PDF Converter Services 8.3 — New HTML & Image Converters

We are happy to announce a new version of the Muhimbi PDF Converter Services. Although a lot of fixes, workaround and small tweaks have been added, the key change in the 8.3 release is a completely overhauled HTML to PDF Converter, which is more up to date with the latest web based technologies, and more importantly, no longer has a dependency on Internet Explorer.

The key changes are as follows:

• Brand new HTML Converter

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

• Improved resource usage of OCR engine.

• Support for PDF Named Destinations.

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

A quick introduction for those not familiar with the product: The Muhimbi PDF Converter Services is an ‘on premises’ server based SDK that allows software developers to convert typical Office files to PDF format using a robust, scalable but friendly Web Services interface from Java, .NET, Ruby & PHP based solutions. It supports a large number of file types including MS-Office and ODF file formats as well as HTML, MSG (email), EML, AutoCAD and Image based files and is used by some of the largest organisations in the world for mission critical document conversions. In addition to converting documents the product ships with a sophisticated watermarking engine, PDF Splitting and Merging facilities, an OCR facility and the ability to secure PDF files. Separate SharePoint and Cloud-based Subscription services are available as well.

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

• 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 mode

• 1638HTMLImprovementImprove error messaging for HTML to PDF conversions.

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

• 2925 HTMLNew Completely overhaul HTML Converter

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

• 1426ImageImprovementCompletely overhaul the Image Converter

• 1005InfoPathFixFix potential deadlock in InfoPath converter

• 2566MergingFixSystem.ArgumentOutOfRangeException when merging file

• 2937MergingFixSystem.ArgumentOutOfRangeException when merging file

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

• 3233MSGFixIncorrect word breaking during MSG conversion

• 2918MSGFixMSG Converter does not process page numbers

• 2277MSGFixRogue hyperlinks when converting some emails

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

• 2626MSGFixText goes missing when converting emails under certain conditions

• 2628MSGFixSome images included twice when converting emails

• 2995MSGImprovementImprove message for ‘BreakOnUnsupportedAttachment’

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

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

• 3044OCRFixChinese OCR not working properly

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

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

• 2916OCRFixSmall PDF Syntax errors in OCRed PDFs

• 2598OCRFixJPXDecoded files appear to leak memory during OCR

• 3019OCRImprovementImprove OCR for PDFs that are internally rotated

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

• 3039OtherFixNullReferenceException in get_PageScaling() during postprocessing

• 2886PDFFixAdd Page trimming to PDF Passthrough Converter

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

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

• 2466PDFFixCertain PDF files cause Acrobat Pro to crash

• 1871PDFNewAdd support for turning bookmarks into PDF Named destinations

• 2406ServiceFixConversion Service stuck on ‘starting’ after reboot

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

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

• 2529SetupFixAdditional firewall rule is created during every installation

• 2608SetupImprovementAutomate printer compression settings using code

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

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

• 3020WatermarkingImprovementImprove watermarking for PDFs that are internally rotated

For more information check out the following resources:

• Product Page.

• Brochure.

• FAQ & Knowledge Base.

• Release Notes.

• Administration Guide.

• User & Developer Guide.

• All PDF Converter Services 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 (100MB). .