User Manual

1.8 Release – 1.3

Updated on

Release Date: 01-31-2023

In this article, you will learn which

  • New features are available,
  • Improvements for users have been implemented and
  • which Bug fixes have been solved in version 1.3.0 of the PDF Editor.

1. Overview

With version 1.3.0, users can take advantage of several innovations in the field of Analysis and Editing of PDF files. In addition, improvements have been implemented in the area of User Interface and simplified access to objects.

1.1. New features

The following new features have been implemented:

  • Scale Page: The currently selected page can be scaled proportionally or distorted.
  • "Preferences" dialog: New options are available in the Preferences area. These are:
    • Simulate Preview with Profiles: By enabling the option, the View and Analyze tab will display those color values that would result from adding a Margin to the Target Color Space of the Working Color Space. If the option is disabled, the effective color values from the PDF are displayed. [PPDPDF-541]
    • Save File Incrementally: By enabling the option, a change in the PDF file can be saved faster.
  • Transform Settings Panel: Additional options for mirroring and rotating individual objects or groups of objects have been added. Furthermore, the User Interface has been changed to improve the handling for the user. [PPDPDF-427]
  • Set Page Boxes: Create the possibility to change multiple Page Boxes in one step.

1.2. Improvements

The following improvements have been implemented to simplify operation:

  • Color Logic color calculator: For the conversion of colors into another Color Space, ColorLogic's color calculator is used from this version on.
  • Set Media Box to Origin: Create the possibility to set a PDF file that is not in the Origin (Media Box = 0/0)) to Origin 0/0. [PPDPDF-545]
  • Open file directory: For macOS users the possibility to open the file directory for a file is available. [PPDPDF-467]
  • Select objects" dialog: When entering a font size, only the size that was set was searched for. Now also font sizes with a defined inaccuracy from the second decimal place are used for the search. [PPDPDF-398]
  • Workflow" tab: The status of a Print Item/Article is now displayed identically to the status in the Workflow. [PPDPDF-494]
  • Save as: A currently open file can be overwritten with the Save As command without displaying a dialog that the file must be saved under a different name. [PPDPDF-529]
  • Guide Lines: The value for positioning a guide in the Edit Guide Line dialog can now be pasted from the clipboard. [PPDPDF-532]
  • Saving the local version during check-in: After checking in a modified print file in Durst Workflow, the local version is also saved, which means that you are not prompted a second time to save the file when you close it. [PPDPDF-555]
  • Rotate pages for pages when MediaBox is not in the Origin: A warning message is displayed if the displayed page is not in the Origin of the Media Box (0/0). Due to this issue, objects sometimes are not rotated correctly. [PPDPDF-545]

1.3. Bug fixes

The following bugs were fixed

  • "Select Objects" dialog: When selecting a single object area at the top or bottom, the content was not displayed correctly. [PPDPDF-510]
  • Page Navigation: The display of the number of pages was limited to a maximum of four digits. Up to seven-digit page numbers can now be displayed in the page navigation panel. [PPDPDF-501]
  • Wireframe View: Text was not displayed correctly under macOS. The bug has been fixed and text is now displayed with black-filled glyphs. [PPDPDF-512]
  • Color conversion in the "Edit" tab: When converting the existing colors of an object to another Color Space, values in the Target Color Space were not expected. The conversion to the Target Color Space is now correctly computed using the set Working Color Space. [PPDWF-519]
  • Set Page Box on selected object: The selected Page Box has been set to the outer stroke of the selected objects. If the outer object was a stroke with a defined stroke thickness, the Page Box was set to the center of the selected path. [PPDPDF-533]
  • License Name: licenses with an umlaut in the file name could not be used. [PPDPDF-535]
  • Recovery: After a crash of the PDF Editor, the last opened file was not recovered. The possibility to restore was extended to files that haven't been cached yet. [PPDPDF-528]
  • Scaling pages over 5 meters: Scaling pages can now be done over 5080 mm (200 inches). To do this, the PDF version of the print file must be raised to 1.6. [PPDPDF-543]
  • Page scaling factor: Page scaling factors (user units) with decimal places can now be used and displayed. [PPDPDF-544]
  • Workflow tab: Umlauts were not displayed correctly in the list. [PPDPDF-546]
  • Add Dieline: The radius for rounded corners could not be entered when a Page Box was selected.

Below you will find a detailed description of all changes in the menu items New Features, as well as Improvements.

2. New Features

With version 1.3.0 some new features are available.

2.1. Scale Page

In many cases, a print file needs to be resized to a predefined size. Ideally, this should be done by scaling proportionally. However, it is also possible to bring a page to the desired format by distorting content by entering an arbitrary Width and Height.

To scale the currently selected page, proceed as follows.

  1. Open the print file in the PDF Editor.
  2. Select the command Scale Current Page from the Page menu. This opens the Scale Page dialog.
  3. First, select the desired Reference Page Box [1] that you want to resize to the desired size. This will enter the current Width and Height values for the selected Page Box frame in the input fields.
  4. Enter the desired target size by entering the desired Width [2] or Height [3]. As long as you have the Keep Proportions [4] option enabled, entering one value will adjust the other input value accordingly.
  5. If you do not want to keep the proportion, deactivate the Keep Proportions [4] option.

Figure 1: The Scale Page with all Boxes dialog

  1. By pressing OK, the current page will be scaled accordingly. The size of the selected Page Box has the desired target values, and the dimensions of the other Page Boxes are adjusted accordingly.

2.2. New options in the "Preferences" tab

In version 1.3.0 two new options are available in the Preferences dialog.

Figure 2: The dialog Preferences with the new options

2.2.1. Simulate Preview with Profiles

By activating the option Simulate Preview with Profiles [5] in the View and Analyze tab color values that would result from the offset into the Target Color Space of the CMYK Working Color Space are displayed. If the option is deactivated, the effective CMYK color values from the PDF are displayed.

For more detailed information, read the following paragraph on displaying CMYK color values in the Process Colors settings area:

  • RGB objects (DeviceRGB as well as ICC-based RGB: Percentage values for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black are displayed in the settings area. These percentages are always simulated percentages that would result from offsetting to the CMYK Working Color Space. Therefore, activating/deactivating the "Simulate Preview with Profiles" option has no effect on this.
  • DeviceCMYK: Percentage values for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black of the PDF are displayed in the settings area. Since DeviceCMYK assumes that the Target Profile = Source Profile, there is no color offset. Activating/deactivating the "Simulate Preview with Profiles" option, therefore, has no effect on DeviceCMYK objects.
  • ICC-based CMYK: The color values offset into the Target Color Space are displayed in the Percentage values setting area for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Activating/deactivating the "Simulate Preview with Profiles" option thus displays other CMYK values.

2.3. Transform

Selected objects can be changed by entering values in Transform.

Figure 3: The settings area Transform in the Edit tab

With version 1.3.0 the following changes were implemented in the Transform settings panel:

  • Scale x [6] - scales the selected objects by the entered percentage starting from the selected Origin (in the figure it would be the horizontal and vertical center).
  • Scale y [8] - scales the selected objects by the entered percentage starting from the selected Origin (in the figure it would be the horizontal and vertical center).
  • Modify as Group [7]- this option is available when several objects are selected. When the option is activated, the transformation is applied to the group of objects. This means for example, when scaling horizontally to 150%, the entire width of the selected group of objects is scaled to 150% in width - not the individual objects. If the option is disabled, the transformation is applied to each individual object in the selected group.
  • Rotation [9] - rotates the selected objects by the entered angle starting from the selected origin (in the figure it would be the horizontal and vertical center).  
  • Flip Horizontally [10]- flips the selected objects around the vertical axis starting from the selected Origin (in the figure it would be the horizontal and vertical center).
  • Flip Vertically [11] - flips the selected objects around the horizontal axis starting from the selected Origin (in the figure it would be the horizontal and vertical center).

Display of percentage values for scaled objects

Note that after scaling by 120%, the 120% percentage value is displayed for the object until the file is closed. After the PDF file is reopened, the percentage of scaling is again displayed as 100%. Thus, scaling is not saved with the PDF.

2.4. Set Page Box

Whereas previously only each Page Box could be selected and changed individually, as of version 1.3.0 several Page Boxes can be changed in one step. To do this, proceed as follows:

  1. Select the  Pages > Set Page Boxes .... menu. You can select the same command in the Settings panel of the Page Boxes settings area of the View and Analyze tab.
  2. In the Page Boxes to modify [12] area, select the Page Box that you want to change.
  3. Then select the Page Box from which the change is to be made [15]. The resulting start position and the new width and height are displayed next to it.
  4. Then activate the option Add Margins [13] and enter the corresponding Margin [14] if you want to add a Margin to the Page Boxes from the Base Box.
  5. Complete the process by pressing OK.

Figure 4: The new dialog of the Set Page Boxes dialog

3. Improvements

In addition to the major new features, other improvements have also been implemented in version 1.3.0.

3.1. Color Calculator by Color Logic

With version 1.3.0 of the PDF Editor, Color Logic's Color Calculator has been implemented. This ensures for Durst Workflow users that conversion between Color Spaces is done in the same way as it would be done in Durst Workflow.

3.2. Save Files Incrementally

By activating the option Save Files Incrementally, when saving - i.e. caching - a change in the file structure of the PDF file is attached at the end. This makes the PDF file larger in terms of file size, but it is possible to save the PDF file faster.

3.3. Normalize Media Box

Print data should ideally have the MediaBox at the origin (0/0), since this can prevent unexpected behavior, especially during transformations. To set the MediaBox to origin you have to use the command Normalize Media Box. The command is accessible via:

  • Page > Normalize Media Box...
  • In the Settings area Page Boxes of the View and Analyze tab, you can access the Normalize Media Box... command by clicking the - "..." points in the upper right corner.

3.4. Open file directory

MacOS users are used to displaying the file directory of the document by pressing cmd on the document name. This functionality is now also provided in the PDF Editor for users.

Figure 5: Display of the file directory in MacOS

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