PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

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Jhn
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PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Jhn »

Hi,

Literal url(web) links in PDF docs are not clickable in any PDF reader/viewer/editor (Adobe, PDF-XChange Editor, ....)

PFD-XChange Editor (build 319, FREE version) probably does not pass on literal url link related metadata to any PDF printer, and that is probably causing any PDF reader/viewer/editor to not recognize literal url links.

Here is the procedure to reproduce the problem.

With WordPad I created a rtf doc with just a few literal url links, and sent that rtf in WordPad to the BullZip and PDF-XChandeLiteV6 PDF printers. For both PDF printers the PDF output showed clickable literal url links in any PDF reader/viewer/editor (Adobe, PDF-XChange Editor, ....). So no problem at this stage. Temporary conclusion is that Bullzip and PDF-XChangeLiteV6 are working well when it comes to producing clickable literal url links.

Then next, I opened that rtf doc with PFD-XChange Editor and printed it out on the same PDF printers, BullZip and PDF-XChandeLiteV6. Now, all literal url links in *both* output PDF docs from each and *both* PDF printers are NOT clickable in any PDF reader/viewer/editor (Adobe, PDF-XChange Editor, ....).

So, my temporary conclusion is that there might be something fuzzy with XChange Editor not passing on the correct metadata to any PDF printer, thereby rendering literal links not recognizable anymore for any PDF reader.

Question, why is that? Is there a bug in the XChange Editor, or should I set particular settings in the Editor? On the website of Tracker, the free version of the Editor and the PDF printer LiteV6 should generate clickable literal url links in their PDF output.

I tested 2 PDF-XChandeLiteV6 PDF printers, that is, the one that comes with the Free Editor version and which produces watermarks, and I tried also the pure FREE version of PDF-XChandeLiteV6 (no watermarks). There was no difference in behavior between the 2 PDF-XChandeLiteV6 PDF printers.

So, how can the problem be fixed so that my XChange Editor can print PDF docs with clickable literal url links?

Thanks in advance for any help
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Jhn,

Welcome to our forums and thanks for your post.
When you print from Word pad to a printing driver - the text is sent out as "text" and then placed like this inside the generated PDF file. This is then recognized "on the fly" - and the mouse cursor changes so that you can click on the link - even if there is no link object in the file.
When you print the PDF file through the Editor - text is printed as curves and not as text (most modern browsers also do this when printing, so if you print from e.g. Chrome to PDF - the result will be similar). This produces much more consistent results on paper, but of course has the drawback that the text information gets lost. So we do not recommend reprinting a PDF file back to PDF. Instead use the tools available to make changes to the existing copy of the PDF that does have text inside.

Regards,
Stefan
Jhn
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Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:40 am

Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Jhn »

Hi Stefan,
It was not a PDF document that I opened in the XChange Editor, it was a Wordpad created RTF document that I opened in the Editor and then printed to both PDF printers resulting in PDF documents with dead literal url links. Maybe you could reproduce the test; make an rtf document with just a few literal url links in WordPad, then print to XCLiteV6. Then open again the rtf document in XCEditor and print to XCLiteV6 and compare the 2 pdf outputs in terms of clickability of their literal url links.
thx
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Jhn,

Thanks for the clarification. Still - this won't change the way the Editor prints the file - and this is when the links get lost - as the text is printed out as curves.
If you have opened the .rtf inside the Editor - you can now save it as a PDF directly -and the text will remain text.

Regards,
Stefan
Jhn
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Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Jhn »

Do you mean that XChange Editor outlines fonts first before sending it to any PDF printer? Is that really the case?

How can I switch off the Outline Fonts feature and make Editor pass on text and metadata to the PDF printers?

There must be a setting somewhere in the Editor where, prior to sending a document to the printer, users can choose between (1) Outline Fonts (convert to curves) or (2) Text (+ Metadata). If that is not possible, is there any Windows registry hack available allowing or forcing the Editor to pass Text (+ Metadata) to the printers, instead of curves?

Jhn
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Jhn,

Unfortunately there are no such options - the printing engine is intended for printing on paper and to produce the best possible quality when printing that way - there's really no need to reprint a PDF to PDF with our Editor.

You can try the advanced options (Available through the Print window's -> More... button) and try setting the Text Rendering More to "Auto".

Regards,
Stefan
Jhn
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Sending Outlined Fonts vs. Text towards a printer in XCEdit

Post by Jhn »

Hi Stefan,

FYI: I've sent **.RTF** documents from within the PDF-XChange Editor to the PDF printer; I do NOT print PDF to PDF.

Looks like Tracker has made the explicit choice of letting the Editor outline the fonts and send then its resulting "curves" to the PDF printer instead of sending Text (+Metadata) to the printer, as WordPad, MSWord, OpenOffice and so many other word processors send text to the printer.

I would find it obvious to leave the choice of sending (1) Outlined Fonts ("curves") or (2) Text (+ Metadata) to any printer, to the end user under the form of (advanced) options with tick boxes. Clearly Tracker didn't do that.

Is there any particular reason why Tracker:
(1) decided to make that choice themselves and not leave that choice to the end user, and,
(2) decided to let the XChange Editor outline the font and forward the resulting "curves" to the printer, instead of sending text to any printer?

Kind regards, Jhn
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Lzcat - Tracker Supp
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Re: PFD-XChange Editor and literal url links metadata

Post by Lzcat - Tracker Supp »

Hi Jhn.
FYI: I've sent **.RTF** documents from within the PDF-XChange Editor to the PDF printer; I do NOT print PDF to PDF.
You are wrong - at the moment when you open RTF document in editor is already converted to PDF. Why you din not save it, but print it? If you need PRINT (not convert) RTF to PDF please use other programs, Editor was never intended to do so. However it can convert RTF to PDF (just open and save), and in most cases results will be much better than when printing opened document to PDF printer.
Looks like Tracker has made the explicit choice of letting the Editor outline the fonts and send then its resulting "curves" to the PDF printer instead of sending Text (+Metadata) to the printer, as WordPad, MSWord, OpenOffice and so many other word processors send text to the printer.
We are oriented to printing PDF files to any other printer to preserve how it looks, but not to make better reprint PDF to PDF. There is a lot issues when font embedded in PDF files will not print properly to many different physical and virtual printers, and in many cases solution is only to convert fonts to outlines or ever bitmaps. This is why we by default use outlining for embedded fonts (this may be changed from print dialog as mentioned by Stefan). If you need to change PDF file content - you have a lot of editing features and reprinting PDF to PDF is not needed.
Hope this will help you to clarify what and why we a doing and optimize your work.
Victor
Tracker Software
Project manager

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