PDF Converter for SharePoint 8.3 — New HTML / SharePoint Page Converter

Shortly after releasing version 8.2 of the Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint - which added support for SharePoint 2016 as well as Nintex Workflow 2016 - we sat down to identify the main pain-points reported by customers, see what we could do to make life easier for everyone. It soon became clear that the number one pain-point is our HTML Converter, specifically where it comes to converting SharePoint 2013 (and later) pages and related content such as List Items and Nintex Forms.

Although we have supported HTML & URL conversions for years, due to architectural changes in SharePoint, Windows, and Internet Explorer, things just didn’t work as well as they did in the SharePoint 2007 and 2010 eras.

To cut an almost 10 month long story short, today we are releasing version 8.3 of the Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint.  The key changes are as follows:

• Brand new HTML Converter (For SharePoint pages, List items, Nintex Forms etc)

• Brand new Image Converter (For GIF, BMP, PNG and JPG)

• Improved resource usage of OCR engine.

• Support for PDF Named Destinations.

Original SharePoint Web page (left), converted to PDF using the Screen Media type (middle) and the Print Media type (right)

For those not familiar with the product, the PDF Converter for SharePoint is a lightweight solution that allows end-users to merge, split, watermark, secure, OCR and convert common document types - including InfoPath, AutoCAD, MSG (email) MS-Office, HTML and images - to PDF as well as other formats 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, Nintex Workflow, K2 blackpearl, localisation, security and tracing. It runs on SharePoint 2007-2016 & SharePoint Online and is available in English, German, Dutch, French, Traditional Chinese and Japanese. For detailed information check out the product page . This ‘on-premise’ version of the PDF Converter requires software to be installed on the SharePoint server. Please note that if you have no server access, there is always the option to deploy our SharePoint Online App to on-premise versions of SharePoint 2013 and 2016. For details see this blog post .

When upgrading from a previous version, read this Knowledge Base article first.

Some of the main changes and additions in the new version are as follows:

• 2980 AutoCADFixFix text alignment issues in DWG Conversions

• 1822 AutoCADFixSystem.AccessViolationException under stress in DWG Conversions

• 2065 AutoCADImprovementImprove performance of converting complex DWG files

• 2969 HTMLFixIE HTML Conversion adds additional white pages / repeats content

• 2966 HTMLFixIE HTML Converter hides half a line

• 2975 HTMLImprovementAdd support new HTML Converter features to all Workflow Engines

• 3145 HTMLImprovementAllow ‘-1’ to be used for (HTML) ConversionDelay

• 3127 HTMLImprovementAdd conversion delay to Diagnostics Tool

• 2970 HTMLImprovementIE HTML Conversion weird aspect ratio issue on form fields

• 2085 HTMLImprovementHTML Converter - Investigate support for offline mode1638HTMLImprovementImprove error messaging for HTML to PDF conversions.

• 1834 HTMLImprovementAllow Proxy settings to be configured in config file.

• 2925 HTMLNewCompletely overhaul HTML Converter

• 2946 HTMLNewSupport ‘Screen’ and ‘Print’ CSS media types during HTML Conversion

• 1426 ImageImprovementCompletely overhaul the Image Converter

• 1005 InfoPathFixFix potential deadlock in InfoPath converter

• 2566 MergingFixSystem.ArgumentOutOfRangeException when merging file

• 2937 MergingFixSystem.ArgumentOutOfRangeException when merging file

• 2193 MergingNewAdd support for converting and merging files attached via PDF annotations

• 3233 MSGFixIncorrect word breaking during MSG conversion

• 2918 MSGFixMSG Converter does not process page numbers

• 2277 MSGFixRogue hyperlinks when converting some emails

• 2111 MSGFixOLE Drawing object becomes opaque on IE9 when converting emails

• 2626 MSGFixText goes missing when converting emails under certain conditions

• 2628 MSGFixSome images included twice when converting emails

• 2995 MSGImprovementImprove message for ‘BreakOnUnsupportedAttachment’

• 3103 MS-WordFixWhen converting to DOCX, documents are saved in ‘compatibility mode’

• 3054 OCRFixThe characters ‘fi’ & ‘fl’ cannot be blacklisted during OCR Text extraction

• 3044 OCRFixChinese OCR not working properly

• 2465 OCRFixOCRed PDFs balloon in file size when resaved in Acrobat DC

• 2951 OCRFixUnder high load, OCR operations sometimes results in a syntax error

• 2916 OCRFixSmall PDF Syntax errors in OCRed PDFs

• 2598 OCRFixJPXDecoded files appear to leak memory during OCR

• 3019 OCRImprovementImprove OCR for PDFs that are internally rotated

• 2707 OCRImprovementExcessive memory use when parsing complex PDF file / OCR Generation

• 3039 OtherFixNullReferenceException in get_PageScaling() during postprocessing

• 2886 PDFFixAdd Page trimming to PDF Passthrough Converter

• 2160 PDFFixRemoving attachments from PDF balloons file size and slows down operations

• 2398 PDFFixPDF Bookmark corruption when merging files and empty parent bookmarks

• 2466 PDFFixCertain PDF files cause Acrobat Pro to crash

• 1871 PDFNewAdd support for turning bookmarks into PDF Named destinations

• 3146 PowerShellFixEnable-SPListWatermarkFilter does not work as expected

• 2406 ServiceFixConversion Service stuck on ‘starting’ after reboot

• 3038 SetupFixInstaller does not detect MS-Office click-to-run version

• 3104 SetupFixLink to ‘disable loopback’ KB article broken.

• 2529 SetupFixAdditional firewall rule is created during every installation

• 3110 SetupImprovementRename ‘SP2013’ in WSP names to ‘SP2010-2016’

• 2608 SetupImprovementAutomate printer compressions settings using code

• 2429 SetupImprovementRemove all references to ‘SP2013’ for workflow manager actions

• 2163 TIFFFixPage orientation when converting TIFF is not always correctly identified

• 2859 TIFFNewAllow page size and margins to be specified for TIFF conversions

• 3050 WatermarkingFixReal-time watermark on open does not work when file is dragged to desktop.

• 3020 WatermarkingImprovementImprove watermarking for PDFs that are internally rotated

• 3069 WorkflowFixError applying XML override for End Page.

• 3006 WorkflowImprovementAdd ‘DocumentStartPage’ support to Workflow Manager action

• 2783 WorkflowImprovementImprove support for Long Running Operations to Workflow Manager actions.

For more information check out the following resources:

• Product Page.

• Brochure.

• FAQ & Knowledge Base.

• Release Notes.

• Installation & Administration Guide.

• User Guide.

• Product videos.

• Related Blog Posts.

As always, feel free to contact us using Twitter, our Blog, regular email or subscribe to our newsletter.

Download your free trial here (105MB). .