ScanSoft® PDF Converter Release Notes

Version 2.0
Copyright © 2004 ScanSoft, Inc.
Last modified: 28 April, 2004

Please read this document for up-to-date information about the ScanSoft PDF Converter 2.0. These release notes discuss the following topics:

System Requirements

Product Limitations

Installation and activation

Known Issues

System Requirements

The following are the minimum system requirements to install and run the ScanSoft PDF Converter for Microsoft® Word, Version 2.0:

¨·   A computer with a Intel® Pentium® or higher processor

¨         Microsoft Windows 98 (from second edition), Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or above, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server

¨         Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or above

¨         Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word XP or Microsoft Word 2003

¨         64MB of memory (RAM), 128MB recommended

¨         50MB of free hard disk space for application files plus 5MB working space during installation

¨   5MB for Microsoft Installer (MSI) if not present. (This is present as part of the operating system in Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP)

¨     SVGA monitor with 256 colors, but preferably 16-bit color (called High Color in Windows 2000 and Medium Color in XP) and 800 x 600 pixel resolution

¨     Windows-compatible pointing device

¨         CD-ROM drive for installation 

Note: Performance and speed will be enhanced if your computer’s processor, memory, and available disk space exceed minimum requirements. This is especially true when converting very large color PDF files.  Hyper-thread enabled or multi-processor systems can deliver better performance.

Product Limitations

  1. General page size limitation is 22”. (This limitation comes from MS Word)
  2. Only PDF files using Latin-based character sets are supported.
  3. PDF documents with non-standard encoding are refused. (Same as in version 1.x)
  4. Form processing (LFR) limitations

a.      Maximum number of pages is 100 pages.

b.      Gray-scaled images are downgraded to BW.

c.      The largest page size is Legal (8.5”x14”).

d.      PDF form controls, like edit, combo and check boxes, radio and push buttons are not converted.

Installation and activation

1. Uninstall previous version of PDF Converter from your computer.

2. Insert the CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.

The installation program will start automatically. If it does not, locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and double-click the converter’s setup.exe file. The InstallShield® Wizard will appear.

If you have downloaded the converter from the ScanSoft web site just double-click on the downloaded executable file. The file set will be uncompressed and InstallShield Wizard will appear.

3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

You will find the serial number on the CD sleeve or in the e-mail sent to you automatically. Be sure to keep the serial number in a safe place; it is fully checked only during product activation and is also needed for any re-installations.

The installer offers a default location for the program. Accept it or define a different one.

4. Click Finish.

5. Register.

Registration runs at the end of installation. Select Register online to establish a connection to the ScanSoft web site. We provide an easy electronic form that can be completed in less than five minutes. When the form is filled, click Submit.

If you decide not to register or to be reminded later, you can go to www.scansoft.com to register online any time later. Click on Support and from the main support screen choose Register on the left-hand column.

For a statement on the use of your registration data, please see ScanSoft’s Privacy Policy.

6. Activate.

You will be invited to activate the product at the end of installation. Please ensure that web access is available. Provided your serial number is found at its storage location and has been correctly entered, no user interaction is required and no personal information is transmitted.

If you do not activate the product at installation time, you will be invited to do this each time you invoke the program. PDF Converter can be launched only five times without activation.

Note: The user performing the installation should have Administrator rights on the computer.

Note: You will be allowed to re-install the program a reasonable number of times without having re-activation problems. The serial number is needed for re-installation and web access is needed for de-activation and re-activation.

Note: A de-activation step is performed at the start of un-installation, allowing you to reinstall the program later without re-activation problems. De-activation requires web access.

 

Known Issues

·         Word 97 and 2003 may hang when opening some Word files (actually RTF files) created by PDF Converter 2.0
When you meet this problem, please process the original PDF document again using True Page® mode or use the PDF Converter Assistant to create the Word file outside Microsoft Word, then use the Insert/File menu in Microsoft® Word to insert the generated file into a new document.

·         The following files are distributed with PDF Converter and do not contain version information

o        Decomp.dll

o        Rec_img.dll

·         If Microsoft® Word is used as the mail editor in Outlook, the buttons ‘Open PDF…’ (for MS Word Extension) and ‘PDF Converter 2.0’ (for MS Outlook Extension) appear. Both of them work properly; use the ‘PDF Converter 2.0’ button to convert PDF mail attachments.

·         If Microsoft® Word is used as mail editor and a received mail with a PDF attachment is in Rich Text Format, the ‘PDF Converter 2.0’ button for MS Outlook may not appear. Save the attachment to a file and convert it using ScanSoft PDF Converter Assistant or select it in Windows® Explorer®, use a right mouse click for a shortcut menu, and convert it from there.

·         If Microsoft® Word is your mail editor and the mail format is RTF, sending a mail from Microsoft® Word might fail when the PDF Converter Outlook Add-in is registered.

·         The following sequence may cause Microsoft® Word to terminate. Select 'Use MS Word to edit e-mail messages' in options of Outlook 2000. Open a Plain text based message with a PDF attachment. Close this message. De-select 'Use MS Word to edit e-mail messages'. Open the previously closed message. Click the PDF Converter 2.0 button.

·         The PDF Converter button in Outlook, the shortcut menu in Internet Explorer and Microsoft® Word are registered in the profile of the computer user. If the program is un-installed by an administrator using a different profile, the normal user may still see these items, but they will not function.

·         Dictation no longer works in Word XP using ViaVoice Pro USB 10 once PDF Converter is installed

·         Canceling the un-installation process after de-activation might fail. Some components may remain on your hard disk.

·         Conversion may be delayed if you start it while a page preview is still being generated.

·         If you install PDF Converter 1.x or OmniPage Pro later than PDF Converter 2.0, some menu items and buttons for extensions (Outlook, Internet Explorer) may be duplicated.