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Dossier workflow

This workflow is specifically designed to compile multiple PDF documents into a single dossier. All PDF document supplied to the job are merged into a single PDF in the order that they were added to the job.

The workflow supports these features:

  • Title page with title, subtitle, and a custom background.
  • Extensively customizable table of contents.
  • Bookmarks to structure the dossier.
  • Stamps to create e.g. watermarks, header or footer lines.
  • Conversion to PDF/A (optional)

Supported file formats for Dossier workflow

This workflow only supports PDF files.

Add a title page

This workflow can be configured to create a title page for the dossier. The title page contains the title and subtitle of the dossier. The font, size, placement and alignment of the text is fully configurable.

Additionally, a PDF document can be configured to be used as a custom background of the title page. The title page can be customized for each job using the following options:

OptionRequiredDescription
DOSSIER-TITLEOptionalThe title of the dossier used on the title page.
This option overrides the value specified in the profile configuration. The option should only be set at job level and is ignored at document level.
DOSSIER-SUBTITLEOptionalThis option overrides the value specified in the profile configuration.
The option should only be set at job level and is ignored at document level.

Structure the dossier

The dossier can be structured by creating a table of contents and a document outline (bookmarks). By default, the title of each document is taken from its metadata.

If the title from the metadata is not suitable, it can be overriden by using the DOCUMENT-TITLE option.

OptionRequiredDescription
DOCUMENT-TITLEOptionalThe title of the document used for the table of contents, document outline, and stamp placeholder. It can be overridden by the DOCUMENT-OUTLINE-TITLE, DOCUMENT-TOC-TITLE, and DOCUMENT-STAMP-TITLE options.

If it is omitted and no other specific option is set, one of the following values is used instead (in order of precedence):
  • The document title from the document metadata.
  • The filename of the input document (without the extension).
This option should only be set at document level and cannot be configured in the profile configuration.

Create the document outline

The document outline, also called bookmarks, provides a way to quickly jump to a specific part of the dossier.

The Dossier workflow uses the existing outline tree of the input documents. Optionally, a parent bookmark can be created for each individual document.

The document outline can be customized for each job using the TOC-OUTLINE-TITLE option.

OptionRequiredDescription
DOCUMENT-TITLEOptionalThe name of bookmark created for the table of contents (if enabled).
If it is omitted, one of the following values is used instead (in order of precedence):
  • The value of the TOC-TITLE option.
  • The title of the table of contents configured in the profile.
TOC-OUTLINE-TITLE should only be set at job level and cannot be configured in the profile configuration.

The document outline can be further configured for each individual input document using the following options:

OptionRequiredDescription
ADD-DOCUMENT-OUTLINEOptionalDefines whether a bookmark is added to the document outline for the input document. This option can be set at the job level where it applies to all documents, or at the document level where it only applies to the specific document.
  • true (default): A new bookmark is added to the document outline for the input document. Existing bookmarks of the input document are preserved and added as children to the newly created bookmark.
  • false: The existing bookmarks of the input document are added directly to the top level of the document outline. This is useful e.g. for the following use cases:
    • Special input documents that don't represent a chapter in the output document, e.g. a cover sheet or table of contents.
    • Documents that already contain all necessary bookmarks
DOCUMENT-OUTLINE-TITLEOptionalThe name of the newly created bookmark (if enabled). If this option is omitted, one of the following values is used instead (in order of precedence):
  • The value of the DOCUMENT-TITLE option.
  • The document title from the document metadata.
  • The filename of the input document (without the extension).
This option should only be set at document level and cannot be configured in the profile configuration.

Create the table of contents

The automatically generated table of contents provides a great overview over the dossier.
The table of contents supports multiple individually configurable nesting levels by using the existing outline tree of the input documents. Optionally, an parent entry can be generated for each input document.

The table of contents can be customized for each job using the following option:

OptionRequiredDescription
TOC-TITLEOptionalThe title of the table of contents. This option overrides the value specified in the profile configuration. The option should only be set at job level and is ignored at document level.

The table of contents can be further configured for each individual input document using the following options:

OptionRequiredDescription
ADD-DOCUMENT-TOC-ITEMOptionalDefines whether an entry in the table of content is added for the input document. This option can be set at the job level where it applies to all documents, or at the document level where it only applies to the specific document.
  • true (default): entry in the table of contents is added for the input document. Existing bookmarks of the input document are added as sub-entries.
  • false: The existing bookmarks of the input document are added directly to the top level of the table of contents. This is useful e.g. for the following use cases:
    • Special input documents that don't represent a chapter in the output document, e.g. a cover sheet or table of contents.
    • Documents that already contain all necessary bookmarks
DOCUMENT-TOC-TITLEOptionalThe name of the entry for the document in the table of content (if enabled). If this option is omitted, one of the following values is used instead (in order of precedence):
  • The value of the option DOCUMENT-TITLE.
  • The document title from the document metadata.
  • The filename of the input document (without the extension).
This option should only be set at document level and cannot be configured in the profile configuration.

Add stamps

A general overview about stamps can be found in stamping. Stamps can be further customized for the Dossier workflow by using the following document options:

OptionRequiredDescription
DOCUMENT-STAMP-TITLEOptionalThe title of the document used for stamping, i.e. for the [input:DOCUMENT.TITLE] placeholder (if used). If this option is omitted, one of the following values is used as placeholder value instead (in order of precedence):
  • The value of the option DOCUMENT-TITLE.
  • The document title from the document metadata.
  • The filename of the input document (without the extension).
This option should only be set at document level and cannot be configured in the profile configuration.
CUSTOM.‹OPTION-NAME›OptionalOptions whose name starts with CUSTOM. define custom placeholder variables that can be used with the placeholder format [custom:‹OPTION-NAME›]. See Placeholders.

Example using the Dossier workflow

This example uses the shell client to create a dossier from a cover page and two chapters. For the second chapter, the name of the bookmark is explicitly overridden.

C:\Temp>pdfclient -v -w Dossier -do ADD-DOCUMENT-OUTLINE false ^
chapter-1.pdf -do DOCUMENT-OUTLINE-TITLE "Chapter 2: XYZ" chapter-2.pdf out.pdf
Creating job (id job1_5g5fkycbhhe)
Adding file ".\chapter-1.pdf" (id jgvmhpyquh0)
Adding file ".\chapter-2.pdf" (id 4ogify1xd31)
Output: "out.pdf"
- Info: Assembled PDF files 'chapter-1.pdf' and 'chapter-2.pdf' into dossier 'out.pdf'.