callas software releases major update of pdfToolbox

Berlin. callas software, market leader for automated PDF quality control and archival solutions, today releases a milestone update for its pdfToolbox product line: pdfToolbox 10. The new version takes a significant new step in preflight technology by making it possible to detect more problems, while making detection more accurate. It also makes pdfToolbox ready for cloud deployment and introduces additional capabilities for process plans (for step-by-step conditional processing of PDF files), preflight reports and more.

For the first time, pdfToolbox 10 introduces a preflight engine that has the capability to check the relationship between objects in a very flexible and broad fashion. Examples of where this technology can be used are the detection of bleed, checking whether objects are inside or outside an irregular die-line, determining whether black set on knock-out will really be a problem … "But that is not where it stops", comments Dietrich von Seggern, Managing Director at callas software. "One of the big challenges of preflight in automated workflows is avoiding false positives: files that are no problem in production, but are still flagged as problematic. Better detection possibilities in pdfToolbox 10 will dramatically reduce this problem and thus increase the productivity of automated workflows using it.

"This is a real game changer", adds David van Driessche, CTO at Four Pees, callas’ distribution partner. "Automation is crucial for companies to remain competitive, and pdfToolbox 10 enables better automation. pdfToolbox 10 provides deep analysis not just of single objects, but of objects in the context of all the other objects in the PDF. It required advances in computing power and clever mathematics to finally allow this to happen."

Sifter & Processing Steps

The technology that makes this possible is called "Sifter". It uses mathematical algorithms to determine what the relationship between objects is. Whether they overlap, intersect, are in close proximity … That technology forms the basis of a lot of the new capabilities in pdfToolbox 10.

One of the areas where Sifter is important, is in support for the new Processing Steps ISO standard. This standard around handling elements in files that are linked to non-printing steps in the workflow is important for the packaging, label and large format market segments, and pdfToolbox 10 provides complete support for it.

Even better preflight reports

pdfToolbox supports fully customizable preflight reports where both design and content of the report can be modified to fit a client’s needs. In pdfToolbox 10, that customizable report can be extended with a copy of the original document where the preflight errors are highlighted using masks with comments or layers. In pdfToolbox 10, it also becomes possible to translate preflight results in languages not supported in the software to provide alternative wording for items used in standard reports (simplified problem descriptions for example) and to generate reports in multiple languages from one preflight.

Process Plan power

Process Plans provide step-by-step execution of Profiles, Checks, Fixups and Actions on a PDF document, and they allow conditional processing where preflight Checks or variables influence what the next step is going to be. As Process Plans are used more and more often, and in more challenging scenarios, pdfToolbox 10 increases their capabilities.

It is now possible to call another Process Plan in a Process Plan, which makes it much easier to reuse processing logic. pdfToolbox 10 further allows to create a Process Plan which creates multiple output files: one could build a Process Plan that generates a production version and a proof version of an incoming PDF document for example.

Quick check

While Sifter enables pdfToolbox to be used for more challenging analysis of PDF documents, sometimes customers really only want simple answers. “Quick Check” functionality in pdfToolbox 10 caters to that; it provides basic information about a PDF in an extremely fast way.

Test mode

pdfToolbox allows creating extremely flexible Profiles and Process Plans. Sometimes this makes it hard to fine-tune them until they do exactly what you want. With pdfToolbox 10’s test mode, this is now a breeze. Test mode works on a copy of a PDF file, so you don’t risk ruining your test PDF file and it can be used directly from the Profile or Process Plan editor. This significantly speeds up the test cycle.

And much more …

pdfToolbox 10 also includes advances in other areas. It readies pdfToolbox for true cloud deployment, so that one can take advantage of the rapid resource up and down scaling of modern cloud services and for environments where processing needs vary greatly even in non-cloud implementations. It also makes extensive logging of preflight operations available if customers want to track processed files, common preflight problems and more. The preflight engine was upgraded to allow more complex preflight checks using Boolean logic (‘and’ and ‘or’) and optional content (‘layers’) is now fully supported in HTML templates used by the Place Content technology.

Availability & price

callas pdfToolbox 10 is available as of today:

• pdfToolbox Desktop for manual processing as a standalone application or a plug-in within Adobe Acrobat Pro, starts at € 499. An upgrade from pdfToolbox 9 costs € 199 and an upgrade from pdfToolbox 8 costs € 299.
• pdfToolbox Server, CLI and SDK for fully automated, hands-off processing and integration in other solutions start at € 3 999. Upgrades to pdfToolbox Server 10 are included in the maintenance agreement. Customers without an active maintenance agreement should contact callas software.

For further inquiries regarding availability, price, options or return on investment, please contact the callas software distribution partner Four Pees at sales@fourpees.com. A fully functional time-limited trial version can be downloaded from the callas website: https://www.callassoftware.com/en/support/downloads.

About callas software:
callas software finds simple ways to handle complex PDF challenges. As a technology innovator, callas software develops and markets PDF technology for publishing, print production, document exchange and document archiving. callas software was founded in 1995 and is based in Berlin, Germany. Media service providers, agencies, publishing companies and printers use callas pdfToolbox to preflight, correct and repurpose PDF files for print production and electronic publishing. Businesses and government agencies all over the world rely on callas pdfaPilot future-proof, fully PDF/A compliant archiving of PDF and Office documents. In addition, callas technology is available as a programming library (SDK) for developers with a need for PDF optimization, validation and correction. Software vendors such as Adobe, Foxit, Kodak, Quark, Xerox and many others have understood the quality and flexibility provided by these callas tools and have incorporated them into their solutions.callas software actively supports international standards and has been participating in ISO, CIP4, the European Color Initiative and the Ghent Workgroup. callas software is a founding member of the PDF Association.callas software is based in Berlin, Germany. For more information, visit the callas software website at: www.callassoftware.com.

Press Contact:
Four Pees
Justine Trio
T: +32 9 237 10 00
justine.trio@fourpees.com
www.fourpees.com