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Does Adobe offer a tool (similar to distiller) to create PDFs from Office docs from a watched dir?

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Level 2

Does Adobe offer a tool (similar to distiller) to create PDFs from MS Office docs (word, excel, powerpoint etc) from a watched folder.  i.e. no user input.  The PDF files are automatically created in an output directory.  The files can be copied into the watched folder (this will be done via a dos batch script that runs every 15 mins) and the PDFs will be automatically created in an output directory.  I am on Windows 2008 and I can purchase any adobe product that can do this (but it does have to be an Adobe product).

thanks

14 Replies

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Level 3

You're really going into the world of Adobe's server software, about which I know little, but I think it would be worth investigating the product LiveCycle PDF Generator.

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Level 2

thank you for your reply, and yes this would be looking for this to be server side.  I have had a quick look but it only appears to do work product flow, move a PDF from one person to another using email (particually centered around using adobe forms).

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Level 2

I know that there are tools available by other providers (quick Gooqle search "A-PDF") but I can only use Approved (by my company) vendors!  I was assuming Adobe would provide such a tool in their array of products, especially as they developed the PDF format.

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Level 3

Don't be misled into thinking that LiveCycle is one product, or mixing up the features of the different products. It is a marketing label for a number of quite different things (with similarities, perhaps coherent administration, and which are often combined). Many of the products work with forms but LiveCycle PDF Generator has nothing to do with them.

"The Adobe® LiveCycle® PDF Generator ES3 module enables you to automate the creation, assembly, distribution, and archival of PDF documents. ...  Key capabilities ... Convert industry-standard file formats to PDF."

http://www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/pdfgenerator/

No idea if it has watched folders, but that doesn't sound critical from your description.

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Level 2

[ moved to the LC PDF Generator forum where questions about LC's capabilities will be better answered ]

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Level 2

Thank you, I had only seen Lifecycle Designer, I did not know there was alot more to it.  I will have a look.

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Level 2

Well I am part way throught reading the online documentation and it looks like livecycle does a lot of things, but I still have no idea if it can do what I need it to do!  Namely sit on a server and monitor a number of directories, a number of MS office files (inc 2010) come in to a directory via an automated/manual copy process, and then convert them to PDF.

It would appear that Livecycle PDF Generator is a plugin or add on module to Livecycle Enterprise Suite that is in turn a web application that requires Weblogic (or the like).  Plus you also need acrobat X.  Is this correct?

My (what I thought was simple) task looks like it is going to cost in the £1000s rather than the £100s!  It really does appear to be a bit of an overkill.  Acrobat Distiller almost does what I require but unfortuneatly it only works with .ps files.  Is there really nothing simpler or have I misunderstood Livecycle PDF Generator?  Also there does not appear to be a trial version available, am I missing it or am I looking for something that is not there?

Thanks.

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Level 2

I have just started costing this model… for a basic quad core dual CPU server, the costs would be in the order of:

Oracle Weblogic - $9000 per CPU - $18000

Adobe Livecycle PDFG ES - $40000 per CPU (1CPU=2cores) - $160000

Adobe Acrobat Pro - $500

Total : $178500

Is this really the only way to do this?  Surly there must be a more viable option because I can see no way I can convince my FD to spend that much when a quick Google search presents tools for $50!  Granted we would have to accredit the software/company (est $20000 plus time) but that is still more than $150000 cheaper!

Does Adobe Acrobat Pro not allow you to convert files from the command line and I will write a batch script to do it?  Is there really nothing else?  Please can someone help.

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Level 2

A colleague has suggested that as a cheaper alternative I employ a school leaver for 5 years at a starting salary of $25000 with a 5% pay rise each year and an annual $2000 performance bonus. Their job would be to manually monitor the directory.  When I asked what about year 6? She replied; take the $30000 that is left and spend $50 on a tool that does this.

Please can someone help?

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Level 3

The license for Acrobat Pro absolutely does not allow it to be used on the server. You could argue that the pricing of LiveCycle PDF Generator is based on the idea that it replaces the sales of Acrobat Pro to each desktop with a server doing everyone's work.

The price difference between workstation and enterprise tools can be startling and this is part of the equation.

Only you will know if your enterprise wants to base its business on $50 software. I've noticed that many bosses will not trust anything that doesn't have a lot of zeroes at the end of the price... your milage may vary.

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Level 2

"The license for Acrobat Pro absolutely does not allow it to be used on the server" Really? I find that somewhat strange especially when Adobe's own documentation for Livecycle PDFG states that Acrobat Pro is required to be installed on the server if you want to be able to convert AutoCAD (DWG, DXF, and DWF) files. But if that is indeed that case may I suggest that you bring this to the attention of Adobe and every other company which has followed Adobes documentation. Your second point on the price difference between the workstation and the enterprise tools can indeed be substantial, but there is substantial and taking the proverbial!  Your third point on using software that cost ONLY $50...

WOW I actually bit!  This is completely beside the point. All I want is a tool that will do this and that doesn't cost an obscene amount of money. This is simply a small part of a much larger project. I really didn't think that this would be so hard! So I will ask again;

Is this the only offering that Adobe have? Is there no other way of doing it?

Also I would just like to say thank you very much for putting me onto this in the first place, as I am sure I would not have found it otherwise.

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Employee Advisor

Looks like Livecycle pdfg module fits your needs perfectly. You have also said that this conversion of office files is just a small piece in the overall project.

Why do'nt you consider Livecycle for the entire project.Livecycle is very powerful platform and most likely will satisfy our project needs

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Level 2

I have had a quick look at the license agreement for Acrobat and it does quite clearly states that you can have it on a server (but only under certain conditions) and that you cannot have it on a server running with batch scripts to do what I would like it to be able to do.

I will be looking into PDFG and what exactly is required and how it works.  I will also have to look to see what else Livecycle has to offer.

Thank you.

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Level 2

Well I have had a meeting with the Financial Director, the Project Managers and the team leaders to discuss the way forward.  Taking into account the Adobe Acrobat Licensing policy (see section 2.3), the cost of PDFG and third party alternatives it was decided that we will be employing some new.  Their primary task will be to manually create the PDFs, and make the tea.

Once again thank you for your help.