crash replacing spot color: If just one spot color was in the PDF and no system-wide spot color was created in the editor, this single spot color could be replaced with an empty field, this led to a crash. This bug is now fixed. [PPDPDF-920]

1.4. Used Libraries

The following libraries have been updated:

  • MAKO: The MAKO library has been updated to the latest version - 7.1.0.
  • Qt Widgets: Qt Widgets has been updated to version 6.5.3.

Find a detailed description of all changes in the menu items New Features and Improvements below.

2. New Features

Version 1.7 offers a number of new features compared to version 1.6.

2.1. Licensing

With the current version of the PDF Editor, the licensing process has been significantly simplified. It is now only necessary to import a WCLID file. All further steps such as hashing or updating the license run in the background. It is important to note that a network connection is required to activate the license.

The switch to the online license server has resulted in the following improvements for users:

  • Upload WCLID file after installation via Help > License Information. The activation process and binding to the hardware is carried out automatically.
  • Simply install the update. The license for the installed version is installed automatically.
  • The license can be transferred to another computer by importing the WCLID file again

WCLID file

The WCLID file is an anonymized reference to your license on the online license server. The key encrypted in the file is used to make the license you have purchased available to the PDF Editor for download.

Important: Save this WCLID file in a safe place and do not pass it on to anyone else. The owner of the file can use the WCLID file to temporarily license a second copy of the PDF-Editor license (5 days). However, this license expires after five days.

2.2. Images

With version 1.7 of the PDF Editor, the Images tab has been added specifically for editing images in an open PDF. To analyze or edit images in the PDF, proceed as follows:

  1. Open the PDF in the PDF Editor.
  2. Select the desired page in Page Navigation.
  3. Open the Image [1] tab.
  4. Therein a list of images that is present on this page will be shown with additional information.
    • Preview Image: Display of the current preview image [2].
    • Pixel: This value shows the actual size (not the masked/displayed size) of the image in pixels.
    • DPI effective [4]: This value shows the effective resolution of the image.
    • Color mode [5]:
      • RGB - The image is present in the RGB color mode.
      • CMYK - The image is present in the CMYK color mode.
      • Grayscale - The image is present in the Grayscale color mode.
      • Bitmap - The image is present in the Bitmap color mode.
      • Indicated - The image is indicated (max. 256 color hues).
    • Compression type [6]:
      • JPEG - The image is JFIF compressed. JPEG compressed color images are only lossy.
      • JPEG2000 - The image is JPEG2000 compressed; unlike JPEG, this standard also supports lossless compression of color images.
      • Flate - This image was compressed using the ZIP algorithm. Flate compresses without loss.
      • RLE - This type of compression is short for Run Length Encoding and is used for line graphics. RLE compresses without loss.
      • CCITT - This type of compression is used for line graphics. It originally comes from the compression of fax files. CCITT compresses without loss.
      • Not compressed - In this case, the image in the PDF is not compressed.

Figure 1: The new tab Images with the list of images of the currently displayed page

2.2.1. Selecting and zooming in and out of images

Images can be selected either on the page or in the list of images in the Images tab. The following functions are available for zooming in and selecting:

  • Selecting an image on the page: Selecting an image selects the corresponding list entry in the Images tab.
  • Selecting an image in the "Images" tab: Selecting an entry in the list of images selects the corresponding object on the page.
  • Zooming in on the selected image on the page: Select the image on the page and press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 4 (Windows) or cmd + 4 (macOS). This executes the menu command View > Zoom to selected objects.
  • Zoom in on the selected image in the "Images" tab: To do this, double-click on the desired list entry in the "Images" tab.

2.2.2. Functions

By right-clicking on an entry in the list in the Images tab, the user is offered three menu commands - Export, Export and Open as well as Replace.

Figure 2: Menu commands of the context menu in the Images tab

Export Image

To export an image, proceed as follows:

  1. Select the desired image from the list in the Images tab and right-click to open the context menu.
  2. Call up the Export... command [7] (Figure 2).
  3. In the Save as dialog, select the storage location and the desired file format - JPEG, TIFF or PNG.
  4. Press Save to save the image in the desired file format at the destination. The source profiles and color space of the image are of course retained.
Export image and open in image editing program

To export and edit an image in the image editing program of your choice, proceed as follows:

  1. Select the desired image from the list in the Images tab and right-click to open the context menu.
  2. Call up the Export and open... command [8] (Figure 2).
  3. In the Save as dialog, select the storage location and the desired file format - JPEG, TIFF or PNG.
  4. Press Save to save the image in the desired file format at the destination and open it in the image editing program of your choice.

Image editing program of your choice

How do you define the image editing program of your choice, e.g. Adobe Photoshop, on your computer? At the operating system level, you have to assign a default program to the file format in which you export the image from the PDF Editor.

  1. Select the exported image and select the Properties command in the context menu on Windows. On macOS, press cmd + i.
  2. In Open(s) with [10] [12], select the application that you want to set as the default program for the file format.
  3. Press Change [11] on Windows and Change all [13] under macOS.

Figure 3: Left: Properties dialog on Windows; Right: Infos dialog on macOS

Replace Image

To replace an image, proceed as follows:

  1. Select the desired image in the list in the Images tab and right-click to open the context menu.
  2. Select the Replace... command [9] (Figure 2).
  3. Select the desired image in the Open dialog.
  4. Click Open to replace the selected image with the image to be replaced. The source profiles and color space of the image which is going to be replaced remains of course.

3. Improvements

In addition to the major new features, further improvements have been implemented in version 1.7.

3.1. Layers in the "View and Analyze" tab

The following user-friendly functions have been implemented in the Layers settings area of the View and Analyze tab:

  • Double-click on the layer name: Only the layer that was clicked on remains displayed, all other layers are hidden. You can reset the display settings by pressing Ctrl + X (Windows) and cmd + X (macOS) to show all layers again.
  • Double-click on the layer name while holding down the command key: All objects on this layer are selected. To do this, press the cmd key (macOS) or the Ctrl key (Windows) and double-click on the layer name.

3.2. Insert Document

The Insert Document dialog has been simplified and the following parameters can now be selected:

  • Destination: This controls whether the selected file is inserted After the selected page or Before the selected page.
  • Page number: This controls the page number before or after which the selected document is inserted.

Figure 4: The new dialog Insert Document

3.3. Unavailable Glyphs

Simple text functions were already available before version 1.7. To do this, select the menu View > Display > Text Editor.

However, texts can only be changed if the glyphs of the font are embedded completely or as a font subset. If a font subset is embedded - which is usually the case - only those glyphs that are used in the PDF file are embedded. The probability that some glyphs are not embedded is therefore relatively high.

If the desired glyphs are not available, a message is displayed in the status bar from version 1.7 onwards, listing all available glyphs.

Figure 5: The display of the glyphs that are used in the PDF with the status line of the PDF Editor

Article update: OnPoint | PDF-Editor 1.7  12/2023

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