Convert to PDF Action

FolderMill helps you streamline file conversion using pre-defined rules in the Convert to PDF Action. The software easily converts Office documents, text files, CAD drawings, images, Excel sheets, barcodes, labels, and many other file types to PDF. This article provides a description of the Convert to PDF Action and its features.

Convert to PDF Action Settings

The Convert to PDF Action allows you to convert your files into PDF format. These are available general settings:

Overwrite existing file: When enabled, replaces the file in the Output folder if a file with the same name already exists.

Multipage: Multipage mode offers four options:

Append to… and Insert before existing PDF file options can help you create a combined multipage PDF out of several various files all merged into one.

PDF standard: Regular, PDF/A, Password-protected 

Make PDF searchable (OCR): A searchable PDF is a document that contains both the original scanned image of a page and an invisible layer of text that can be searched, selected, and copied.

How to create searchable PDFs (OCR)

FolderMill can recognize text in the source files and keep it in the output PDF files. To enable OCR processing in FolderMill, please download and install an additional OCR package.  

Under the Make PDF searchable (OCR) option, select OCR languages. These should match the languages present in your source documents. We recommend only selecting the language that your source files are written in.

If you have Adobe Acrobat installed, you can try switching the OCR engine from Tesseract to Acrobat in the Advanced settings for better OCR results.

Advanced Settings

To access Advanced Settings, click the corresponding button in the Action window.

Managing attachments processing

There are several settings that allow controlling the processing of attachments. 

Convert attachments: Ignore, Separate, Combine (attachments after main doc), Combine (attachments before main doc), Convert attachments only

Option	Effect
Ignore	Skip attachment(s) and convert only the main document
Separate	Save each attachment and the main document as separate files
Combine (attachments after main doc)	Convert the main document and append its attachment(s) after it
Convert attachments only	Skip the main document and process only attachment(s)
Combine (attachments before main doc)	Convert the main document and prepend its attachment(s) at the beginning

Sort attachments: Sorting output attachments alphabetically or using other parameters like date, type, size, and more

Attachments of unknown types action: choose how to handle attachments if the attachment is "unknown" (file's format is not in FolderMill's list of supported formats): Ignore, Replace with placeholder, or Try to process

Attachments placeholder template: Configure placeholder(s) that should be inserted instead of unknown attachments (refer to the previous setting). Attachments will be replaced with a blank-page file with the original filename (Filename) by default. You can choose your own file (-Browse for file-) or create a custom template (-Open Placeholder designer-) as an alternative.

Include attachments by file mask: Use an expression that allows converting only certain attachments by mask. For example, type *.pdf to convert PDF attachments only. Or enter attachment.* to convert only files containing the word "attachment" in the filename. You can add one or several masks at the same time (each on a separate line).

Exclude attachments by file mask: Use an expression that restricts processing of certain attachments by mask. You can add one or several masks at the same time (each on a separate line). For example: *.docx

What to do with existing attachments: Choose an action if the input source file already has attachments: Ignore, Keep, Delete all

Document converting settings 

Page range: Set page range by selecting all pages or a specific page range.

To choose certain pages or a specific page range, type in the desired page numbers and/or ranges separated by commas. For example: 1,3,5-10,25. To select pages from the end of the document, use the syntax last (last1 for penultimate page, etc.). For example: last2,last1,last

Skip repeated pages: This feature helps you avoid converting the same page multiple times. For example, if you specified overlapping page ranges.

Save metadata: Save metadata from the source files such as EXIF, IPTC, XMP and keep it in the output files.

Save ICC profile: Save the ICC color profile in the output file if it exists in the source image file.

Grayscale: Set the color mode in the output file to grayscale (in shades of gray).

Convert engine(s): Enter the name(s) of the specific file conversion engines to change their priority. Do not modify this setting unless instructed by our customer service.

File loading settings 

The File loading settings section includes settings that control pre-processing, specifically what FolderMill does with the source files before converting them.

CAD

Worksheet name: Define which worksheets should be processed. You can set it to:

• *all* – convert all worksheets contained in a file
• *default* – convert the default (active) worksheet only
• My worksheet 1 – use the actual worksheet name to specify which sheets to convert

Split worksheets: Check this option to split multi-sheet CAD drawings into separate worksheets. As a result, each worksheet will be saved as a separate file.

"Model view" tab processing: Check whether you want to ignore the "Model view" tab, process only the "Model view" tab, or process all worksheet tabs.

Disable "Not to Plot" layers: Some layers have the "Plot" property turned off. However, by default, the program will process them like any other layer. Enable this option to ignore layers marked as "Not to plot".

Fonts to bold: Try making fonts bold to make the text look thicker.

Default line weight: Change how the lines should look on a processed CAD drawing. You can make them thinner or thicker by changing this value.

Display line weight: Modify lines' appearance.

• "Yes" means that the program uses line weights as in DWG or DXF drawing it processes;
• "No" means that the program uses the same standard thickness without applying any special size;
• "As in document" means that the program gets the line weight value from the DWG or DXF file header. 

Paper size limit: Set the maximum paper format (page size) for CAD drawings. You can select either a Standard or Custom page size in millimeters, centimeters, or inches.

Try to use SHX fonts: Use SHX fonts if they are contained in your drawings. Consider adding them if the text is too thin or hard to read. Set a path to a folder with SHX fonts if you have them (see the setting "SHX font folders"). 

Grayscale: Make CAD drawings grayscale (in shades of gray).

SHX font folders: Browse for folder(s) where SHX fonts are located, so that the program can use them. Use together with Try to use SHX fonts: Yes.

Page margins: Specify custom page margins for CAD drawings, in points: left, right, top, and bottom margin.

Email message

Page size: Set page size for email files, such as EML, MSG, OST, PST, P7M. You can select:

• Default – use the standard local paper size based on your computer's system locale; e.g., A4 in Europe and Letter in the U.S.;
• Standard – select a pre-defined format;
• Custom – set any width x height in millimeters, centimeters, or inches.

Page margins: Specify custom page margins for email message files, in points: left, right, top, and bottom margin.

Keep message header: When processing email message files (EML, MSG), you can choose whether to keep or disable the email header in the output files.

Visio

Pause after loading the file, in seconds: Adds a time delay before processing a Microsoft Visio document. Default: 3

Excel

Split worksheets: Split multi-sheet spreadsheets and create a separate file from each sheet. Default: No

Hide main window: Hide the main window of Excel (or Excel alternative) during the file conversion process. Default: Yes

Export scale mode: Scale mode defines page sizing and scaling of Excel sheets. Available options: 

• Original – keeps the original size of Excel sheets (default option)
• Fit – scales small pages up and shrinks large pages down to fit the output file page format

Worksheet names: Define which worksheets should be processed. You can set it to:

• *all* – convert all worksheets contained in a file (default option)
• *default* – convert the default (active) worksheet only
• My worksheet 1 – add actual worksheet names in the dropdown list

Keep headings: Enable or disable adding headings (row 1, 2, 3… and column numbers A, B, C…) to the output files. Default: No

Keep comments: Define how comments in Excel files should be processed: At the end of sheet, As displayed on sheet, Without comments. Default: At the end of sheet

Export page orientation: When saving an Excel file as PDF, you can set the page orientation to Portrait, Landscape, As in document, or As in printer.

Show gridlines: Display the lines between rows and columns to make the sheet easier to read. Default: No

CSV

Separator: Change the field separator (delimiter) when processing CSV files. Default: ;

Auto fit columns: Automatically make columns equal when processing CSV files. Default: Yes

PowerPoint

Slide layout: Select how many PowerPoint slides per page you want to arrange (this setting is similar to the one in PowerPoint: Handout Master → Slides Per Page).

• Output slides – keep the original slide layout ("as is")
• Output 2-slide handouts – place 2 slides per page
• Output 3-slide handouts – place 3 slides per page (with lines for taking notes)
• Output 6-slide handouts – place 6 slides per page
• Output notes pages – place 1 slide per page with outline
• Output outline – keep text from slides only
• Output 4-slide handouts – place 4 slides per page
• Output 9-slide handouts – place 9 slides per page
• Output 1-slide handouts – place 1 slide per page

HTML

Code page: Select character encoding for HTML files, e.g., Unicode or ASCII.

Page size: Set page size for HTML files. Available options:

• Default – use the standard local paper size based on your computer's system locale; e.g., A4 in Europe and Letter in the U.S.;
• Standard – select a pre-defined format;
• Custom – set any width x height in millimeters, centimeters, or inches.

Page margins: Specify custom page margins for HTML files, in points. 

Zoom level: Scale up or down the size of HTML pages, in percent. 

Auto fit X: Set scaling by X-axis: None, Shink to fit, Scale to fit.

Auto fit Y: Set scaling by Y-axis: None, Shink to fit, Scale to fit.

Allow proprietary media formats: HTML files may contain multimedia files, such as videos, embedded within them. This setting enables the display of these files, allowing to show previews of videos. Disabling this setting may improve processing speed.

Raster images

Color profile action: Define what to do if the source image has an embedded or if you have an external color profile for it. By using the image's embedded or external color profile, you can achieve more accurate printing with the reproduction of actual colors. Here are the possible options:

• Ignore — do not use profiles, any color profile is ignored
• Apply embedded profile — use image's embedded color profile (if it exists)
• Apply external profile — use an ICC profile that can be specified via the ICC profile filepath setting
• Apply embedded profile (if it is not RGB) — use image's embedded profile if it's not RGB (may increase processing speed)

ICC profile filepath: Set path to an ICC file containing an external color profile. Use together with Color profile action: Apply external profile (see previous setting).

PDF

Draw annotations: Show or hide annotations and pop-up comments in PDF files. By default, they are displayed. 

Portfolio files pre-sorting: Enable sorting By index for PDF Portfolio attachments.

Image to PDF embedding

Load image as JPEG: When the program converts images (any image type except for JPEG), you have the option to set the image loading as JPEG. This usually reduces the output file size, resulting in faster processing speed.

JPEG quality: Set JPEG image quality within 25-100% when the Load image as JPEG setting is enabled.

TEXT

Code page: Select character encoding for plain text files, e.g., Unicode or ASCII.  

Font: Set font style, size, and character set. Default: "Consolas" 11

Line spacing: Define a custom spacing between lines of text, in points. Default: 0.15

Paper size: Select paper size (page format), e.g., A4 or Legal. Default: A4

• Standard – select a pre-defined format;
• Custom – set any width x height in millimeters, centimeters, or inches.

Page margins: Specify custom page margins for text files, in points: left, right, top, and bottom margin. Default: 10, 8, 10, 8

Word

Update fields: Automatically update dynamic fields in Microsoft Word files (e.g. [Date], [Time], [Name]). As a result, the up-to-date values of Microsoft Word's built-in dynamic fields will be displayed in the output documents after processing. Default: No

Hide revisions: Enable this setting to process Word documents with hidden revision marks (e.g., inserted and deleted text, formatting changes, moved paragraphs). Default: No

Skip comments: Enable this setting to disable Word document's comments if they were made inside a document. Default: No

Markup mode: Select Markup mode and which revisions should be kept:

• Balloon revisions
• Inline revisions
• Mixed revisions
• As is (default)

Keep bookmarks: Select bookmarks which should be displayed on a processed document:

• Without bookmarks
• Heading bookmarks
• In-text bookmarks (default)

Enable macros: Enable or disable macros when converting a macro-enabled Word document.

Downscale shapes to page size: Shrink large embedded images in Outlook EML, MSG, and Word files if they exceed the page size. Default: No

Mail merge: Enable the mail merge feature if you're converting a Word file with embedded data from an Excel file (if you have a Word document with data from Excel) (see next setting Mail merge data source). Default: No. Use this setting together with:

1. Settings → Advanced → File loading settings → Word → Update fields:Yes;
2. Settings → Print engine → AsposeWords engine selected for DOC, DOCX; 
3. Specified path to an Excel file for Mail merge data source (see the next setting). 

Mail merge data source: Set an Excel file as a source for mail merge data for the Mail merge function. Default: none

PCL

Lines per page: Set the number of lines per page. "-1" stands for the default value.

Detect .PLT file dimension: Detects PLT file format which is a vector-based plotter file that contains information for a certain CAD file. Default: Yes

ZPL

Dpmm: Set print density for ZPL files. We recommend choosing one of the following values:

• 6 dpmm (152 DPI);
• 8 dpmm (203 DPI) (default);
• 12 dpmm (300 DPI);
• 24 dpmm (600 DPI).

Width: Set width for ZPL files, in inches. Default: 4

Height: Set height for ZPL files, in inches. Default: 6

Proxy host: Configure ZPL proxy host settings. You can change it to the needed value. Default: none

Proxy port: Configure ZPL proxy port settings. You can change it to the needed value. Default: 0

Max labels per request: Configure the maximum number of labels per request. You can set any number as needed. Default: 30

Moving the combined document to a specified folder automatically

You can add a post-process action for multipage PDF files using the Post-process action for combined file setting. When used with the Multipage: Append to… or Insert before existing PDF file option, this automatically moves the document to a specified folder once it reaches a certain page count or file size.

Automatic removal of blank pages 

There is also an optional ability to automatically detect and remove blank pages from the incoming documents before converting. It is configured in the Advanced settings → Blank pages. Here you can also customize a minimal threshold to detect blank pages. This operation can be used with any Convert to… Action. 

Remove blank pages: Enable/disable automatic detection and removal of blank pages during processing.

Min pixels quantity threshold: Set the minimum number of pixels per page as a tolerance threshold to determine whether a page has colors other than white.

Min channels difference threshold: Set the minimal difference of R, G, and B channels' values as a tolerance threshold to determine whether a page has colors other than white.

Output PDF format

Minimize file size: Reduce the size of output PDF files. Enabling this feature can result in a compression level of approximately 30% (depending on the contents of the document). Default: No

Multipage: Set the multipage option to control the structure of the output PDF files:

• As in original file (default)
• Split into single pages
• Merge into one file

The Split into single pages option creates a separate file for each page, regardless of whether the source files are multi-page or single-page. The Merge into one file option combines all files from the source into one multipage document. 

If you choose the Merge into one file option, you can refer to the Combined file setting to specify the filename for the output PDF file.

If you choose Split into single pages option, you can refer to the Split multipage PDF by setting to change the "split step".

Page index to insert: When using Multipage: Merge into one file, the program adds new files to the end of an existing document. However, you can also add them to the beginning (0) or insert them somewhere in between the document (e.g., 5 – to place new files after page 5). The default value is "-1".

Combined file: Set filename of the resultant multipage output file when Multipage: Merge into one file option is used. Default name: "Combined.pdf"

Split multipage PDF by: Multipage PDFs, TIFFs, and other documents can be easily split into single pages. You can choose to split them into single pages by default or specify the desired number of pages per file. For example: Split multipage PDF by: 5 pages per file. This setting is used together with Multipage: Split into single pages. Default: 1 page(s) per file

File version: Select the version of the PDF format from the range of v13 - v17. Default: v13

PDF/A: Switch to PDF/A instead of a regular PDF.

PDF/A is a file format used for the long-term archiving of electronic documents. It is based on the PDF format but includes additional restrictions to ensure that the file can be reliably stored and retrieved in the future. Default: No

Text to curves: Convert text characters into curves. Enabling this setting may prevent editing of documents containing sensitive data (the resulting PDF will not be searchable). Default: No

Page creation width: Modify the width of PDF pages. "-1" stands for the default value.

Page creation height: Modify the height of PDF pages. "-1" stands for the default value.

Keep source file's bookmarks: Keep bookmarks if they are present in the source files. For example, if your Word files have bookmarks, the program will retain them when converting to PDF. Default: Yes

New file bookmarks title template: Use the filenames of source files as bookmarks. If you combine several files to a single PDF using Merge into one file option and want to create bookmarks using filenames of source files – you can do it using a special template. Customize the bookmarks using built-in macros by clicking the {=} button. Default: Yes