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 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, the File pick up step needs to be connected with a previous Process Plan step. To connect the steps, you have two options:

  • Select a corresponding sequence step in the dropdown menue on the right (1) (a blue dashed connection line will appear).
  • Drag a 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. Booklet (without cut marks): Prepares the PDF document for double sided printing.
  3. Image export (JPEG, 150 ppi): Exports the booklet as a low-resolution JPEG.
  4. File Pick up: Since the "File pick up" step is associated with the "Booklet" Action (as indicated by the blue dashed line), the current PDF file, which is a grayscale imposed booklet at this stage, will be replaced by the input PDF file before the booklet Action which will result in the input PDF file that was converted to grayscale.

Different return codes between pdfToolbox 14 and pdfToolbox 15

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 below:

The "File pick up" step is associated with the first sequence step of the Process Plan, which has the same effect as returning to the original PDF file from which the Process Plan was started.

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 if the modifications made to the PDF file within the process plan are not required as a final output. When this option is enabled and a process plan is executed, the "Do not save modified input file" option acts internally as a file pickup step that references the first step of the process plan. This means that if the checkbox is checked, pdfToolbox will always restore the original input file as a result.

Therefore 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.

For better understanding, here is an example based on the above process map:

1. "Do not save modified input file" is unchecked: Because of the File Pickup step at the end, the output PDF is converted to grayscale, but not imposed into a booklet.

2. "Do not save modified input file" is enabled: The original input file will be restored (the result will not be converted to grayscale or imposed into a booklet).