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March 10, 2017
Answered

Command line to silenty convert tiff to pdf

  • March 10, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 6479 views

Hello,

We name blueprints as tiffs using custom software and then convert them to pdf via the dc pro file creation dialogue.

Third party libraries are way too slow and the resulting pdf isn't always functional.

I have had zero, I mean zero, luck actually finding the API documentation for C#(or anything else) to let me just open and insert, then save a pdf using the adobe native libraries. It's kind of irritating actually. and by that I mean, infuriating. I see no need we should pay an extra $799 a seat for a performant 3rd party library when acrobat.dll is already here on the machine.

I am hoping there is a way to use the command line to just :

Acrobat.exe /source_tif_Name  /Dest_PdfName

but so far have found no documenation to even nudge me in the right direction.

At this point, I'd prefer to just silently tell acrobat to convert them, equivalent to File -> Create Multiple etc...

as an aside - PDF Sharp and the other free libraries I have tried are taking roughly 6-8 times as long as the adobe file creator, and again, their end result produces enough bad files to make them non viable.


Thanks folks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer try67

Not possible with Acrobat.

3 replies

Legend
March 11, 2017

By the way, the canonical software for processing TIFF is the C library libtiff, open source. I haven't used it in years, but I believe it may include a TIFF to PDF command line sample.

Karl Heinz  Kremer
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 11, 2017

Yes, it does. Here is the man page for the command: TIFF2PDF

March 14, 2017

Unfortunately as I'm processing large format arch drawings (30/42 inch at 240/400 dpi) the solution doesn't seem ideal, as the manual says anything over 10k pixel dimensions is a no go without tiling (which would not work with the down stream client software).

I do appreciate the help though. I am going to try and find some more solutions.

Legend
March 11, 2017

If you want to develop with Acrobat you need the Acrobat SDK, which has thousands of pages of detailed documentation (but no useful samples to copy). But no command line. Just a note that neither Acrobat nor the SDK are for server use. Adobe's server-licensed products run to 5-6 figures. So, if I were to suggest LiveCycle PDF Generator for your conversion it might not be a popular choice.

try67
Community Expert
try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 10, 2017

Not possible with Acrobat.