Technical FAQs

Question

How do I store and retrieve documents in subdirectories of the configured documents directory in PrizmDoc PAS?

Answer

You can retrieve documents from subdirectories when dealing with local files. Simply pass the subfolder in the fileName parameter when creating the viewing session. You can test this by manually placing a document inside a subfolder and making the following POST request:

`http://localhost:3000/ViewingSession`

    {
        "source": {
            "type": "document"
            "fileName": "folder/document.pdf"
        }
    }
Question

How do I store and retrieve documents in subdirectories of the configured documents directory in PrizmDoc PAS?

Answer

You can retrieve documents from subdirectories when dealing with local files. Simply pass the subfolder in the fileName parameter when creating the viewing session. You can test this by manually placing a document inside a subfolder and making the following POST request:

`http://localhost:3000/ViewingSession`

    {
        "source": {
            "type": "document"
            "fileName": "folder/document.pdf"
        }
    }

In the digital era, managing and sharing documents is central to business operations. As organizations handle increasing volumes of data, effective Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Document Management Software (DMS) solutions become crucial. These systems streamline the organization, storage, and retrieval of information. Integral to these systems are document viewing and processing integrations, enhancing the security, accessibility, and usability of stored data.

Defining Document Viewing Integrations

Document viewing and processing integrations are software components that enable users to access, view, and mark up various document formats within ECM and DMS systems. These tools are embedded into software platforms, offering a consistent and high-quality viewing experience across different file types and devices. They allow users to view and interact with documents without needing native applications or external tools, which is essential for efficient and secure document handling.

Challenges in Document Management

ECM and DMS software solutions face distinct challenges in offering users a way to manage, share, and collaborate on documents, including:

  • Security Concerns: Ensuring sensitive information remains secure while being accessible to authorized personnel.
  • Compatibility Issues: Managing a variety of document formats not natively supported by all systems or devices.
  • Collaboration Barriers: Facilitating effective document collaboration, especially with geographically dispersed teams.
  • Efficiency Hurdles: Streamlining document access and offering markup features to enhance processing productivity.
  • Version Control: Maintaining document integrity by preventing unauthorized edits and keeping track of changes.

The Solution: Enhancing Document Management With an Integration for  Viewing & Processing

Document viewing and processing integrations offer comprehensive solutions to these challenges by:

  • Enhanced Security: Secure viewing options prevent unauthorized editing, alteration of metadata, and leaks of sensitive information.
  • Consistent User Experience: Maintain a cohesive and efficient user experience across your branded applications.
  • Streamlined Collaboration: Features like annotation and redaction enable effective collaboration within the ECM/DMS environment.
  • Increased Efficiency: Quick and reliable access to documents and tools for efficient file conversion improves workflow and productivity.
  • Control and Compliance: Maintaining document integrity and compliance with data protection regulations becomes more manageable.

Implementing Effective Document Viewing & Processing Integrations

Document viewing and processing integrations should prioritize security, compatibility, collaboration, efficiency, and compliance to address common document management challenges for users.

Key Features to Look For

When choosing a document viewing integration, consider features that enhance functionality and user experience, such as:

  • Secure Document Viewing: Access and view a diverse variety of document formats within a secure environment to protect sensitive information.
  • Annotation Tools: Facilitate collaboration with tools for adding comments, highlighting sections, and marking up documents.
  • Redaction Capabilities: Obscure sensitive parts of a document to ensure compliance with privacy laws.
  • File Conversion: Simplify converting documents into various formats to ensure accessibility across different platforms and devices.
  • Advanced Search: Quickly locate specific information within documents

Integration with ECM and DMS Solutions

The true power of document viewing and processing integrations lies in their seamless integration with ECM and DMS solutions, making these platforms versatile tools for different business environments. The integration process should be straightforward, enhancing existing systems without extensive modifications.

Integration Enhancements

Effective integration offers:

  • Universal Accessibility: Ensuring documents can be viewed and interacted with on any device, breaking down barriers in document accessibility.
  • Streamlined Workflows: Integrating annotation, redaction, and file conversion features directly into ECM and DMS platforms reduces the need for multiple tools.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: Secure and efficient document collaboration fosters a more dynamic work environment.

Benefits of Effective Document Viewing Integrations

Integrating robust document viewing solutions into ECM and DMS systems provides several benefits:

  • Enhanced Document Security: Prevent unauthorized access and provide a secure viewing environment to protect sensitive information.
  • Improved Document Collaboration: Facilitate secure collaboration, allowing real-time interaction and feedback within documents.
  • Universal Document Viewing: Cross-platform viewing eliminates compatibility issues, ensuring all team members can access necessary documents.
  • Increased Productivity: Streamlined review and approval processes, combined with efficient workflow management, boost productivity.

Addressing Integration Challenges

To successfully integrate document viewing solutions, organizations should:

  • Assess and Plan: Understand specific integration requirements and plan accordingly.
  • Set Up the Server: Ensure the server is configured correctly to handle the document load.
  • API Integration: Utilize APIs to integrate features like document viewing, annotation, redaction, and file conversion.
  • Customize and Test: Tailor the integration to match workflows and conduct thorough testing.
  • Deploy and Maintain: Monitor the integration closely during the initial launch and perform regular maintenance checks.

Embracing Document Viewing Integrations

For product managers, effective document viewing and processing integrations represent comprehensive solutions to address various needs for document management within their ECM/DMS applications. These integrations offer flexibility, security, and efficiency, ensuring that organizations can manage documents effectively and stay ahead in the fast-evolving digital landscape.

Product managers are encouraged to explore the capabilities of robust document viewing and processing integrations, leveraging their features to meet current document management needs and scale for future growth. By implementing these solutions, businesses can enhance their ECM and DMS systems, increasing efficiency and success.

PrizmDoc: Leading the Way in Document Viewing Integrations

PrizmDoc is a leading solution in the realm of document viewing and processing integrations, offering robust features that enhance ECM and DMS applications. With capabilities like secure document viewing, annotation tools, redaction, file conversion, and advanced search, PrizmDoc addresses the critical needs of modern businesses. Its seamless integration, comprehensive security measures, and user-friendly tools make it an invaluable asset for efficient and secure document management.

Learn More: Discover how PrizmDoc can revolutionize your document management processes. Contact us for a demonstration and further information.

Question

When viewing documents within the PrizmDoc Viewer using a particular browser, we are seeing garbage text. Viewing the same document with other browsers shows the text properly. What could be causing this to occur?

Answer

There are two possible causes for this in Internet Explorer 11 and you can check the settings below to potentially fix the issue:

In Internet Explorer 11 settings, ensure the Font Download option is enabled:

  1. Click on Internet Options.
  2. Select the Security Tab.
  3. Under Local Intranet zone, select Custom Level.
  4. Under Downloads, set Font download to Enabled.

Disable the “Turn off Data URI” support setting:

  1. Click Start, type gpedit.msc in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
  2. In the navigation pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features.
  3. In the right pane, double-click Turn Off Data URI support.
  4. Select Disable, click Apply, and then click OK.
  5. Go back to the navigation pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features.
  6. Repeat steps 3 and step 4 above.

In Internet Explorer 11 settings, ensure Ignore font styles specified in webpages is not checked.

  1. Click on Internet Options.
  2. Select the General Tab.
  3. Click on Accessibility button.
  4. Un-check Ignore font styles specified in webpages.

In Chrome this is a bug that was found about 3 years ago and fixed in Chrome Canary, but not in Chrome Stable at the time:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chrome/rpmz56gnFKc/nPLtsbYZBwAJ

This may be why Chrome is having problems. Consider either updating Chrome Stable to the latest version or testing in Chrome Canary to see if that fixes the garbage character issues with that browser.


In Mozilla Firefox there is a setting you can enable which could resolve this problem in that browser:

  1. Go to Options/Preferences > General: Fonts & Colors > Advanced and select Allow pages to choose their own fonts (instead of My selections above).
Question

When viewing documents within the PrizmDoc Viewer using a particular browser, we are seeing garbage text. Viewing the same document with other browsers shows the text properly. What could be causing this to occur?

Answer

There are two possible causes for this in Internet Explorer 11 and you can check the settings below to potentially fix the issue:

In Internet Explorer 11 settings, ensure the Font Download option is enabled:

  1. Click on Internet Options.
  2. Select the Security Tab.
  3. Under Local Intranet zone, select Custom Level.
  4. Under Downloads, set Font download to Enabled.

Disable the “Turn off Data URI” support setting:

  1. Click Start, type gpedit.msc in the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
  2. In the navigation pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features.
  3. In the right pane, double-click Turn Off Data URI support.
  4. Select Disable, click Apply, and then click OK.
  5. Go back to the navigation pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, expand User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features.
  6. Repeat steps 3 and step 4 above.

In Internet Explorer 11 settings, ensure Ignore font styles specified in webpages is not checked.

  1. Click on Internet Options.
  2. Select the General Tab.
  3. Click on Accessibility button.
  4. Un-check Ignore font styles specified in webpages.

In Chrome this is a bug that was found about 3 years ago and fixed in Chrome Canary, but not in Chrome Stable at the time:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chrome/rpmz56gnFKc/nPLtsbYZBwAJ

This may be why Chrome is having problems. Consider either updating Chrome Stable to the latest version or testing in Chrome Canary to see if that fixes the garbage character issues with that browser.


In Mozilla Firefox there is a setting you can enable which could resolve this problem in that browser:

  1. Go to Options/Preferences > General: Fonts & Colors > Advanced and select Allow pages to choose their own fonts (instead of My selections above).

Tampa Bay Software CEOs Call

TAMPA, Fla. September 9, 2020 – In August, Tampa Bay Tech’s Software CEO Council (TBSC) met to tackle what so many CEOs and founders are experiencing right now as the country continues to reopen. The outlook was optimistic amongst the group as all attendees reported that their businesses were maintaining financial stability and growing headcount.

During this quarterly meeting, TBSC usually gathers to discuss business ideas, philanthropic efforts, and community involvement. This meeting was a little different considering the effects that COVID-19 has had on the market.

“It’s important for TBSC to keep our meetings going, especially during a pandemic,” states Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software. “We can rely on each other to share feedback and ideas regarding the management of new COVID-19 protocols.”

Prior to the meeting, the members participated in a brief survey about the impact that the pandemic had on their businesses.

“Across the board our CEOs reported challenges in the past several months, but I was encouraged by the optimism for not only ending the year in a positive place, but heading into 2021 with solid strategies to grow,” reported Jill St Thomas, Tampa Bay Tech’s Executive Director. “The commitment of these leaders to support one another absolutely embodies our mission of building a radically connected tech community in Tampa Bay.”

“We need to understand the way the pandemic has influenced not only our own business plans and strategies, but how it will affect the technology landscape in Tampa Bay,” states Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “We have light-hearted meetings, but we do discuss serious subjects. I took over a page of notes on ideas my peers shared, and I’m interested in implementing them across my teams.”

Members of the group in attendance included: Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft, Kevin Coppins, CEO of Spirion, Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software, Ed Holmes, CEO of FairWarning, Gregory Ross-Munro, CEO of Sourcetoad, Paul Toomey, CEO of Geographic Solutions, Chris Karlo, CEO of Mercury New Media, Jody Haneke, CEO of Haneke Designs, and moderator, Jill St. Thomas, Executive Director of Tampa Bay Tech.

For more information about TBSC, visit the group’s website at https://www.tampasoftwareceos.com/.

About Tampa Bay Tech

Tampa Bay Tech is a 501(c)6 non-profit technology council that has been engaging and uniting the local technology community for 20 years. With over 100 companies representing thousands of tech employees – as well as thousands of students within the area’s colleges and universities – Tampa Bay Tech provides programming and initiatives to support all those in the technology space. Through their membership and partnerships, their mission is to build a radically connected, flourishing tech hub where opportunity is abundant for all. Join the TBTech community at tampabay.tech and follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter.

About Accusoft

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

On August 3, 2021, Accusoft announced the release of the paid Professional version of Accusoft PDF Viewer. Initially released in March of 2021, the Standard version of Accusoft PDF Viewer is a free-to-use, lightweight JavaScript PDF library featuring a responsive UI for out-of-the-box mobile support. The new Professional version adds enhanced PDF tools and document functionality without introducing any complex server dependencies that could impact application security or performance.

“We’ve received tremendous feedback so far regarding the Standard version of Accusoft PDF Viewer,” says Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “With the release of the paid Professional version, customers now have a clear upgrade path that allows them to add new features without having to rethink their application architecture.”

Key Accusoft PDF Viewer Professional features include:

  • Multiple Annotation Types
  • Customizable UI
  • White Labeling
  • Electronic Signature

As an entirely client-side integration, Accusoft PDF Viewer can be incorporated into any web application with just a few lines of code. The paid Professional version features the same intuitive UI controls that provide an optimized viewing experience across all screen types, making it ideal for web apps that need to run on both desktop and mobile devices.

“We did a lot of research to determine which features are most important to developers,” says Mark Hansen, Product Manager at Accusoft. “The ability to markup and electronically sign documents without having to rely on external servers or backend processing is going to be a gamechanger for a lot of applications.”

To learn more about the latest Accusoft PDF Viewer features, please visit our website.

About Accusoft: 

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

###

The Top 4 Benefits of On-Premise Document Viewing
 

The infamous cloud and its capabilities has quickly gained popularity in the average household as tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon have created an expectation that cloud storage services are standard features.  But while cloud storage may be convenient and cost-effective for personal use, there are many business cases where on-premise servers and storage remain the primary choice. 

Today, the debate for ‘cloud storage vs. on-premise’ seems like it would be similar to ‘tablet vs. desktop,’ but many would be surprised to find that in a survey done by IDG Communications and referenced in an article by EnterpriseCIO.com, 56% of respondents, say their on-premises applications are here to stay.  Cloud storage and viewing have many benefits that appeal to today’s mass-market: simple set-up, easily accessible, cost-saving – but when it comes to the most highly regulated industries in the world the benefits of on-premise provide are second to none. 

The same goes for document viewing.  In a world where the average person sends and receives 121 business emails per day, according to a report by DMR, we can imagine the number of attachments shared between colleagues and professionals in a year. Secure document viewing has become a necessity for several industries, but particularly those highly regulated. While companies may find it a tall order to create an on-premise environment with secure document viewing capabilities, Accusoft’s HTML5 document viewer can be deployed on your own infrastructure to create security and compliant-friendly document viewing.

Integrating a document and image viewer on your own server allows an organization to have confidence that even their most sensitive information is protected at all times. The top 4 benefits of on-premise viewing include:

  • Control
    Maintain complete control over your data using on-premise servers and increase the functionality within documents.  By integrating  HTML5 viewing capabilities into an application, it ensures that documents never have to leave a secure environment, even when they’re being shared with people outside your organization. Highly regulated industries and organizations can’t afford a data breach, so the added benefit of physical security of servers weighs heavily on the decision between on-premise vs. cloud.
  • Security
    A document viewer API integration into the on-premise server adds multi-level data protection with 256-bit AES encryption and configurable user permissions for privacy and protection. Companies are able to use in-house security features and systems that allow them to deploy firewalls, anti-malware, etc. when their data is stored on-premise infrastructure.
  • Compliance
    Instead of adding risk by bouncing off third-party servers, integrating an HTML5 viewer into your current application provides added flexible across  many platforms.  The self-hosted version resides on any organization’s servers. The key features of Accusoft’s HTML 5 viewer support secure, GDPR compliant efforts.
  • Speed & Accessibility
    Since the data is stored on the local network and not reliant on an internet connection, if network problems occur, data can still be accessed. The local server also allows for faster file transfer and seamless document sharing. Adding a image and document viewer API empowers developers to provide users with responsive filing viewing without the need to download plugins or open any other applications.

Get Started Today
To learn more about PrizmDoc, Accusoft’s HTML 5 image and document viewing API and the on-premise server integration, click on the resources below or, contact us today.

Question

I want to load an HTML document in PrizmDoc with UTF-8 encoding. Can this be done automatically in the product?

Answer

Currently, no. We have a parameter for .txt files which does that (detailed here), but this “textFileEncoding” intentionally only works for .txt, not .html files. There is a feature request for this:

https://ideas.accusoft.com/ideas/PDV-I-546

In the meantime, this can be fixed manually by adding charset = “utf-8” to the meta tag of the HTML document. One POC way this might be done programmatically is below in Python 3.7 (need obvious polishing like checking for the tag already existing, multiple “meta” tags, etc):

with open(filename, "r") as file:
    content = file.read()

index = content.find("meta") + len("meta")

new_content = content[:index] + " charset=\"utf-8\" " + content[index:]

with open(filename, "w") as file:
    file.write(new_content)

Over the last few years, codemantra has focused on developing document processing capabilities to enhance its core document management systems. The multifaceted collectionPoint platform leverages the power of machine learning to extract data and integrate with business applications such as LMS solutions, ERP software, and CRM systems. However, in order to maximize collectionPoint’s document flexibility, codemantra needed the right integrations to manage and edit PDF documents. Rather than devoting additional development resources to building a viewing solution in-house, the codemantra team instead conducted a thorough review of multiple third-party integrations to find the ideal match for collectionPoint. Find out why they chose PrizmDoc® for Java, formerly VirtualViewer®.

As part of its ongoing mission to serve the specialized needs of today’s largest enterprises, IBM offers multiple solutions for managing business content and a wide range of digital assets. The ECM family of services and solutions helps organizations capture, protect, activate, analyze, and engage with their content to generate better insights that can inform decisions. While many enterprises still deploy their ECM on-prem, IBM also offers the cloud-native FileNet Content Manager, which incorporates some of the company’s latest innovations in AI to derive more value from unstructured content.

Question

Why do the fonts in my document look different when rendered in PrizmDoc?

Answer

There are times when a document was created on a machine where a user installed a non-standard font (e.g., Maestro-Regular). When the document is viewed on another system, without that font installed, the text will look different.

PrizmDoc uses the fonts installed on the server where it is running when converting the document. If the document has a non-standard font, and the font is not installed on the server where PrizmDoc is running, then it will render the document with a default font.

To fix the issue, you need to install the font onto the PrizmDoc server that converted the document. The procedure below outlines how to install the font on a Windows server. You will need to ensure that you are logged in as the same UserId that the Prizm Service is using.

  1. Identify the name of the font that needs to be installed and download the font file associated with that font. The font file name will typically be in the format of fontname.ttf.
  2. Copy the .ttf file to the server running PrizmDoc.
  3. On the server, right-click the .ttf file and select Install from the menu.
  4. Stop all of the Prizm services.
  5. Clear all folders under \Prizm\Cache – this will clear the previously rendered files that had the wrong font rendered.
  6. Reboot the server and attempt to open the document again.