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Settings

The printer is controlled by settings in a set of ini files. Please see the section about configuration files for more information.

If you use this printer from a program it is possible to change the settings directly from within your program. Take a look at the API documentation for more information on programmatic control.

You can change the settings listed in the table below.

SettingDescription
PDF Printer Settings
Output

The output setting allows you to direct the output of the PDF printer to a specific file. When this setting is set the printer will not ask the user for a destination file name. When setting the output it must specify a valid file name including the full path for a PDF document. I.e. C:\TEMP\TEST.PDF where c:\temp is a valid folder. If the output folder does not exist then the PDF generation will fail.

The output setting allows macro names as part of the file name. The following macro names can be used:

<date>The current date in the format yyyy-mm-dd.
<time>The current time in the format hh.mm.ss.
<username>Logged on user.
<computername>Computer name.
<title>Title of the printed document.
<author>Author of the printed document.
<guid>System generated guid.
<docname>Document name.
<basedocname>Base part of the document name. This macro gives you the part of document name up to the last dot. If the document name is a file name then the resulting value is the file name without an extension.
<personal>Location of personal files.
<env:environmentstring> This macro allows you to query the values of the environment variables. I.e. <env:username> is substituted with the logged in user name.
<pageno> Page number for use in image creation. When creating images there will typically be one output file for each page in the original document. By using additional information in the <pageno> macro, you can control the padding width and character. <pageno,3> will pad the page number to a width of 3 characters (001, 002, etc.). <pageno,3,-> will use a dash as padding character and produce a different result (--1, --2, etc.).

When using the macro names in the settings.ini file the output parameter could look something like this:

Output=<env:appdata>\<docname> <date>.pdf

ConfirmOverwriteDetermines if the user has to confirm the overwrite of an existing PDF file.
values: yes, no
ShowSaveASWhen should the "Save AS" dialog be shown? If you use the "nofile" setting then the dialog is only shown if no output setting is specified.
values: nofile (default), always, never.
ShowSettingsThis setting determines if the user will see the settings dialog when a PDF is created.
values: always, never.
ShowPDFSpecifies if the resulting PDF file should be shown after generation. This setting can have the following values: yes, no, ask.
AfterPrintProgramThe AfterPrintProgram setting is a hook into the printing process. If you specify this setting it must contain a valid command line that will be launched when the PDF document is created. The command line can include the %1 token that will be substituted with the full path of the created PDF file. %2 will be the number of pages created. %3 is the number of files created. The command specified here will run regardless of the result of the document creation. For conditional command lines you should use RunOnSuccess and RunOnError.
Read more
AfterPrintProgramDirYou can use this setting to specify the current directory for the execution of the AfterPrintProgram command line.
Read more
AfterPrintProgramMode
version 7.1.0.1150
The mode is used to control if the program is started as hidden, normal, minimized, or maximized.
values: hide (default), normal, minimized, maximized.
Read more
RunOnSuccessLike the AfterPrintProgram setting this specifies a command line that will be executed if the document was successfully created. %1, %2 and %3 will have the same function as with AfterPrintProgram.
Read more
RunOnSuccessDirUsing this setting you can optionally set the current directory when the RunOnSuccess command line is executed.
Read more
RunOnSuccessMode
version 7.1.0.1150
Works like AfterPrintProgramMode for the RunOnSuccess setting.
Read more
RunOnErrorA command line that should be run in case of an error. %1, %2 and %3 will have the same function as with AfterPrintProgram.
Read more
RunOnErrorDirCurrent directory for the command line set in the RunOnError setting.
Read more
RunOnErrorMode
version 7.1.0.1150
Works like AfterPrintProgramMode for the RunOnSuccess setting.
Read more
StatusFileThe full path of a file name used as a status file. A status file is created after the print job. This file holds information about the last operation.
StatusFileEncoding
version 7.0.0.915
This setting determines the character encoding of the status file set in the StatusFile setting. The default is Unicode encoding without the 0xFF 0xFE header. If you use the Unicode value for this setting then the file will have the header bytes. By default it is left out for backward compatibility.
values: ASCII, Unicode.
ShowProgressUsing this setting you can optionally disable the progress notification in the system tray. By default the progress indicator is shown.
values: yes, no.
ShowProgressFinishedThe current version shows a balloon tip when the document is created. You can disable this tip by setting this value to no.
values: no, yes.
DisableOptionDialogDisable the user from running the printer options program. The most common place for this setting is in the global.ini file.
values: yes, no.
GhostscriptTimeoutUse this setting to change the timeout value for Ghostscript operations. If your print jobs are very large, the default timeout of 300 seconds may be too little. The value of this setting is the number of seconds the printer will wait for Ghostscript to finish creating the PDF document.
RememberLastFileNameRemember the last file name specified by the user.
values: yes, no (default).
RememberLastFolderNameRemember the last folder name specified by the user.
values: yes, no (default).
SuppressErrorsIf you choose to suppress errors then the dialog showing error information will not be shown. This is particular useful if you share the printer.
values: yes, no (default).
MacroDirBe default the printer scans the macros folder for VBS files when loading the VBScript macros. This setting can change location where the macros are loaded from.
values: any valid path to a folder.
LicenseFileLoad a different license file. With this setting you can make the printer load a different license file. By default it looks for a license.xml in the program folder of the printer. This setting is most often used in redistribution scenarios.
ExtractTextTells the printer to make a text representation of the print job. This text can be parsed by event handlers in VBScript and used for setting document properties.
values: yes, no (default)
PDF Watermark Settings
WatermarkTextThe text you want in your watermark.
WatermarkTransparencyA transparency percentage from 0 to 100 determines the darkness of the watermark. 0 is black and 100 is white (invisible). Normal values are in the range from 70 to 90.
WatermarkRotationThe water mark can be rotated. Specify an integer value between 0 and 360. You can also specify the value 'c2c' or '-c2c'. This will rotate the watermark in the direction 'Corner to Corner'.
WatermarkColorThe color of the watermark. Color values are specified as HTML colors in an #RRGGBB format. If this value is specified it will override the WatermarkTransparency setting.
WatermarkFontNameName of a truetype font file. The default value is arial.ttf.
WatermarkFontSizeSize of the font used in the watermark. The default size is 45.
WatermarkOutlineWidthBy default the watermark is written with an outlined font. You can customize the with of the outline.
values: an integer value. (default = 2)
WatermarkLayerThe watermark can act both as a watermark and a stamp. Some applications prints in a way that will hide watermarks that are placed under the original print. Here it comes in handy to be able to place the text above the original print.
values: top (default), bottom.
WatermarkVerticalPositionThe vertical position of the watermark.
values: top, center (default), bottom.
WatermarkHorizontalPositionThe horizontal position of the watermark.
values: left, center (default), right.
WatermarkVerticalAdjustmentAdjustment in the vertical position of the watermark. The specified value is a percentage of the page height.
WatermarkHorizontalAdjustmentAdjustment in the horizontal position of the watermark. The specified value is a percentage of the page width.
WatermarkSizeThis setting is obsolete. Use WatermarkFontSize instead.
Old description: An integer value between 1 and 100 indicating the size of the watermark text. The default value is 6.
PDF Merge Settings
MergeFileSpecifies a PDF file name if you want to merge the current output with an existing PDF file. Merge operations involving multiple documents are documented here
MergePositionIf you specify a merge file this parameter will determine the position of current PDF output in the merged result. Valid values are 'bottom' (append) and 'top' (prepend). The default is 'bottom', which will append your current PDF output to the PDF file specified in the MergeFile parameter.
SuperimposeWith the superimpose parameter you can lay two documents on top of each other. The superimpose parameter must point to a PDF file name, which will be the template. All pages of your current output will be created with the first page of the superimposed PDF file as background. Please note that if your current output paints the background you will not be able to see the template underneath.
SuperimposeLayer
version 6
Much like the watermark layer setting you can also control if the superimposed document is placed over or under the current print job.
values: top, bottom (default).
SupreimposeResolution
version 6
When the superimposed document is prepared for the operation some parts of it is rasterized. Use the SuperimposeResolution setting to control the resolution used in this operation. A higher resolution will result in a better quality but also increase the size of the created document.
values: 1 - 14400 (300 or 600 are fine for most documents).
PDF Security Settings
OwnerPasswordPassword for the owner of the document.
UserPasswordPassword for the users of the document.
KeyLengthSpecifies the length of the encryption key. Valid lengths are 40 and 128 bits. The default key length is 40 bits.
PermissionsPermissions that apply to the users who access the document via the user password. See the permissions section for more details.
PDF Document Settings
TargetThe target device sets the quality of the PDF document. Better quality results in larger PDF files. Available targets are screen, ebook, printer, prepress and default. Please note that it is case sensitive. Specifying an invalid value will most likely result in an empty pdf file.
AuthorAuthor of the PDF document.
UseDefaultAuthorThe default author of the document can be used in case no author is set using the Author setting.
values: yes, no.
TitleTitle of the PDF document.
UseDefaultTitleThe default title of the document can be used in case no title is set using the Title setting.
SubjectSubject of the PDF document.
KeywordsKeywords of the PDF document.
PDF Display Settings
Zoom

Specifies the initial zoom factor of the PDF document when it is viewed. The value is the zoom factor in percent. If no zoom value is specified or the value is 0 (zero) then the initial view will fit the document to the window of the reader. Please note that not all viewers respect this setting.

You can also specify the constants fitall or fitwidth. fitall will set a zoom factor that will allow the whole page to be shown. This is the default value since version 4. fitwidth adjusts the zoom to the width of the page.

UseThumbsDetermines if the initial view of the document will include a list of thumbnail images for all the pages in the document.
values: yes, no (default).
AutoRotatePagesWhen a PDF is displayed in a PDF reader the page orientation is dictated by the PDF file. During the creation of a PDF file this orientation is written as a setting for each page in the file. The AutoRotatePages setting can help you control how this information is generated. If you enable auto rotation of pages then the orientation will be based on the content of the page. By leaving this setting blank you let the printer determine the orientation on a page by page basis. Automatic page rotation can be disabled if you specify none.
values: none, all.
OrientationBy using the orientation setting you can force the display of the pages to use a specific orientation. If the orientation is set then it will override the value of the AutoRotatePages setting. By default this setting is not set.
values: portrait, landscape, seascape, upsidedown.
LinearizeUsing the linearize feature you can make the first page of the PDF file display faster if it is opened from a web site and shown in a browser.
values: yes, no (default).
Image Creation Settings
Device
version 6
"bmpmono", "bmpgray", "bmpsep1", "bmpsep8", "bmp16", "bmp256", "bmp16m", "bmp32b", "epswrite", "pswrite", "psraw", "jpeg", "jpeggray", "pcxmono", "pcxgray", "pcx16", "pcx256", "pcx24b", "pcxcmyk", "pngmono", "pnggray", "png16", "png256", "png16m", "pngalpha" "tiffgray", "tiff12nc", "tiff24nc", "tiff32nc", "tiffsep", "tiffcrle", "tiffg3", "tiffg32d", "tiffg4", "tifflzw", "tiffpack" "pdfwrite"
DeviceList
version 6
This setting is used to limit the choice of devices during image creation. The DeviceList setting can be set to a comma separated list of valid devices. DeviceList=png16m,jpeg will only allow output formats of JPEG and PNG type.
Res
version 6
Resolution of image in dots per inch. Unless values are specified in ResX or ResY this values is used for both horizontal and vertical resolution. The default value is 150.
ResX
version 6
Horizontal resolution of image.
ResY
version 6
Vertical resolution of image.
TextAlphaBits
version 6
Determines the quality of antialiasing for text elements.
values: 1, 2, 4 (default)
GraphicsAlphaBits
version 6
Determines the quality of antialiasing for graphics elements.
values: 1, 2, 4 (default)
Other Settings
Format
version 6.0.0.865
Use this setting to make the resulting PDF document PDF/A-1B compliant. The default value is blank. If you change the value to pdfa1b it will try to make the document PDF/A-1b compliant.
WipeMethod
version 7.1.0.1107
In the process of creating PDF or image files a set of temporary files are created. These files can contain the same sensitive information as the printed document. Before the printer process unloads it will delete the temporary files. However, in some situations it is not enough an you want to wipe these files before deleting them.
values: 3pass, none (default)

The values of these settings are stored in a file called settings.ini or runonce.ini. This file is located in the folder specified by the APPDATA environ variable.

settings

 
Search words: output watermark confirm overwrite superimpose merge resolution