PDF Converter for SharePoint 4 — InfoPath Attachments, HTML & Native SPD Watermarking

Christmas arrives very early this year for the users of the popular Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint, and what a gift it is; a brand new box with “4.0” on the outside and lots of new goodies to play with on the inside.

Let’s have a look at some of the new functionality:

• Automatic conversion of files attached to InfoPath forms.

• Dynamic control over which InfoPath views to export to PDF.

• Ability to convert InfoPath forms to PDF using SharePoint Forms Services.

• Convert HTML pages to PDF format using the SharePoint User Interface.

• Convert HTML to PDF from a SharePoint Designer workflow.

• Convert HTML to PDF using a Java / .NET Web Services interface.

• Convert files using simple hyperlinks.

• Convert common image formats to PDF such as JPG, BMP, PNG and GIF.

• Apply watermarks to PDF documents using Native SharePoint Designer Activities.

If you can’t wait to give it a go then proceed straight to the download link at the end of this post.

For those not familiar with the product, the PDF Converter for SharePoint is a lightweight solution that allows end-users to convert common document types to PDF format from within SharePoint using a friendly user interface, workflows or a web service call without the need to install any client side software or Adobe Acrobat. It integrates at a deep level with SharePoint and leverages facilities such as the Audit log, localisation, security and tracing. It runs on WSS 3, MOSS as well as SharePoint 2010 and is available in English, German, Dutch, French, Traditional Chinese and Japanese. For detailed information check out the product page.

In addition to the changes listed above, some of the main changes in the new version are as follows:

893New

• SharePoint Designer workflow activity to add composite watermarks to PDF files.892New

• SharePoint Designer workflow activities for adding simple shaped watermarks to PDF files.

870New

• Web Service method to allow existing PDF files to be watermarked.1110Fix

• Borders are clipped incorrectly for watermarks. 1010New

• New HTML to PDF workflow activity for SharePoint Designer. 642New

• Support for HTML to PDF Conversion in Web Service as well as SharePoint Document Libraries.1011New

• Support for PDF conversion of common image types such as BMP, GIF, PNG, JPG. 1007New

• Ability to convert SharePoint Pages to PDF using the Personal Actions menu. 785New

• Convert InfoPath browser forms using Forms Services and the HTML to PDF workflow activity. 1001New

• Automatically convert files attached to InfoPath forms to PDF. 993New

• Allow non-default InfoPath views to be selected for conversion to PDF. 1002New

• Allow multiple InfoPath views to be converted and merged into a single PDF file. 770Fix  

• File based XSN references are now decoded properly. 997New

• PDF Conversions can now be carried out using a simple hyperlink. 1028New

• “Convert and Download” option in the file context menu. 673New

• Allow range of InfoPath page numbers to convert to be specified. 992New

• Setup now alerts the user of potential ‘loopbackcheck’ problems. 836Fix

• Applying Security on PDF files corrupts certain pages. 1020Fix

• UI Breadcrumbs in SP2010 Central Administration

For more information check out the following resources:

• Product Page.

• Release Notes.

• Administration Guide.

• User Guide.

• Discussion Forum.

• Related Blog Posts.

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Download your free trial here (8MB).