PDF Conversion Options

Note: The PDF features require the OmniRush PDF Module and may also require that PDF technology from third parties be licensed.

Note: The overhead of native PDF conversion is significant.  Minimum hardware will probably not be sufficient.  A minimum for production environments would be a 1.2 GhZ system with at least 256MB RAM.

PDF Settings

Adj Contrast:  This setting controls PDF files that are scheduled to fax or print.  PDF files with photos are background shades may take several minutes per page to transmit.  Turning up the contrast will reduce transmission time, and in many cases improve legibility of text on background colors.  Range: -100 to 100.  Default: 0.  Recommended setting for PDF's with photos or background shades: 75 or 100.   Note, if this setting is changed the PDF cache must be reset.

External Server:  This is for conversion of RTF merge forms to PDF for outbound email.  See configuration steps below.

PostScript Printer:  This is for conversion of RTF merge forms to PDF for outbound email.  See configuration steps below.

Merge-to-PDF-and-Email Background:

The email features in OmniRush allow merged forms to be merged, then converted to PDF format and sent out as email attachments.  

In all cases, regular OmniRush RTF merge templates are used.  OmniRush offers two ways to convert these merged documents:

OmniRush Native:  This method creates all PDF files as 200 dpi, black and white, PDF files.  The file size is small, and this method offers the highest throughput (fastest processing per job).  These PDF files are nearly impossible to edit, and security options can be set on the PDF files themselves using OmniRush email Track options.  Even if a method was discovered to edit these PDF files, the edits would probably stand out visually.

PDF Native:  This method can create color or black and white PDF files.  File size is small to medium.  These PDF files are normal, native PDF files, with text as text.  These files can be edited if the recipient has the full (paid) version of Acrobat, or other PDF tools.  These files are true, native, vector based PDF files.

Setup Overview

Setting up OmniRush for OmniRush Native mode requires no setup other than to configure the email Track to convert attachments to PDF.

To set up PDF Native, a few steps are involved (full details are below, this is a high level overview):

a) An appropriate PostScript print driver must be installed and configured on the OmniRush Server PC.

b) PostScript-to-PDF conversion software must be installed and set up on the OmniRush Server PC.  Examples of this software are GhostScript (www.ghostscript.com) and Adobe Acrobat Distiller.  [Not included with OmniRush, up to the user to license properly from the software publisher.]

c) The OmniRush Print Module must be appropriately configured.

d) The OmniRush Email Track(s) must be set to convert attachments to PDF.

Setup Detail

The main thing to remember is that there is a fair amount of logic going on outside OmniRush, so there are several steps needed to set this up.  In actuality, it will probably take relatively little time. Take these steps (on the OmniRush Server PC):

1. Stop the OmniRush Print Module

2. In OmniRush Administrator, go to  Modules | Print Module | PDF

3. Set Convert to PDF as External Server

4. Open the Windows Printers folder and install a PostScript Print Driver, on LPT1.  (See below for discussion on specific driver to install.)

5. Return to the Print Module in the OmniRush Administrator

6. Go to the PDF tab

7. Select the PostScript printer installed above in step 4 from the list and press Configure

8. Accept the prompts

9. OmniRush will rename the printer to "OmniRush PostScript"

The PDF tab should now look like this:

You are now ready to set up the converter options.  This depends on the converter in use.

GhostScript:

NOTE: Proper licensing of GhostScript is your responsibility.  No license is provided as part of OmniRush.  Information and download of GhostScript can be found at www.ghostscript.com

These notes are based on GhostScript v7.xx (note, the exe version of GhostScript should be downloaded, not the .zip version, e.g. gs704w32.exe or gs800w32.exe).

1. Install GhostScript to default directories (usually c:\gs\ )

2. Copy the four dll and exe files from C:\gs\gs7.04\bin\ to C:\gs\gs7.04\lib\

3. Open Control Panel, System | Environment and add C:\gs\gs7.04\lib\ to the search path

4. In OmniRush Administrator | Modules | Print Module | PDF set the Execute to C:\gs\gs7.04\lib\ps2pdf14.bat as shown here:

(note that the input/output dir settings are left blank)

5. Save the settings, and start the Print module

6. Schedule some multi-page RTF files to confirm proper conversion

Note that two GhostScript directories usually need to be added to the system Path. These directories are:

  <GhostScript install directory>\gs\gs8.51\bin  

    and   

  <GhostScript install directory>\gs\gs8.51\lib

    After adding these directories to the path, reboot the system and check from a command prompt that ps2pdf14.bat is found and runs.

Next: Advanced Options & PDF Passwords

Adobe Acrobat Distiller

NOTE: ***Proper licensing of Acrobat is your responsibility***.  No license is provided by Z-Firm, even if the OmniRush PDF module has been licensed.

NOTE: Some users run Distiller over the network.  Z-Firm only supports Distiller running on the OmniRush Server PC.

Install the Acrobat Distiller

1. Set a watched folder, e.g. c:\temp\omnirushps\  Set it to watch every second, and to delete the PS files

2. Distiller will create two directories:  c:\temp\omnirushps\in\ and c:\temp\omnirushps\out\

3. In OmniRush Administrator | Modules | Print Module | PDF set the Input Dir to c:\temp\omnirushps\in\ and the Output dir to c:\temp\omnirushps\out\ as shown here:

(note that Execute is left blank, as Distiller will automatically 'see' new input files and convert them.

4. It is important that the Acrobat Distiller be running at all times to process jobs

5. Save the settings, and start the Print module

6. Schedule some multi-page RTF files to confirm proper conversion

PostScript Printer Notes

There are some attributes of PostScript printers that you should be aware of:

• Many print drivers are monochrome, so all PDF's will be converted to monochrome.  Be sure to use a color print driver if you want color.

• Some printer drivers create their output in reverse order, so the pages are back to front in the PDF.  This can be resolved with a print driver setting.

Z-Firm has advises to use the following print drivers:

• Tektronix Phaser 300i  (requires pages reversed, see below)

Alternates:

• LaserWriter 16/600 PS

• Tektronix Phaser860DX

Reversing pages:

Some PostScript printers output in reverse-page-order.  To resolve this, take these steps:

1. Stop the OmniRush Print Module (wait for it to completely stop)

2. Open the printer folder

3. Open Properties of the OmniRush PostScript printer

4. Go to the Advanced tab, press Printing Defaults

5. Set Page Order to Back to Front

6. Save the settings

7. Restart the OmniRush Print Module