pdfToolbox SDK

pdfToolbox SDK is a software development kit that allows for a thorough integration of the pdfToolbox functionality in the closest possible way inside your own application.

callas pdfToolbox SDK offers a comprehensive interface and sample code for thorough integration of pdfToolbox technology into your own solution. It gives in-depth access for analysis and manipulation of the PDF and embedded formats such as fonts, metadata, color profiles, image compression and more. With C/C++ as its primary programming language it also offers APIs for other development and deployment environments - such as .NET or JAVA.

Close integration

pdfToolbox SDK is a software development kit that allows for integration of the pdfToolbox functionality in the closest possible way inside your own application. Because pdfToolbox SDK doesn’t rely on command-line or hot folder integration, it provides seamless development integration with the highest level of control for the parent application.

Supported environments

pdfToolbox SDK provides a native C library that provides easy integration in C code or – through included header files – in C++ projects. Additional wrappers cater for .NET or Java environments. pdfToolbox SDK is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX making it an extremely flexible way to integrate the pdfToolbox functionality.

Jumpstarting your development

pdfToolbox SDK comes with developer documentation but also with a number of extensive samples to show off the broad feature set of the SDK and to get you started in your development project. These samples are of course not production code, but they provide a jump-start for your developers that will facilitate quick integration of the SDK.

Great ROI with proven quality and reliability

Building on pdfToolbox SDK gives you immediate access to all of the quality control and PDF manipulation possibilities of pdfToolbox, embedded in your application. callas software keeps close tabs on existing and emerging PDF standards and makes sure your applications remain up-to-date. This allows customers to concentrate on their own strengths while using a reliably, easily customizable library to take care of their PDF requirements.

The speed, quality and reliability of the pdfToolbox engine are undisputed; more than 60 OEM customers use the SDK worldwide; amongst those many well-known names such as Adobe, Foxit, Mitsubishi, Quark, Xerox. The list is a testament to the quality of pdfToolbox SDK and to the professional way in which callas software supports its customers.

Quality control and PDF manipulation

Of course pdfToolbox SDK is capable of running any pdfToolbox Desktop preflight profile on PDF files. During that process it provides a number of configurable options and allows generating any number of preflight reports. This makes it possible to perform a preflight and get for example a PDF report with annotations, a customizable PDF report generated from an HTML template and an XML report containing information that can be processed by a further automated process.

But next to preflight profiles, pdfToolbox SDK can also be used to perform a long list of other tasks on PDF files:

• Various simple and more complex imposition tasks
• Splitting and merging PDF files, duplicating pages
• Creating PostScript and EPS files
• Converting from office documents, images and PostScript/EPS to PDF
• Saving images for each page in a PDF
• Extracting content (text) and images from a PDF
• Comparing two PDF files
• Securing a PDF file with a password
• …

pdfToolbox SDK versus pdfToolbox CLI

Because callas provides two integration solutions for the pdfToolbox engine - pdfToolbox CLI and pdfToolbox SDK – the question comes up which of the two would be the ideal for your workflow. In general the differences between the two solutions are minimal and in the end much will depend on your integration resources and your familiarity with command-line or library integration. Some of the important differences are:

• pdfToolbox SDK provides a complete set of callback functions to let you control PDF processing as it takes place. This provides a closer integration than possible with pdfToolbox CLI which relies on return codes and information through stdout and XML reports.
• Both solutions fully support parallel processing: pdfToolbox CLI through parallel processes (organized by the operating system) and pdfToolbox SDK through parallel threads (through the use of a special extension package bundled with every library).
• Variables to customize quality control and PDF fixing are supported by pdfToolbox CLI and pdfToolbox SDK alike. Additionally pdfToolbox SDK has possibilities to manipulate preflight profiles (allowing to duplicate, merge or modify preflight profiles in code).
• If your application already integrates with the Adobe PDF Library, pdfToolbox SDK offers the additional benefit of allowing you to open PDF documents with the Adobe PDF Library and then manipulating them with pdfToolbox SDK. This sort of cooperation is not possible with pdfToolbox CLI.

pdfToolbox for OEM customers

pdfToolbox is used by many OEM customers worldwide; they integrate pdfToolbox technology into their own workflows to accept PDFs that are being uploaded in a web application, to aggregate or impose, to soft proof print material, to let users view and modify PDF files and much more. For more information click here.

Pricing

If you are interested in pdfToolbox SDK, let us know and we'll make you a quote.

System requirements

Close integration

• C library for easy integration in C project or C++ headers (through custom headers)
• Easy support for .Net and Java projects through custom wrappers
• Full set of callback functions to take close control of processing
• Parallel processing through multi-threaded library
• Perform preflight by running any pdfToolbox profile or process plan
• Generate an unlimited amount of preflight reports from a single preflight
• Duplicate, merge and modify preflight profiles in code
• Combine usage of Adobe PDF Library and pdfToolbox SDK
• Available on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX

More than preflight – PDF actions

• Convert office documents, images and PostScript / EPS files into good PDF documents with simple drag-and-drop
• Save images for each page of a PDF documents (can be used to generate preview images or high resolution TIFF files for production)
• Generate PostScript or EPS files from PDF documents
• Perform simple impositioning tasks (creating a booklet, doing a step-and-repeat…) or create complete impositioning templates
• Prepare professional looking handouts and presentations for on-screen and printed delivery
• Scale, move, extend, rotate and flip pages and content
• Change page size to what is visible on the page
• Add printer marks based on the trim and bleed-box
• Detect printer marks in PDF documents and fix the trim and bleed-box accordingly
• Flatten transparency to support older workflows / devices
• Work with PDF documents containing layers (option content)
• Embed and/or subset fonts, outline fonts if necessary
• Change image compression
• Sharpen images in your PDF documents

The best and most complete PDF quality control on the planet

• Full support for all ISO PDF standards: PDF/X, PDF/A, PDF/VT and PDF/E
• Full support for specifications from industry associations such as the Ghent Workgroup and PDF/X-Ready
• Reporting of problems through different types of predefined PDF reports
• Customizable PDF reports based on HTML templates for maximum adjustment to your brand and users (including easy adaptation of colors, layout, icons and logos and textual content)
• Integrated fixes allows quickest handling of PDF documents
• Secured fixing by using PDF comparison technology; easily identify when a fix causes visual differences
• Build process plans: customizable lists of fixes that can be executed on PDF documents conditionally
• Fix broken documents by re-distilling (generating PostScript and distilling back into PDF) or by rasterizing each page

Customize quality control and fixing

• Insert variables into checks or fixes
• Modify values for variables in each job
• Decide on the fly whether checks or fixes need to be run for a specific document

Professional color management without the hassle

• Convert PDF documents using ICC profiles; wizard takes the guessing out of the job
• Use your DeviceLink profiles for color conversion, TAC reduction or ink saving
• Use DeviceLink pack for smooth CMYK to CMYK conversion
• Convert all spot colors to CMYK
• Modify individual spot colors in a PDF document (change names, modify alternate color space and values, remap to another spot color or process color or convert to CMYK)
• Quickly convert PDF documents to RGB or gray (with dot-gain compensation)

Benefits

Closest possible integration in your environment

• Real SDK (software development kit) – integration using libraries
• Control processing as it takes place through a complete set of callback functions
• Parallel processing through multi-threaded library
• Duplicate, merge and modify preflight profiles in code
• Combine usage of Adobe PDF Library and pdfToolbox SDK
• Native C library
• Support for C++ environments through headers, .NET and Java through custom wrappers
• Available on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX

Quick development

• Easy-to-use SDK with full documentation
• Extensive samples to showcase broad pdfToolbox SDK feature set

Great ROI with proven quality and reliability

• Immediate access to all quality control and PDF manipulation possibilities in pdfToolbox, embedded in your application
• Don’t worry about supporting evolving and emerging PDF standards; pdfToolbox provides regular updates
• Built on the Adobe PDF Library and Adobe technology to provide conversion from and to PostScript / EPS, transparency flattening and more
• Used by a multitude of OEM customers such as Adobe, Foxit, Mitsubishi, Quark, Xerox

pdfToolbox offers powerful, dynamic and easy to integrate PDF processing, from quick visual inspection and fixing to fully unattended processing of thousands of files. Using rock-solid Adobe technology pdfToolbox provides checking and fixing of even very complex problems, color management, impositioning, conversion to and from PDF and more. pdfToolbox technology is used by small companies, large publishers and print providers as well as OEMs that integrate the technology in their own solution.

Contact

Downloads

• Folder pdfToolbox 10_EN-LR
• Brochure pdfToolbox 10_EN-LR

Version history

Showing the 5 most recent of 54 releases.

15.1.639

• Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK
  

Features

• Based on pdfToolbox 15.1.639 and pdfaPilot 13.1.385 (new features and fixes)
• PTB_MergePDF2: added flags (to handle different aspects like optimized or no optimized saving) into the C-API [CA1033271]

15.2.646

• Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK
  

Features

• Based on pdfToolbox 15.2.646 and pdfaPilot 13.2.388 (new features and fixes)
• Added PTB_ExtractDieline2 with Variable support [CA1033713]

Fixes

• Problem solved where Variables were unnecessarily evaluated twice [CA1033767]
• Problem solved where CF2 to PDF failed [CA1033672]

15.2.646.1

• Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK

Fixes

• Based on pdfToolbox 15.2.646.1 and pdfaPilot 13.2.388.1

16.0.657

• Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK

Features

• Based on pdfToolbox 16.0.656 and pdfaPilot 14.0.392 (new features and fixes)

Fixes

• Based on pdfToolbox 16.0.657
• Problem solved where regular expression error message was not provided using process plans [CA1033344]
• Problem solved where cloud-based License Server could not be used with Java API [CA1034013]

APDFL version

| Win || Mac || Linux |

| 32bit | 64bit | x86_64 | arm64 | 64bit |

| 18.0.5PlusP1g || 18.0.5PlusP1g || 18.0.5PlusP1g |

16.1.662

• Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK

Features

• Based on pdfToolbox 16.1.662, pdfToolbox 16.1.661 and pdfaPilot 14.1.396 (new features and fixes)
• Updated DotNetCore sample to .NetCore 8.0 LTS as default

Fixes

• Problem solved where relative path not handled correctly in a process plan with QuickCheck step [CA1034470]
• Problem solved where email conversion fails with PTB_eerrCancel if PTB_eEmailOnErrorAbort is used [CA1034635]
• Problem solved where PTB_epfBarcodePreview fails with PTB_eerrProcessCommunication [CA1034381]