The Switchboard: easy-to-use Actions

The Switchboard is the first window you should explore in pdfToolbox Desktop. pdfToolbox offers a number of predefined Actions. Many of these Actions are quickly accessible from the Switchboard. They facilitate the use of frequently used processes such as imposition or color conversions. Because they are easy to use, they are limited in the way they can be configured.

Actions started as items on the Switchboard, but over the years they have migrated to different parts of pdfToolbox. For more information on where to find actions in pdfToolbox and an overview of all available actions, please refer to the chapter Actions and their use in callas' products.

If you want to perform more complex and customizable tasks with pdfToolbox, you should use a Fixup, Profile or Process Plan. See the next article for more information.

The Switchboard window

To open the Switchboard if it is not visible, use the "Tools" > "Switchboard" menu item or click on the Switchboard icon which is located on the left side panel  of the main window.

The following section briefly describes how to get to a particular action.

  1. The left screenshot shows the Switchboard main window with the available functionality groups.
  2. Clicking on a specific group icon will display all actions related to that group.
  3. Depending on the Action you have selected, options may appear in the Switchboard window; use them to configure exactly how you want the action to be performed.
  4. The "Execute" button can be used to perform the Switchboard action on the currently displayed PDF document.
  5. The "Batch" mode allows you to process multiple PDF documents in a folder.

Batch Processing

pdfToolbox Desktop can do more than just checking or fixing one file at a time; the Batch Processing mode allows it to process multiple PDF documents within a folder. The Switchboard allows you to apply any action to all PDF files in a given folder.

The Batch function in pdfToolbox can process up to 100 documents at a time. For a high volume approach using hot folders, pdfToolbox Server is recommended.

  1. Select the desired action
  2. Apply the desired settings.
  3. Click on the Batch option to specify additional batch processing settings.
  1. Select the folder containing the PDF files you want to process.
  2. Under "2 Process Batch", the processing progress will be displayed.
  3. Click on the "Start" button to start the batch processing.

Result after batch processing

Depending on the processing results, the files are then saved either to a folder with successful (Success - 1) or unsuccessful (Failure - 2) results.

These are located in a folder named with the timestamp - 3 for the processing point which will be automatically shown after processing is complete.