FolderMill 4.7: New Formats, Features for CAD and Zebra ZPL files, and More

We have released an update for one of our flagship software solutions – FolderMill. The version 4.7 release is mostly about improvements for ZPL, CAD filetypes, and fixing bugs. Don't miss this update though, because we've improved the processing core, extended many features, and improved overall performance.

Ability to send ZPL or text files directly to a printer via Generic Text Printer Driver

There's a great new feature for those who print ZPL files created in a text editor – shipping labels, barcodes or packing slips. If you print barcode labels using a special printer, such as Zebra ZPL printer, FolderMill can now auto print .zpl or .txt files directly to the device.

You can print any text files directly to your printing device using the Generic Text Printer Driver. This way, a file will be sent to the printing device as a stream of raw bytes. 

Once your Generic / Text Only printer setup is done, simply create a Hot Folder in FolderMill, add Print document Action, select the printer that was created, and off you go. Now files can be dropped to the Hot Folder and automatically printed in real-time.

Ability to rotate ZPL files to a certain degree

If you use FolderMill to convert Zebra ZPL to PDF or image format or print them, this feature might be interesting for you. There's a new ability to rotate incoming ZPL files to a certain degree (e.g., 90). This feature is not in the interface yet but is available by request.

Ability to configure proxy settings for ZPL to PDF conversion

Another issue related to ZPL processing is no longer a problem. Now, if you get a message like "Proxy Authentication Required", you can solve this issue by entering proxy settings in FolderMill. 

Ability to set a specific page range for Add text or file watermark Action

We've extended the functionality of our Add text or file watermark Action. Now you can set a particular page range and select which pages your watermark should be applied to.

This feature works both for image and text watermarks.

Compatibility with eDrawings Viewer 2020

The latest FolderMill is compatible with the latest eDrawings Viewer. The latter is a free application for viewing various CAD files. Installing this program will help FolderMill to bulk process eDrawings and SolidWorks drawings (SLDASM, SLDDRW, SLDPRT, and more).

Using SHX fonts for CAD files

If you regularly convert CAD drawings to PDF, FolderMill will now try using SHX fonts (if they are contained within your drawings) – the new TryUseSHXFonts parameter is enabled by default. 

New filetypes supported: DICOM, P7M, Outlook PST, OST

Here are the recently added supported file formats in FolderMill 4.7.

Medical imaging format: DICOM 

For our customers involved with the healthcare industry, we added the support of DICOM (.dcm, .dic) format to FolderMill. 

FolderMill 4.7 can both print and convert DICOM images. Now files of this format can be automatically printed as a physical copy or converted into commonly used PDF, TIFF, or JPEG formats if necessary. 

Email formats: Outlook Data File (.pst), Offline Outlook Data File (.ost), P7M (smime.p7m)

We've added the ability to auto convert Microsoft Outlook PST and OST files:

• Microsoft Outlook .pst files 2000 / 2003 / 2007 / 2010 / 2013 / 2016 / 2019
• Microsoft Outlook .ost files 2000 / 2003 / 2007 / 2010

These files contain Outlook messages and other items that can be saved as separate files, for example, to keep full correspondence history. So now you can automatically turn PST to PDF or images even without Outlook.

The new FolderMill also supports P7M file types, usually used to keep confidential or sensitive data. They are encrypted email messages with contents and attachments. P7M files typically look like "smime.ps7m" attachment to the email.

FolderMill 4.7 can convert PST, OST, P7M files to the PDF format. 

Improved naming of attachments

When converting multiple files with attachments to PDF, you may need to make sure that the output attachments are easy to find. We changed the naming by default so that the container file's name is always inserted at the beginning of the attachment's filename: [file name].[attachment name]

This way, attachments can be easily indexed after processing. This applies to MSG, EML files with attachments.

Reduced margins when printing plain text files

In FolderMill 4.7, we made default text printing through the built-in ABC print engine (previously, Word API was used). Now TXT files are printed in a compact way with the smallest possible margins. 

Improved sorting of output files

We've improved the sorting of converted files at the stage when they appear in the Output folder so that now the resultant documents are arranged more accurately. Now they are sorted in alphanumeric order – the same way as Windows Explorer does it. 

Other improvements and fixes 

FolderMill has undergone many other minor improvements and fixes:

• Fixed importing of Hot Folder Settings from older versions. We always suggest our users creating backups of FolderMill settings from time to time. And from our side, we try to make sure that importing previously saved settings is never a headache.
• Fixed an error when the application could crash in multi-processing mode. We fixed a major issue that could unexpectedly lead to crash in multi-processing mode.
• Improved detection of Microsoft Word and Solidworks. Now FolderMill detects more quickly and accurately that these applications are installed in your system.
• Improved logging. We optimized the structure of logs, and the overall log size has been significantly reduced.
• Improved file conversion to PDF/A. We optimized conversion of your files into PDF/A documents.
• Improved HTML files font processing. We enhanced our Chromium engine to process HTML files better. Besides, there are ways to control font size (ask our support team if you want to adjust it )
• Improved PDF, EML, MSG attachments processing. We've improved the overall quality of processing of various file attachments.