The following document formats and file extension are currently supported by the Document Converter. For Office conversions, version 2007 or later is required. The 'options' mentioned are specified using either the CVTOPTS environment variable or $convert_options).
Document |
File Extensions |
Default Converter |
Other options |
|---|---|---|---|
Word |
DOC RTF DOCX ODT |
Word + Built-in Converter |
X - LibreOffice |
Excel |
XLS XLSX XLSM ODS |
Excel + Built-in Converter |
S - LibreOffice |
PowerPoint |
PPT PPTX ODP |
PowerPoint + Built-in Converter |
T - LibreOffice |
Adobe |
Built-in Converter |
A - Adobe + Print Driver |
|
Internet |
HTM HTML |
Built-in Converter |
I - Internet Explorer + Print Driver |
Image |
GIF JPG JPEG PNG |
Built-in Converter |
|
Non-Faxable TIF |
TIF |
Built-in Converter |
|
Notes
| Built-in Converter | This refers to a document converter which requires no external application (for other than Office conversions) and no print driver. This converter is used in four ways: |
| Direct | An input PDF document is converted directly to a multiple-page faxable TIF file. |
Intermediate Office An Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is automated to save the input document to PDF and then the PDF file is converted directly to a multiple-page faxable TIF file. Normally, the intermediate PDF file is not kept, except when it is specified that the document is required as a PDF e-mail attachment.
Intermediate HTML An HTML document (web page or local) is rendered to a set of bitmaps, one per page, which are compressed and converted directly to a multiple-page faxable TIF file. The images can also be placed onto pages of a PDF file when it is specified that the document is required as a PDF e-mail attachment.
| Composed | The image is placed on a blank PDF page. The convert option FPimage (F) should be used if the image is to be scaled to a full page. The PDF is then converted directly to a multiple-page faxable TIF file. Normally, the intermediate PDF file is not kept, except when it is specified that the document is required as a PDF e-mail attachment. |
| All the operations which use the Built-in Converter offer control over the rendering of the image using the options described in the $image_options topic. |
| DOC DOCX RTF ODT | These documents are processed by default via PDF using Microsoft Word and the built-in converter. Specifying the option LODOC (X) will instead use LibreOffice and the Document Converter print driver. Specifying option Print (P) will convert them using Word and the Document Converter print driver. Files must contain in the first four bytes either "{\rt" (for Rich Text Format files), or hexadecimal "D0 CF 11 E0" (for Word .DOC files) or be valid .DOCX files. This check can be suppressed by setting the value DOC in the variable CVT_NOSIGCHECK. |
| XLS XLSX ODS | These documents are processed by default via PDF using Microsoft Excel and the built-in converter. Specifying the option LOXLS (S) will instead use LibreOffice. Specifying option Print (P) will convert them using Excel and the Document Converter print driver. See also the Using Excel Files topic for details of worksheet selection options. |
| PPT PPTX ODP | These documents are processed by default via PDF using Microsoft Powerpoint and the built-in converter. Specifying the option LOPPT (T) will instead use LibreOffice. Specifying option Print (P) will convert them using Excel and the Document Converter print driver. |
| These documents are normally processed with the built-in Converter. Specifying the option Adobe (A) will use Adobe Acrobat and the Document Converter print driver. It is recommended that you use a recent version such as DC, because earlier versions cannot process some PDF files created with later ones. Finally there is also an option to use Ghostscript by specifying one of the options GSPDF (G), GS300, or GS400. Both the built-in converter and Ghostscript convert documents directly to faxable TIF format, without the use of the CopiaFacts Document Converter printer driver. An attempt to convert a PDF file not having the PDF signature '%PDF' in the first 12 lines will fail. This check can be suppressed by setting the value DOC in the variable CVT_NOSIGCHECK. |
| PS | If you have specified the use of Ghostscript, using one of the options GSPDF (G), GS300, or GS400, you can also convert PostScript documents direct to fax format. Ghostscript converts documents directly to faxable TIF format, without the use of the Document Converter printer driver. |
| XIF | These image documents (eXtended Image File format) are treated as non-faxable TIF files when xif is specified in $convert_types. |
| TIF TIFF | TIF documents (those not directly faxable) are processed by default with a built-in TIF converter if they require re-rasterizing. TIF files that can be converted on-the-fly are always processed internally, and are only handled by Document Converter in a Job Administration 'PreConvert' context. See also below. |
| GIF JPG PNG | The default is to process these documents with the built-in image converter. |
| HTM HTML | Web documents are normally processed with the built-in HTML Converter. Specifying option IE (I) uses Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Document Converter print driver. We strongly recommend using the latest IE version for your operating system. |
| .1, .2, .3 ... | These file extensions were supported for faxable files in earlier releases of CopiaFacts. If possible, they are converted on-the-fly to TIF files in the COPIAFACTS engine, and are only handled by Document Converter in a Job Administration 'PreConvert' context. See also below. |
For a cross-reference of convert options to CVSINGLE command-line flags, see $convert_options.
Documents for conversion are normally held on the local network. However it is possible to convert documents which are first downloaded from elsewhere using HTTP or FTP protocol. A standard URL starting 'http://' or 'ftp://' as the filename will enable this feature. Note that some servers may be case-sensitive when selecting filenames. A URL pathname will be 'canonicalized' before use (that is, performing tasks such as replacing an embedded blank with "%20"), but may also be specified ready-prepared in this format.
Documents downloaded for conversion using HTTP or FTP are placed in the local Windows temporary folder for conversion and deleted when the conversion is complete.
Handling non-faxable TIF files
TIF format files come in many types and only a very small subset of possible tag settings result in a directly faxable file. The width, height, vertical and horizontal resolution, compression, compression options and bits-per-pixel values all have to be examined to determine whether the file can be submitted directly for faxing. CopiaFacts now converts some non-faxable TIF files on-the-fly to faxable format. This applies to files with any of the following file properties, and provided the other criteria for faxability are met:
•Files with a reduced width in the range 1600 to 1727 pixels inclusive. These files are widened by the addition of a white strip on the right to make them the standard 1728 width.
•Files with an extended width from 1729 to 1772 are truncated on the right.
•Landscape mode files with a height of from 1700 to 1728 are rotated through 90° and extended to be 1728 pixels wide. This is only done when the file is already otherwise faxable and has resolution either 200x200 or 204x196.
•Files with multiple encoded strips. These files are rewritten with a single encoded strip.
•Files with LZW or PackBits image compression, or uncompressed files. These files are rewritten with normal G3 encoding of the image.
Except in a Job Administration context, the above files are now treated as faxable and are always converted to faxable format if presented in an FS file to the COPIAFACTS engine. This contrasts with non-faxable TIF files that require re-rasterizing, which will be moved to PREPROC for this purpose and processed by the Document Converter.
In the context of Job Administration jobs with the 'PreConvert' or 'SingleDoc' keyword, the $convert_types command should be configured to pre-convert either or both types of non-faxable TIF.
Many TIF files cannot usefully be converted to faxable format, particularly if color is involved. Copia recommends that you experiment with the available conversion tools and print driver settings before selecting a conversion strategy for non-faxable TIF files.
