Create PDF Files: pdfMachine Features

Platforms:
Windows 2003 / 2008 / XP / Vista / 7
(all x64 platforms are supported)

Print to "Broadgun pdfMachine" - Easy and quick:
pdfMachine is simple and fast with no complicated options. Our pdf writer pdfMachine converts a print stream from an application directly into a PDF. Once you have installed the pdfMachine pdf writer, open your document that you want to convert, then click "print", select the "Broadgun pdfMachine" printer and that's it!

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For a short movie demo, click here.

PDF Editing:
Easily insert, append, rotate, delete and rearrange pages within a PDF file.

Sticky notes / comments:
You can edit and create comments to be placed on the pdf. This is a great workflow review tool.

Text highlighting / Underlining / Strikeout
Text mark-up, shape drawing, lines and arrows. Text highlighting, underlining and strikeout.

File open menu option:
You can now open and assemble any PDF file, not just those created by pdfMachine.

Voice annotations:
If you have a microphone on your PC you can easily add voice annotations to a PDF. For a short demo, click here

Custom stamp annotations, text annotations:
Add your own stylish custom stamp annotations. For a short demo, click here

Multilingual font support:
The latest version of pdfMachine supports all Asian languages, Hebrew, Arabic and others.

Mail Integration:
Integrates with MAPI compliant mail programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express and Netscape to ease the sending of PDF's via email. Supports Simple MAPI, Extended MAPI, Outlook and SMTP. HTML style emails can be sent with PDF attachments. Support for SSL / TLS / SMTP mail, eg gmail.

Small File Sizes:
The PDF files created by PDF machine are quite small in comparison to original documents. Text in images are encoded as text in the PDF where possible, to reduce file size, and allow the text to be searched for in the PDF

PDF Stationery:
Use existing PDF files as you would pre-printed stationery. The first page of an existing PDF file is merged on to every page of your new PDF file. This is a great way to get those legacy applications producing great looking customised PDF files.

Text and image watermarks:
Text and image watermarks can be placed on each page of the PDF file. Transparent and gradient backgrounds are supported.

Security:
Implements PDF 40 bit and 128 bit encryption. Documents can be password protected - rights for printing/ copying/ modifying can be awarded.

Active URLs :
PDF hyperlinks are auto-generated from web URLS and email addresses. This is in addition to the generation of active urls from hyperlinks and bookmarks within Word and PowerPoint.

Hyperlinks preserved from within Internet Explorer :
From Internet Explorer hyperlinks hidden behind text and images such as this are preserved in the PDF!

N-Up Printing:
Shrink several pages onto one page. A great paper saver or handy booklet making feature.

MS Office and Internet Explorer Integration:
Quickly convert your MS Office docs to PDF's with the pdfMachine MS Office toolbar. Adds a toolbar to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Automatically generates PDF bookmarks from Word and Powerpoint documents.
In Word and PowerPoint, all internal bookmarks and hyperlinks are converted to PDF hyperlinks, even if they are on images.
When used from IE, automatically preserves hidden hyperlinks behind text and images in the PDF file.

Network Installations:
pdfMachine now supports "point and print" installation. pdfMachine can be installed like any other network printer

Bookmark Editing:
pdfMachine supports PDF bookmarks. PDF bookmarks are 'hyperlinks' that appear as a table of contents on the left hand side of your PDF file. When you click on a bookmark you are taken directly to that page in the PDF. It is easy to add and edit bookmarks.

pdfMachine merge:
Mail merge that emails personalized PDF attachments, using Word, Powerpoint, Excel or HTML documents as merge templates. For details, click here.

Word Mail Merge:
pdfMachine supports Microsoft Word's mail merge to email form documents as PDF attachments. For details, click here.

Digital Signatures:
pdfMachine is the easy way to digitally sign your PDF files. For details, click here.

Parameter Parsing:
Parameters to control almost any pdfMachine option can be dynamically "parsed" out of a PDF file. e.g. parameters such as "email to" and "email subject" can be dynamically "parsed" out of a PDF file for automatic email sending. This makes it great for integration with legacy applications that operate in "batch" mode.

Scanning Support:
Use the pdfScanMachine utility to scan your documents directly to PDF format. JBIG2 compression is supported, resulting in very small PDF's for Black and White scanned images. WIA, WIA2 and TWAIN scanner drivers are supported. Auto deskewing of pages is supported.

Custom toolbar support:
Add your own buttons to the pdfMachine toolbar to call programs or scripts. Details here.

Terminal Server support:
Once pdfMachine has been installed on a Terminal Server then users can remote login and start using pdfMachine.

Set Next Action:
Have control of what happens to the PDF file after it has been generated. Launch another application or automatically send the PDF as an email + more.

Set Document Properties:
Set PDF properties such as Author, Title and Keywords.

Printing Profiles:
Multiple "print profiles" or multiple pdfMachine printers can be easily setup with different options enabled.
e.g. You may setup one printer to always encrypt a PDF document, and another with "normal" settings.

Windows x64 drivers :
If you are running Windows XP x64, Windows 2003 Server x64, Vista x64, Windows 7 x64 then pdfMachine will work for you. pdfMachine ships with a native 64 bit printer driver.

File Embedding / Attaching :
Its possible to attach or embed files and documents in their native format into a PDF file. This means the PDF format becomes a container for other documents, which is a convenient way to treat related documents for emailing, encrypting and signing.

PDF/A :
PDF/A is an archival PDF file format. PDF/A provides a mechanism for representing electronic documents in a manner that preserves their visual appearance over time, independent of the tools and systems used for creating, storing or rendering the files. pdfMachine can produce files that conform to PDF/A-1b. More information about PDF/A >>

Benefits of the PDF format

Integrity:
PDF documents generated by pdfMachine, when printed or viewed, maintain the integrity of all formatting in the original document. PDF files preserve documents formats independent of software, hardware, or operating system used to generate the original file. They can be opened, read and printed by many free PDF readers available on the web, and viewed on operating systems such as Windows, MacOS, and Unix variants.

Technology:
PDF format is the best document format for long-term digital archival. Often software becomes obsolete, rendering some documents unreadable by current technology. Widely published formats, such as PDF, are more future proof that proprietary formats such as MS Word. In 50 years time, even if PDF's are not used anymore, all you need is the PDF specification and you can have a viewer developed to read your documents.

Searchable:
PDF has the ability to store text in a searchable form.

Browsers:
PDF files can be viewed within Netscape and Internet Explorer. These files can then be saved for off-line use or printed. This makes for easy use within an intranet or website.

Colour and Size:
PDF files enable sharp, color-precise printing on most printers with precise onscreen colour match regardless of monitor brand. Users can magnify documents up to 800% without the loss of clarity in text or graphics. PDF files can be optimized and are often smaller than conventional document formats.

Example PDF usage:

Invoices and Receipts

Price Lists

Brochures

Product info

Manuals

Customer and company newspapers and newsletters

Offers

Order confirmations

Study manuscripts

Minutes from meetings

Presentation papers