EXP Systems Forum: multiple problems with PDF reDirect

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spider
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Joined: 20 Jun 12
Location: United States
Posts: 4

Topic: multiple problems with PDF reDirect
Posted: 21 Jun 12 at 12:35PM

It has been awhile since I last used PDF reDirect, but w/one annoying exception, it had worked fine. I just tried using it again and it kept complaining about the files I wanted to work on being busy/inuse. I figured I might as well update to the latest version, just in case some OS update broke it or some misc file corruption took place. Things only went down hill from there:

Each time I launched the program, I now get a "Network Discovery is Turned Off..." warning message. Some experimenting proved this is just a new manifestation of a LONG standing problem... your software is incompatible with having the preferences point to My Documents... at least when that is redirected to a network share... which is COMMON in a business environment (I even use it at home to keep laptop and desktop MyDocs in sync). I almost never run into software that has such a problem. I'm surprised that you have it in the first place... much less that you haven't fixed it by now.
New problem... now PDF reDirect essentially doesn't work at all... at least for what I originally acquired it for... which was the ability to extract/delete pages from a PDF. I am at a university TV station and I like to make equipment manuals available to students... but without the chapters involving stuff they shouldn't be messing with. I just got an updated manual with 284 pages and I wanted to delete page 229-284. Each time I try to do that... I get a warning message "There was a problem with some of the page numbers provided. Either they exceed the maximum (1), ...". Huh? Maximum of ONE page?
Apparently related to above... if I try to accomplish similar ends using "extract"... it completes without an error message... but I end up with a ONE page long document instead of a 228 page document.

I can live with #1, though it is inconvenient. But #2 and #3 above are clearly deal breakers. Please enlighten me on how to get this fixed. I tried doing a reboot, followed immediately by terminating all applications in the system tray, and suspending the anti-malware program, and a re-install (over top of existing), followed immediately by a reboot. But still same problems.

Dave

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Michel_K17
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: 25 Jan 03
Posts: 1673

Posted: 21 Jun 12 at 9:13PM

Hello Dave,

Thanks for the feedback. Obviously, what you are experiencing is not satisfactory, but hopefully we can address these issues.

The redirection is taking me by surprise as I have my own "My Documents" redirected to a sub-folder on my (remote) server. This is maybe something that I can help you troubleshoot, or at least we can compare notes on how we did the redirection. Specifically:

I use Windows 7 (64 bit)
Library\Documents >> Right-Click >> Deleted default location and added my server folder path (\\Exp-server\Michel_K17).
I also have a Windows XP machine - which does not have libraries. On that machine, I redirected the "My Documents" folder by Right-clicking >> Properties >> Target is set to \\Exp-server\Michel_K17. That works well for me too.
Can you let me know how you setup your PC?

In regards to #2 and #3, the delete and extract feature may fail on PDF files generated by other PDF creators. In particular, some Xerox, Canon and one HP scanner in particular produce malformed PDF files with errors in the object tree. You are right that PDF reDirect does not fail gacefully, but for the next version, I have added code that works around these problems. For your files, you have a couple of solutions - which involves re-processing your PDF file through PDF reDirect - after which you will be able to delete pages at will. Here are the instructions:

Method #1

1. Open your PDF in Adobe's PDF Reader

2. Select to print, and choose to print to the PDF reDirect printer.

3. Save the created file to a new name. You will be able to delete/extract pages from that file.

Method #2 (requires Pro version)

1. Open PDF reDirect Pro

2. Click the PDF once so that it appears in the Preview box (lower RHS).

3. Click the small printer icon in the Preview header: this will use the built-in “print” feature to print the scans back to PDF reDirect Pro.

4. The recreated PDF file will appear in the Merge list

5. Save the created file to a new name. You will be able to delete/extract pages from that file.

    I hope the above helps for the situation you described. Please let me know if the "My Documents" problem does not get resolved: we can try a couple more things.

   Also, can you confirm that you are using v2.5.2? (number is shown right above the "save" button).

   Kindest regards,

Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

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spider
Newbie
Newbie

Joined: 20 Jun 12
Location: United States
Posts: 4

Posted: 22 Jun 12 at 12:18PM

1. This is a business situation... and at least with businesses wedded to the Microsoft way of doing things, redirection is handled by "group policy"... which is assigned to either individual user accounts or more generally to the "organizational unit" that users are a member of. As far as I know, there is no functional difference from software application point-of-view than simply doing what you describe (which is what I do at home). But I haven't had reason to look into that so I may be wrong.

What I know is IF I look at the "location" field for My Documents, I'll see nbsp; That reflects a couple things different about the scenario you describe. For one... it isn't pointed at a specific server... we use Distributed File System (the "Microsoft way" of doing things) to have multiple servers (one at each physical site) synchronized with each other. The OS knows that s the name of one of these "DFS shares" and automatically connects me to the closest available server. If the one in my office goes down, it connects me automatically to its counterpart elsewhere in the state.

Another possible issue is the "somedocs$" folder on that share is an "invisible" share by virtue of the $. That is just a "security by obscurity" precaution... I do it at home as well so people "browsing" the network won't see a share I don't want them to.

I don't know how your software accesses files "under the hood"... presumably if it was using standard OS "hooks", it wouldn't have a problem with any of the above. But in any event, if I was to guess, I wonder about the hidden share ($) issue as having more potential for problem than the DFS share which hopefully your software can remain blissfully ignorant of. In any event, that is also something you can quickly and easily test by renaming your Michel_K17 share to Michel_K17$

2. I wondered about it being a file compatibility issue, but hadn't taken the time to explore that anymore. The file is from the same source as I had edited successfully with PDF reDirect before, but they may have changed or "upgraded" their software, so who knows. I prefer to avoid the approach that you mention because it tends to increase the file size and sometimes cost resolution, but I have used it before. In this case, I tried doing as you suggested with PDF reDirect Pro, but it ran into the same basic problem "printing" to the reDirect Pro printer driver... ended up with a single page. So I used a CutePDF printer driver to generate the new file, and was then able to successfully extract/delete pages with reDirect Pro. So it sounds like reDirectPro didn't like something about the file that other programs are OK with. If it would help, I could email you the file so you could tweak your software to be more forgiving.

Thanks for the help. Good luck figuring out #1....

Dave

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Michel_K17
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: 25 Jan 03
Posts: 1673

Posted: 23 Jun 12 at 3:35PM

Hi,

Quick update...

In regards to #1, I did the following:

I logged into the server,
Turned on the DFS service, then
I created a Folder which I set at the DFS Root
I dropped a handful of PDF files in there.
Then, I went back to my user machine
I remapped the "Documents" library to the DFS Root as the only target.
Started PDF reDirect Pro
I was able to access the PDF files that I dropped in there.
I was able to create new PDF files and save them to sub-folders of DFS Root.
Note: v252 would only save to sub-folders. When saving at the root level, I was getting a Path Error 76.
v254 (internal version still in work, not yet released) was able to save to sub-folders as well as to the root level.
2. I tried adding a $ to the end of my shared folder.
v252 did not work because the folder was not visible in the Documents library.
I had to type: "\\EXP-SERVER\Michel_K17$" in the filename box to cause the shared folder to appear in the "Networks" area of the folder list, and only then was I able to save.
v254 (again, my "in work" version) worked fine. No problems. I could access it from the Documents library.
3. In regards to your point #2, the delete/extract errors - I have confirmed that my new v254 handles the malformed PDF files gracefully. Therefore the CutePDF kludge will no longer be required once that new version is out.

So, in summary, it looks like my new version is a solid step forward. I keep adding more and more features (I get a lot of requests), but I think I will wrapup what I have on the go right now, and release this v254 as quickly as I can to resolve the issues you have highlighted.

No exact date yet (I'm in the middle of something somewhat large), but it should be no more than a couple of months.

I hope that helps. Thanks for your post.

Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

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spider
Newbie
Newbie

Joined: 20 Jun 12
Location: United States
Posts: 4

Posted: 24 Jun 12 at 2:34PM

Sounds like you are on the right track. I'll look forward to seeing v254. Is there a way to get an automatic notification when it is released?

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Michel_K17
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: 25 Jan 03
Posts: 1673

Posted: 24 Jun 12 at 10:18PM

Hi Spider,

Sure! Just sign up for notification to this post here:
http://www.exp-systems.com/Forum_exp/forum_posts.asp?TID=603

I do not post a new message, I just edit the existing one. If you toggle "on" the e-mail notification, you will received an e-mail.

Also, if you purchased PDF reDirect Pro, you will get an e-mail notification of the release of the new version.

Cheers!

Michel

Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

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spider
Newbie
Newbie

Joined: 20 Jun 12
Location: United States
Posts: 4

Posted: 25 Jun 12 at 11:08AM

I toggled the email notification for the post you mentioned. BTW, I DID purchase reDirect Pro... quite some time ago... but I don't recall ever getting any email notifications about updates. It was registered as "Idaho Public Television".

Dave

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Michel_K17
Moderator Group

Forum Administrator

Joined: 25 Jan 03
Posts: 1673

Posted: 25 Jun 12 at 9:11PM

OK, thanks!

Generally, I only send notification e-mails up to a maximum of once a year, and for major updates only. Since your purchase goes back to 2005, I would think you would have received a couple of the newsletters I sent since then. I have confirmed that you are on the distribution list.

Maybe the e-mail went to the spam folder?

Kindest regards,

Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

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yorkshire_lad
Newbie
Newbie

Joined: 29 Jan 10
Posts: 29

Posted: 26 Jun 12 at 3:01AM

To Dave (from another end user)
I don't think I've seen any of the e-mail updates either, but I'm not at all worried: news of updates (and sometimes a hint of advance notice) usually appears on these forums (fora?), so I tend to keep an eye on them & I would recommend it: you never know what useful snippets you might pick up or learn (and now that the spam has been reduced here, the forums are back to their old useful selves!).
Allan

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Using PDF reDirect
EXP Systems Forum : PDF reDirect : Using PDF reDirect

Author	Message
spider Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 12 Location: United States Posts: 4	Topic: multiple problems with PDF reDirect Posted: 21 Jun 12 at 12:35PM
	It has been awhile since I last used PDF reDirect, but w/one annoying exception, it had worked fine. I just tried using it again and it kept complaining about the files I wanted to work on being busy/inuse. I figured I might as well update to the latest version, just in case some OS update broke it or some misc file corruption took place. Things only went down hill from there: Each time I launched the program, I now get a "Network Discovery is Turned Off..." warning message. Some experimenting proved this is just a new manifestation of a LONG standing problem... your software is incompatible with having the preferences point to My Documents... at least when that is redirected to a network share... which is COMMON in a business environment (I even use it at home to keep laptop and desktop MyDocs in sync). I almost never run into software that has such a problem. I'm surprised that you have it in the first place... much less that you haven't fixed it by now. New problem... now PDF reDirect essentially doesn't work at all... at least for what I originally acquired it for... which was the ability to extract/delete pages from a PDF. I am at a university TV station and I like to make equipment manuals available to students... but without the chapters involving stuff they shouldn't be messing with. I just got an updated manual with 284 pages and I wanted to delete page 229-284. Each time I try to do that... I get a warning message "There was a problem with some of the page numbers provided. Either they exceed the maximum (1), ...". Huh? Maximum of ONE page? Apparently related to above... if I try to accomplish similar ends using "extract"... it completes without an error message... but I end up with a ONE page long document instead of a 228 page document. I can live with #1, though it is inconvenient. But #2 and #3 above are clearly deal breakers. Please enlighten me on how to get this fixed. I tried doing a reboot, followed immediately by terminating all applications in the system tray, and suspending the anti-malware program, and a re-install (over top of existing), followed immediately by a reboot. But still same problems. Dave
	IP Logged

Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 21 Jun 12 at 9:13PM
	Hello Dave, Thanks for the feedback. Obviously, what you are experiencing is not satisfactory, but hopefully we can address these issues. The redirection is taking me by surprise as I have my own "My Documents" redirected to a sub-folder on my (remote) server. This is maybe something that I can help you troubleshoot, or at least we can compare notes on how we did the redirection. Specifically: I use Windows 7 (64 bit) Library\Documents >> Right-Click >> Deleted default location and added my server folder path (\\Exp-server\Michel_K17). I also have a Windows XP machine - which does not have libraries. On that machine, I redirected the "My Documents" folder by Right-clicking >> Properties >> Target is set to \\Exp-server\Michel_K17. That works well for me too. Can you let me know how you setup your PC? In regards to #2 and #3, the delete and extract feature may fail on PDF files generated by other PDF creators. In particular, some Xerox, Canon and one HP scanner in particular produce malformed PDF files with errors in the object tree. You are right that PDF reDirect does not fail gacefully, but for the next version, I have added code that works around these problems. For your files, you have a couple of solutions - which involves re-processing your PDF file through PDF reDirect - after which you will be able to delete pages at will. Here are the instructions: Method #1 1. Open your PDF in Adobe's PDF Reader 2. Select to print, and choose to print to the PDF reDirect printer. 3. Save the created file to a new name. You will be able to delete/extract pages from that file. Method #2 (requires Pro version) 1. Open PDF reDirect Pro 2. Click the PDF once so that it appears in the Preview box (lower RHS). 3. Click the small printer icon in the Preview header: this will use the built-in “print” feature to print the scans back to PDF reDirect Pro. 4. The recreated PDF file will appear in the Merge list 5. Save the created file to a new name. You will be able to delete/extract pages from that file. I hope the above helps for the situation you described. Please let me know if the "My Documents" problem does not get resolved: we can try a couple more things. Also, can you confirm that you are using v2.5.2? (number is shown right above the "save" button). Kindest regards,
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
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spider Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 12 Location: United States Posts: 4	Posted: 22 Jun 12 at 12:18PM
	1. This is a business situation... and at least with businesses wedded to the Microsoft way of doing things, redirection is handled by "group policy"... which is assigned to either individual user accounts or more generally to the "organizational unit" that users are a member of. As far as I know, there is no functional difference from software application point-of-view than simply doing what you describe (which is what I do at home). But I haven't had reason to look into that so I may be wrong. What I know is IF I look at the "location" field for My Documents, I'll see nbsp; That reflects a couple things different about the scenario you describe. For one... it isn't pointed at a specific server... we use Distributed File System (the "Microsoft way" of doing things) to have multiple servers (one at each physical site) synchronized with each other. The OS knows that s the name of one of these "DFS shares" and automatically connects me to the closest available server. If the one in my office goes down, it connects me automatically to its counterpart elsewhere in the state. Another possible issue is the "somedocs$" folder on that share is an "invisible" share by virtue of the $. That is just a "security by obscurity" precaution... I do it at home as well so people "browsing" the network won't see a share I don't want them to. I don't know how your software accesses files "under the hood"... presumably if it was using standard OS "hooks", it wouldn't have a problem with any of the above. But in any event, if I was to guess, I wonder about the hidden share ($) issue as having more potential for problem than the DFS share which hopefully your software can remain blissfully ignorant of. In any event, that is also something you can quickly and easily test by renaming your Michel_K17 share to Michel_K17$ 2. I wondered about it being a file compatibility issue, but hadn't taken the time to explore that anymore. The file is from the same source as I had edited successfully with PDF reDirect before, but they may have changed or "upgraded" their software, so who knows. I prefer to avoid the approach that you mention because it tends to increase the file size and sometimes cost resolution, but I have used it before. In this case, I tried doing as you suggested with PDF reDirect Pro, but it ran into the same basic problem "printing" to the reDirect Pro printer driver... ended up with a single page. So I used a CutePDF printer driver to generate the new file, and was then able to successfully extract/delete pages with reDirect Pro. So it sounds like reDirectPro didn't like something about the file that other programs are OK with. If it would help, I could email you the file so you could tweak your software to be more forgiving. Thanks for the help. Good luck figuring out #1.... Dave
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 23 Jun 12 at 3:35PM
	Hi, Quick update... In regards to #1, I did the following: I logged into the server, Turned on the DFS service, then I created a Folder which I set at the DFS Root I dropped a handful of PDF files in there. Then, I went back to my user machine I remapped the "Documents" library to the DFS Root as the only target. Started PDF reDirect Pro I was able to access the PDF files that I dropped in there. I was able to create new PDF files and save them to sub-folders of DFS Root. Note: v252 would only save to sub-folders. When saving at the root level, I was getting a Path Error 76. v254 (internal version still in work, not yet released) was able to save to sub-folders as well as to the root level. 2. I tried adding a $ to the end of my shared folder. v252 did not work because the folder was not visible in the Documents library. I had to type: "\\EXP-SERVER\Michel_K17$" in the filename box to cause the shared folder to appear in the "Networks" area of the folder list, and only then was I able to save. v254 (again, my "in work" version) worked fine. No problems. I could access it from the Documents library. 3. In regards to your point #2, the delete/extract errors - I have confirmed that my new v254 handles the malformed PDF files gracefully. Therefore the CutePDF kludge will no longer be required once that new version is out. So, in summary, it looks like my new version is a solid step forward. I keep adding more and more features (I get a lot of requests), but I think I will wrapup what I have on the go right now, and release this v254 as quickly as I can to resolve the issues you have highlighted. No exact date yet (I'm in the middle of something somewhat large), but it should be no more than a couple of months. I hope that helps. Thanks for your post.
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
	IP Logged

spider Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 12 Location: United States Posts: 4	Posted: 24 Jun 12 at 2:34PM
	Sounds like you are on the right track. I'll look forward to seeing v254. Is there a way to get an automatic notification when it is released?
	IP Logged

Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 24 Jun 12 at 10:18PM
	Hi Spider, Sure! Just sign up for notification to this post here: http://www.exp-systems.com/Forum_exp/forum_posts.asp?TID=603 I do not post a new message, I just edit the existing one. If you toggle "on" the e-mail notification, you will received an e-mail. Also, if you purchased PDF reDirect Pro, you will get an e-mail notification of the release of the new version. Cheers! Michel
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
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spider Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 12 Location: United States Posts: 4	Posted: 25 Jun 12 at 11:08AM
	I toggled the email notification for the post you mentioned. BTW, I DID purchase reDirect Pro... quite some time ago... but I don't recall ever getting any email notifications about updates. It was registered as "Idaho Public Television". Dave
	IP Logged

Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 25 Jun 12 at 9:11PM
	OK, thanks! Generally, I only send notification e-mails up to a maximum of once a year, and for major updates only. Since your purchase goes back to 2005, I would think you would have received a couple of the newsletters I sent since then. I have confirmed that you are on the distribution list. Maybe the e-mail went to the spam folder? Kindest regards,
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
	IP Logged

yorkshire_lad Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 10 Posts: 29	Posted: 26 Jun 12 at 3:01AM
	To Dave (from another end user) I don't think I've seen any of the e-mail updates either, but I'm not at all worried: news of updates (and sometimes a hint of advance notice) usually appears on these forums (fora?), so I tend to keep an eye on them & I would recommend it: you never know what useful snippets you might pick up or learn (and now that the spam has been reduced here, the forums are back to their old useful selves!). Allan
	IP Logged