Introduction

The 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair tool is used to analyze, repair and restore the content of corrupt PDF documents.

Unfortunately, the number of corrupt PDF documents is incredibly huge. The cause is usually down to defective generating tools, converters and other influences such as attempts at manual editing, copying via FTP without correct settings, system crashes during PDF creation, network interruptions, defective copying on optical media, etc.

The result leads to an enormous loss of important information and to production downtimes caused by corrupt PDF documents.

The 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair analyzes PDF documents with regard to PDF specifications. Defective files are automatically repaired as far as possible and unreadable data is restored.

Brief Description

Performance Characteristics

• High sensitivity in corruption detection
• Comprehensive repair capabilities
• Restoration of available data from illegible documents
• High restoration speed
• Definition of customized repair profiles for different output documents

Areas of Use

• Incoming mail
• Outgoing mail
• Quality assurance
• Archiving

Functions

• Analyze and/or repair one or more PDF documents
• Set analysis options
• Set repair options
• Display error description for every message
• Write error messages to logfile
• Read encrypted PDF files
• Encrypt restored file and set user authorizations
• Set error level (warnings and information - API only)
• Set reporting level to determine which messages should be issued (errors, warnings, information) (API only)
• Differentiate between repair and restore

Sectors

• Public sector
• Automotive industry
• Telecommunications
• Banking and insurance
• Archives and libraries
• Health sector
• Pharmaceutical industry
  
  

Functions

PDF Analysis & Repair is used to check and, where indicated, repair PDF documents. Users can determine customized profiles from a broad range of analysis and repair options. An exact and detailed description is issued for each reported error. The tool is also capable of reading and processing encrypted PDF files without any problems.

Functions

• Analyze and/or repair one or more PDF documents
• Set analysis options, including:
  • Objects
  • Page tree
  • Content stream
• Set repair options, including:
  • Restore datastreams
  • Restore fonts
  • Restore XRef table
  • Restore pages
  • Restore images if pages cannot be restored
• Display error description for every message, including:
  • Type (errors, warnings, information)
  • Error code
  • Text-based description
  • Page number
  • Number of events

• Write error messages to logfile
• Read encrypted PDF files
• Encrypt restored file and set user authorizations
• Set error level to identify whether errors, warnings or merely information occur (API only)
• Set reporting level to determine which messages should be issued (errors, warnings, information) (API only)
• Differentiate between Repair (corrects the errors in the document) and Restore (recreates the document based on the remaining legible information)
  

Benefits

Properties and Benefits

On the one hand, 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair restores files that do not meet PDF specifications on account of systematic errors. This is often the case when poor-quality PDF generation software is used. On the other hand, it can extract elements such as pages and images from illegible PDF documents and insert them in a new document to restore at least some of the original content. Corruption in PDF documents is often caused by transmission or hardware problems.

The 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair tool guarantees the quality and legibility of PDF files in all business processes. The tool is characterized by its high speed and comprehensive mechanisms for analysis and repair.
 

Performance Characteristics

• High sensitivity in corruption detection
• Comprehensive repair capabilities
• Restoration of available data from illegible documents
• High restoration speed
• Definition of customized repair profiles for different output documents

Areas of Use

Incoming Mail

Incoming or scanned PDF documents received as mail are thoroughly analyzed and repaired on the basis of a customized profile. This process subjects PDF documents to a strict quality control check before they are released for use in document management systems, workflow or other business processes.

Outgoing Mail

It is also possible to use the PDF Analysis & Repair tool to apply quality controls to outgoing mail. Documents are checked in a print format such as PCL or PostScript prior to conversion to avoid rejects and idle time, thus increasing efficiency. It should be assured that recipients of PDF documents dispatched by email receive a legible and utilizable PDF document.

Areas of Use

• Incoming mail
• Outgoing mail
• Quality assurance
• Archiving

Archiving

The tool enables quality checks to be carried out prior to archiving. Defective PDF documents are selected and repaired in good time, or removed from the archiving process.

Sectors

• Public sector
• Telecommunications
• Banking and insurance
• Archives and libraries
• Health sector
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Document printing and processing services

Technical Details

Architecture and Application Options

The program is available in the following variants:

• as a Windows service with watched folders (Service)
• as a command line tool for batch processing (Shell)
• as a programming interface for integration in existing applications (Application Programming Interface, API)
• as a Windows desktop application with a simple GUI

Variants and Options

Product Variants

• Shell tool (command line)
• API (programming interface)
• Windows Service
• Windows desktop

Formats

Input Formats

• PDF 1.x (e.g. PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5, etc.), PDF/A

Target Formats

• PDF 1.x (e.g. PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5, etc.)

Compliance

• Standards: ISO 32000 (PDF 1.7)

Platforms

Operating Systems

• Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7 – 32 and 64 bit
• FreeBSD 4.7 for Intel
• HP-UX 11.0 – 32 bit
• IBM AIX (4.3: 32 Bit, 5.1: 64 bit)
• Linux (SuSE and Red Hat on Intel)
• Mac OS X
• Sun Solaris (2.7 and higher)

Interfaces and Languages

Interfaces

• Shell tool: Command line for batch processing
• API: C, Java, .NET, COM
• Service: Watched directories
• Desktop: Tool with a graphic interface

Programming Languages

• All program libraries are written in efficient and thread-safe C++. API offers a selection of the following connections to programming languages:
• C#, VB .NET, J# via .NET
• Java via JNI
• MS Visual Basic, Borland Delphi, MS Office products such as Access and C++ via COM
• C and C++ via native C

Product Code

REP

Further Product Details

The 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair API analyses and repairs PDF files. It can restore information from irreparably corrupt PDF files.

The 3-Heights™ PDF Analysis & Repair API analyzes PDF files with regard to PDF specifications. Corrupt files are either repaired or valid embedded images (including scanned pages) are restored.