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Document Control
Draft
Author
Date
Comment
3.0
Muhimbi
12/11/2009 Completely revised for version 3.
3.1
Muhimbi
06/01/2010 Updated for version 3.1
3.2
Muhimbi
23/02/2010 Updated for version 3.2
3.4
Muhimbi
29/03/2010 Updated for version 3.4
3.5
Muhimbi
25/05/2010 Updated for version 3.5
4.0
Muhimbi
08/09/2010 Updated for version 4.0
4.1
Muhimbi
03/01/2011 Updated for version 4.1
5.0
Muhimbi
20/04/2011 Updated for version 5.0
5.1
Muhimbi
02/09/2011 Updated for version 5.1
5.2
Muhimbi
12/01/2012 Updated for version 5.2
6.0
Muhimbi
07/06/2012 Updated for version 6.0
6.1
Muhimbi
26/09/2012 Updated for version 6.1
7.0
Muhimbi
27/03/2013 Updated for version 7.0
7.1
Muhimbi
21/10/2013 Updated for version 7.1
7.2
Muhimbi
27/03/2014 Updated for version 7.2
7.2.1
Muhimbi
04/07/2014 Updated for version 7.2.1
7.3
Muhimbi
30/01/2015 Updated for version 7.3
8.0
Muhimbi
05/10/2015 Updated for version 8.0
Purpose and audience of document
This document describes the installation steps as well as general
administrative topics related to the Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint.
The intended audience is anyone involved in the installation and
administration of this solution.
Disclaimer
© Muhimbi. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be altered, reproduced or
distributed in any form without the expressed written permission of Muhimbi.
This document was created strictly for information purposes. No guarantee, contractual
specification or condition shall be derived from this document unless agreed to in writing.
Muhimbi reserves the right to make changes in the products and services described in this
document at any time without notice and this document does not represent a commitment on
the part of Muhimbi in the future.
While Muhimbi uses reasonable efforts to ensure that the information and materials contained
in this document are current and accurate, Muhimbi makes no representations or warranties as
to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information, text, graphics, or other items
contained in the document. Muhimbi expressly disclaims liability for any errors or omissions in
the materials contained in the document and would welcome feedback as to any possible errors
or inaccuracies contained herein.
Muhimbi shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages,
including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these
materials. All offers are non-binding and without obligation unless agreed to in writing.
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Contents
1
Introduction
6
1.1
Solution architecture
7
1.2
Prerequisites
8
2
Deployment
9
2.1
Before you begin
9
2.2
Introduction & High level architecture
10
2.3
Installing Prerequisites & Dependencies
10
2.3.1
.Net framework 3.5
10
2.3.2
MS-Office
11
2.3.3
Ghostscript
12
2.3.4
SharePoint PDF Icon
13
2.4
Installation steps
14
2.5
Post installation steps
21
2.5.1
Validate converters
21
2.5.2
Installing the License
22
2.5.3
SharePoint Feature Activation / Deactivation
23
2.5.4
Enabling 3
rd
party integration (Nintex, K2)
24
2.6
Post Installation configuration
25
2.6.1
Enabling converters / Specifying the location of the Conversion Service
25
2.6.2
Fine-tuning the Document Conversion service
26
2.6.3
Hardening the Conversion Service
39
2.7
Un-installation
40
2.8
Upgrading from a previous version
40
3
Troubleshooting & Other common tasks
42
3.1
Windows Event Log
42
3.2
SharePoint Trace Log
42
3.3
Document Converter Trace Log
43
3.4
SharePoint audit log
43
3.5
Common issues & Errors
43
3.5.1
Your account is not allowed to deploy SharePoint Solutions
43
3.5.2
Errors on newly added servers
43
3.5.3
An evaluation message is displayed in the UI and converted documents
44
3.5.4
‘Unknown Error’ or ‘resource object not found’
45
3.5.5
Documents using non standard fonts (e.g. Japanese) are not converted properly
/ The fonts in the destination document are not correct
46
3.5.6
Error messages related to printer drivers or the printer spooler are logged
46
3.5.7
Problems converting InfoPath forms without a shared XSN file
47
3.5.8
The ‘Convert to PDF’ context menu is displayed twice
47
3.5.9
InfoPath forms using Ink controls fail to convert
47
3.5.10
Error 403 (Forbidden) when converting InfoPath forms
47
3.5.11
InfoPath files are converted using an old version of the XSN template
47
3.5.12
Nintex Workflow Activities are not working as expected after upgrading
48
3.5.13
Event Manager error after uninstallation
48
3.5.14
Files uploaded via Windows Explorer do not trigger ‘Insert’ watermarks
48
3.5.15
‘Watermark on Open’ does
not show watermarks
49
3.5.16
Problems with HTML to PDF Conversion of SharePoint 2010 pages
49
3.5.17
Changing the default bookmark and sort fields when merging files
49
3.5.18
Deploying the Conversion Service on Windows Server 2012 and later
50
Appendix - Using InfoPath with External Data Sources
51
Details for InfoPath 2007
51
Details for InfoPath 2010 & 2013
53
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3.5.19
Digitally signing forms
53
3.5.20
Using Muhimbi’s ‘AutoTrustForms’ feature
53
Appendix
–
Switching between InfoPath Converters
55
Enabling the high fidelity InfoPath Converter
55
Enabling the legacy InfoPath Converter
55
Appendix - Post processing PDF output to PDF/A
56
Appendix - Advanced Deployment Scenarios
58
Appendix - Using Word Automation Services
62
Appendix - STSADM Commands
66
Appendix - Creating Custom Converters
67
Appendix - Invoke 3
rd
party Converters
72
Appendix
–
Deploying K2 Integration facilities
74
Prerequisites
74
Copy installation files
74
Register the Service Type
75
Register Service Instance
76
Create Smart Objects
77
Upgrading
79
K2 Training
80
Appendix - Relevant articles on the Muhimbi Blog
81
Appendix - Licensing
83
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1 Introduction
If you are keen to get the software installed without any additional
guidance and background information then please proceed straight to
section 2 Deployment.
This document describes the installation steps as well as general
administrative topics related to the Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint.
The intended audience is anyone involved in the installation and
administration of this solution. It is assumed that the audience has some
familiarity with administering SharePoint and have been given the privileges to
install and deploy solutions to the SharePoint farm.
From time to time you will see screenshots of different SharePoint versions in
this document. Unless mentioned otherwise the installation instructions and
general use of the software is the same on all supported versions of
SharePoint.
For more details about this product please see:
1. Product Information:
http://www.muhimbi.com/Products/PDF-Converter-for-SharePoint.aspx
2. Product Overview:
http://support.muhimbi.com/entries/21251792-Where-can-I-find-an-
overview-of-the-capabilities-of-the-PDF-Converter-
3. Knowledge Base / Frequently Asked Questions:
http://support.muhimbi.com/
4. Release Notes:
http://www.muhimbi.com/support/documentation/PDF-Converter-for-
SharePoint/Release-Notes.aspx
5. User Guide:
http://www.muhimbi.com/support/documentation/PDF-Converter-for-
SharePoint/User-Guide.aspx
6. Developer Guide:
http://www.muhimbi.com/support/documentation/PDF-Converter-
Services/User---Developer-Guide.aspx
7. PDF Converter related content on the Muhimbi Blog:
http://blog.muhimbi.com/search/label/PDF%20Converter
To keep on top of the latest news and releases, please subscribe to our blog
or twitter feed at http://www.muhimbi.com/contact.aspx
.
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1.1 Solution architecture
The Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint is a highly optimised solution for
converting, watermarking, securing and OCRing documents stored in
SharePoint - including MS-Office, InfoPath, HTML, MSG (email), AutoCAD
and image based files - to PDF Format.
Documents can either be converted interactively via a user friendly SharePoint
screen or via a Custom Action as part of a SharePoint Designer, Nintex or K2
workflow. For a full overview of the product’s abilities see the separate User
Guide.
The solution consists of two parts:
1. SharePoint User interface and Workflow actions: This part of the
solution is deployed automatically to all SharePoint Servers in the farm.
2. Document Converter Service: A Windows Service that takes care of the
actual document conversion, watermarking, OCR and PDF security. This
service can be deployed either to a separate system / virtual machine or to
one or more SharePoint Web Front End servers.
Conversions can be scaled up by running multiple conversions in parallel and
scaled out using standard HTTP Load balancers. For details see Appendix -
Advanced Deployment Scenarios
To achieve optimal conversion quality, for some file formats the Document
Converter Service uses MS-
Office’s own libraries in the background to carry
out the actual conversion. Muhimbi’s software stack ensures that this happens
in a robust, reliable and scalable manner without taking up excessive system
resources. Common and uncommon problems are detected and corrective
action is taken automatically without requiring any attention from system
administrators.
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1.2 Prerequisites
The solution has been designed to work on an as wide as possible number of
platforms. The prerequisites are as follows:
Operating Systems
Windows Server 2003 (including R2) 32 / 64 bit
Windows Server 2008 (including R2) 32 / 64 bit
Windows Server 2012 (including R2)
SharePoint versions
WSS 3.0, MOSS 2007, SharePoint Foundation /
Server 2010 & 2013
Office Version
Office 2007 (SP2) / 2010 / 2013 applications for the
relevant converters.
.NET Framework
Version 3.5
Browser versions
Internet Explorer 6-11, Firefox, Google Chrome,
Apple Safari and other Webkit based browsers
System Memory
This depends on the size and complexity of the
documents. We recommend a minimum of 1.5GB.
CPU
Any CPU that can comfortably run SharePoint is
suitable. We recommend one or more multi-core
CPUs.
Disk Space
This Product requires 50MB of space.
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2 Deployment
Please note that, unless specified otherwise, installation instructions are the
same for all SharePoint versions. When upgrading from a previous version of
the Muhimbi PDF Converter, please follow the instructions in section 2.8.
If you are experiencing any problems then please check out chapter 3
–
‘
Troubleshooting & Other common tasks
’
or contact support@muhimbi.com
.
Please do not skim over the information and instructions in this chapter.
Installation is generally very easy, but it is essential that you follow the
correct steps.
2.1 Before you begin
Before starting the deployment process, please make sure you have access to
the following:
1. A user account with the appropriate privileges to deploy both Windows
software and SharePoint WSP files.
2. A user account to run the Conversion Service under, with the following
attributes:
a. Use a real account, do not use built in Windows accounts such as
Local System or Local Service.
b. Local administrator on the server the Conversion Service will be
installed on.
c. In order to convert InfoPath files this account requires
‘Read’
access on the SharePoint location where the InfoPath XSN files,
associated with the InfoPath XML files, are stored. An easy way to
do this is by creating
a ‘Read Only’ security policy in SharePoint for
this account.
It is worth considering using the SharePoint Web Application pool account
as it will most likely match all requirements.
3. For Production deployments, license file(s) for the Muhimbi PDF
Converter. A license file is not needed to deploy the evaluation version.
4. If there is a requirement to convert MS-Office formats such as MS-Word,
Excel and InfoPath then please make sure you have access to a full MS-
Office installation set (not the Office 365 / Click-to-run versions).
5. If the server the deployment is carried out on does not have an active
internet connection AND you require PDF/A output, or conversion of
InfoPath files, then please download the latest Ghostscript version from
http://www.ghostscript.com/download/gsdnld.html
. If your server is
connected to the internet then it will be downloaded automatically.
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2.2 Introduction & High level architecture
The Muhimbi PDF Converter for SharePoint is made up of a number of
separate elements:
1. Conversion Service: A central Conversion Service that does all the hard
work such as converting and merging files, carrying out OCR, applying
watermarks etc. This is a Windows Service that exposes a WCF based
web services interface
1
, which is consumed by the SharePoint front end.
This service is typically installed on one or more SharePoint App servers
or a non-SharePoint server. Although it will work, we do not recommend
running this service on Web Front End Servers.
2. SharePoint Front End: Several WSP files that add a very thin layer to the
SharePoint Web Front End and Application servers including such
facilities as conversion and configuration screens, workflow actions, real-
time watermarking as well as the Muhimbi License Manager.
Unless the software is being deployed to a SharePoint farm consisting of just
a single combined WFE / APP server, please read Appendix - Advanced
Deployment Scenarios before continuing.
2.3 Installing Prerequisites & Dependencies
The PDF Converter is a comprehensive solution that includes a large number
of different features. Some functionality depends on third party software that
must be installed on the server running the Muhimbi Conversion Service only.
2.3.1 .Net framework 3.5
In order to maximise compatibility with old as well as new systems, the
Conversion Service has been built on version 3.5 of Microsoft’s .net
framework. The installer will automatically detect, and if needed download,
this framework on Windows Server 2003 - 2008R2 versions.
When deploying the Conversion Service on Windows Server 2012 or newer
then deploy version 3.5 of the .net framework using Windows
’ Server Manager
or using the following PowerShell command.
Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core [-Source D:\sources\sxs]
Specifying the ‘Source’ parameter is optional on most systems.
Please note that installing version 4.0, or later, of the .net framework will not
suffice as that version is not 100% compatible with version 3.5.
1
It runs as a ‘self hosted’ web service and does not require IIS to be installed.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
