Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"  SOLVED

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zarkogajic
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Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"

Post by zarkogajic »

Hi Support,

I'm trying to compare 2 PDF documents where one has some security restrictions.

"Compare Documents" dialog refuses to use this doc in comparison action due to "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document".

"Insert Pages" is which of those (?):

image.png

The same "rejection" is for this document:

image1.png

Why is "Insert Pages" needed for comparison? I see you add pages to "Old Document" and "New Document" - but not in the " original documents"

I would assume only "Extract Pages" would be required since you are creating a new document "compare result".


Btw, even for the below security setting (Inserting pages IS allowed) the Compare dialog states that Insert operation is not permitted:

image.png

-žarko
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, zarkogajic

Document security in general places partial restrictions on many tasks, automated functions, such as the compare documents tool, need to perform many of these tasks. The Error message you are seeing should likely be more generalized to simply say "operation failed because document security prevented one of more actions" and I will forward this suggestion to the Dev team, but as a general rule, you will not be able to use comparison on most files with editing security in place.

Finally, The reason that insert pages is mentioned there specifically is because comparison does add both a new page with the comparison results, and a handful of other information to the document so that the comparison is useful even if saved and opened again later.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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zarkogajic
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Re: Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"  SOLVED

Post by zarkogajic »

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the input. I do understand that some restrictions cannot be set for a document for comparison to work.

The part that puzzles me:
...reason that insert pages is mentioned there specifically is because comparison does add both a new page with the comparison results

Here's a screen shot:

image.png

Neither "Doc AAA" or "Doc BBB" have been changed as a result of the compare action.

Rather, a *new* "compare results" document has been created and can be saved (which does not affect original documents).

Yes, both "Old Document" and "New Document" view have a page inserted - but those are "copies" of originals. If originals are not allowing pages to be inserted - this cannot be done - I guess this is why operation fails on such restricted documents (copies inherit restrictions).

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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, zarkogajic

You say neither has changed, but from a technical standpoint, both are combined into a single file, then a page it added to the top of both. If there is security that prevents two documents form being merged together, which document assembly does indeed prevent, that is going to be your limiting factor.

In any case, I have spoken to the Dev team, they are going to be updating both the text in this message to clarify the situation, as well as double down on the password validation functions offered by this dialog, as it should be prompting you to enter the document password so that it can strip those security restrictions entirely and process the document normally as if there was no security. Keep an eye out for the next update.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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DKT
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Re: Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"

Post by DKT »

As I hit this problem frequently, I would like to comment as well. A customer of ours sends out new revisions of PDFs automatically and we need to find the differences by hand. Unfortunately extracting pages is not allowed for this type of document and thus the compare tool fails. By exporting both (!) documents via a PDF printer, I can perform the comparison, but it is a bit of a nuisance.
In the end, respecting properties like extract pages is just a wish stated by the document, it could be ignored, other tools do just that.
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Re: Compare Docs: "Operation Insert Pages is not permitted for this document"

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

HI DKT, when you say:

In the end, respecting properties like extract pages is just a wish stated by the document, it could be ignored, other tools do just that.

you are correct, it is a choice to adhere to the security wishes of the authors. It is definitely important to us that we do not break ISO compatibility this. I'm not sure if there is a way to work around this for the document comparison and still honour the security intended by the authors, but we will look into doing what we can.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestion.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
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