Process Plan step "File pick up"

The "File pick up" step within a Process Plan allows you to revert to a previous version of a PDF file that was used as input in a previous step. This replaces the current PDF file with the initial input PDF file from a specified previous step within the Process Plan. The purpose of the "File pick up" step is to rewind to a specific state of a PDF document as it existed at an earlier stage in the process.

How to insert a "File pick up" step into a Process Plan

Select the  "File pick up" sequence step from the right column (1) and drag it to the desired position in the Process Plan (when the connection line is blue, the step can be added). You can use this step multiple times in the same Process Plan.

To return to an earlier state of the PDF file, drag a line to a previous Process Plan step. To connect these two steps, drag the connection line from the upper left corner of the "File pick up" step (2) to the circle in the upper left corner of the corresponding Process Plan step (3).

This Process Plan illustrates how the “File pick up” works:

  1. Convert color to grayscale: The PDF document is converted to grayscale.
  2. Preview image 72 ppi: Creates a low-resolution preview image of the grayscale PDF.
  3. File Pick up: Since the "File pick up" step is associated with the "Convert color to grayscale" Fixup (as indicated by the blue dashed line), the current PDF file, which is in grayscale at this stage, will be replaced by the input PDF file before the grayscale color conversion. In this case, the first sequence step of the Process Plan has been selected for the file pick up, which has the same effect as returning to the original PDF file from which the Process Plan was started.

WARNING: Different return codes between pdfToolbox 14 and pdfToolbox 15!

Since pdfToolbox 15, the "File pick up" step not only restores the original file, but also the status at the selected pick-up time. This can lead to different return codes when using pdfToolbox 14 and pdfToolbox 15 on the CLI.

Example for the Process Plan shown above:
pdfToolbox 14: Return code on CLI after executing the Process Plan: 5 (No hit, Fixups have been executed)
pdfToolbox 15: Return code on CLI after executing the Process Plan : 0 (No hit, no Fixup executed)

Do not save modified input file

With pdfToolbox 15, a new checkbox has been introduced within Process Plans that allows you to bypass saving the modified input file. This checkbox is useful when the modifications made to the PDF file within the Process Plan are not required as a final output. When this checkbox is selected, pdfToolbox will execute the Process Plan without showing the "Save as" dialog.

It's important to enable this checkbox only when you are certain that you do not need to retain the results of the Process Plan.

In cases, where the first sequence step of the Process Plan has been selected for the file pick up (as in the Process Plan shown above), which restores the original file, saving the modified file becomes unnecessary. In such scenarios, activating the "Do not save modified input file" checkbox in the Process Plan parameters will suppress the "Save as" dialog.