dynamic stamp reorder and change location – without losing the original stamp titles

[MedBooster]

hmm.... I thought moving one stamp to another was as simple as adding another page to a stamp group pdf document, I guess not....

Or am I wrong?

If I would want to add this blue timestamp to a group with 3 other stamps .... can I not just import this pdf page into the pdf document with the 3 other stamps ?

As of now the 3 stamps still work... but having imported the 4th extra stamp has not copied it over, it is still only present in the original dynamic stamp folder (I did not delete it, just copy it over)

[MedBooster]

and I was also wondering if... since it seems to not be possible to drag and reorder or enable alphabetic ordering of stamps, can you reorder the order in the stamp panel by reordering the pages of the .pdf file under stamps in the appdata folder?



ps. about dynamic and non-dynamic stamps – is it possible to set the stamps in a group to be sorted alphabetically? Or to drag-and-drop to reorder them?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, MedBooster

you actually need to add the new page using Add New:

image.png

Select an existing collection or make a new one:

image(1).png

And the "page" will be added to the PDF in the Stamps folder. As I understand it there are some special flags need to be set so simply adding pages to the source PDF without them is insufficient. I do not know of a way to do it without the GUI but I can ask if needed?

[KD952]

I do not know of a way to do it without the GUI but I can ask if needed?

Hello Paul!

Since you are offering. I won't refuse a peak behind the curtains.

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, KD952

well you might find not a Wizard but something else?

Let me see what I can extract from the guys for you.

[KD952]

well you might find not a Wizard but something else?

I shall keep your secret and tell no one. ( ° × ° )

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, KD952

well I am afraid the wizard was shy.

there is definitely some wizardy going on there, but they are not enthusiastic about sharing their work.

I probably should not have suggested without checking with them first.

sorry about that.

[KD952]

Hi Paul!

At least now we know that it was a wizard after all. And what is a wizard without his tricks?

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[MedBooster]

Hi, MedBooster

you actually need to add the new page using Add New:


image.png


Select an existing collection or make a new one:


image(1).png


And the "page" will be added to the PDF in the Stamps folder. As I understand it there are some special flags need to be set so simply adding pages to the source PDF without them is insufficient. I do not know of a way to do it without the GUI but I can ask if needed?

Can you not have renamed the stamps .pdf file previously if importing by adding a new stamp "from file"?

Also, are you able to simply copy over this .pdf file and share that with others? Is it enough for someone else to put this .pdf file in their designated "Stamps" appdata folder... or will it not contain all the needed information? And can I rename it? Or does it have to be copied over with the same name? (see the attached screenshot)

image.png

[KD952]

Hello MedBooster!

Can you not have renamed the stamps .pdf file previously if importing by adding a new stamp "from file"?

Sorry I don't understand what you are trying to ask here.

But for other questions:

Also, are you able to simply copy over this .pdf file and share that with others? Is it enough for someone else to put this .pdf file in their designated "Stamps" appdata folder... or will it not contain all the needed information? And can I rename it? Or does it have to be copied over with the same name? (see the attached screenshot)

• Yes, you are able to simply copy over this .pdf file and share that with others.

• Yes, it is enough for someone else to put this .pdf file in their designated "Stamps" appdata folder.

• Yes, you can rename the files

Here a picture of my stamp folder:

image.png

Kind regards,
Daniel

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

[MedBooster]

Yes KD952, you answered my questions well, thank you.

By the way... I tried adding my dynamic stamp from my "Stamps" (appdata) folder to another folder, but then it loses it's dynamic properties.... It's really weird... the process of creating dynamic stamps is so difficult!
I guess I have to create a new stamp again without the form field... then move it to another folder, add the form field with the date code again

var d = new Date;
event.value = util.printd("yyyy/mm/dd HH:MM:ss", d);

and then move it back to the "Stamps" appdata folder with the same name... so complicated

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

I think you may be doing something wrong... extracting the stamps from the folder, or adding new dynamic content, should not remove anything previously in place. The process should go like this
1. close editor.
2. extract the stamp's PDF document (aka collection) from the stamps folder.
3. open that file.
4. add/edit dynamic content (old stuff is still present)
5. SAVE that stamp file (DO NOT use the "create new stamp buttons/actions/features)
6. close editor.
7. put the same stamp file from step 2, which is now saved with the new/updated content, back into its stamp folder.

Any time you use the UI options to create new stamps from an open file, or selected documents, all content is flattened by the creation process, dynamic content cannot survive that process. You must be editing the specific file which was created by the Editor (as it contains special formatting to make stamps work at all), and you must ensure you do not alter that documents page structure or metadata.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

perhaps it would be easier to use another PDF-editor to edit the stamps in the "Stamps" %appdata% folder directly, as you can not edit it in that folder in PDF-XCE itself.

edit: no sadly it seems that you can't simply change a dynamic stamp in the Stamps folder itself.

What do you mean by "extract"? Should you not copy it over to another folder?

image.png

[MedBooster]

By the way, if you have 2 Stamps "files" in appdata, with perhaps 20 stamps ("pages") each... is there an easy way to combine these so they appear in the same group without having to add each one individually? If you add from file and there are multiple pages, will then each page be added as an individual stamp? Or does it only work for individual stamps (pages?)

[MedBooster]

Hello, MedBooster

I think you may be doing something wrong... extracting the stamps from the folder, or adding new dynamic content, should not remove anything previously in place. The process should go like this
1. close editor.
2. extract the stamp's PDF document (aka collection) from the stamps folder.
3. open that file.
4. add/edit dynamic content (old stuff is still present)
5. SAVE that stamp file (DO NOT use the "create new stamp buttons/actions/features)
6. close editor.
7. put the same stamp file from step 2, which is now saved with the new/updated content, back into its stamp folder.

Any time you use the UI options to create new stamps from an open file, or selected documents, all content is flattened by the creation process, dynamic content cannot survive that process. You must be editing the specific file which was created by the Editor (as it contains special formatting to make stamps work at all), and you must ensure you do not alter that documents page structure or metadata.

Kind regards,

about step 2 and 5. I understand that the PDF name has to be the same, but does there have to be the same quantity of pages?
What are you allowed to do with dynamic stamps? Can you crop pages, will that affect the stamp collection?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

By extract I meant that in the literal sense, through the windows file explorer, pull the file out of that folder to a different location. I included "close the editor" as a step at a few spots, to indicate that the next item cannot be done while the software is opened, but I should have made that clearer, my apologies.

You cannot add new pages to or extract pages from a stamp file manually and have them work. The changes you make must be made to the original stamp file and pages which have been programmatically created by the Editor. You can only make changes on the existing pages, and this is how dynamic content is added. Yes, cropping is allowed, though not advised, as the stamp content is placed even if outside its own page bounds. You cannot however, add a new page, nor can you pull a few pages out, and create a new pdf file with them to "split" a collection manually. Stamp files have special formatting wrapping the whole PDF, and each individual page defining stamp boundaries and functionality, which cannot be retained/created through normal editing means.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

so how would you combine 2 folders of stamps (20+ each)

adding them to one of the folders one by one?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

To be quite honest... I would not, if they have 20+ dynamic stamps in each collection, I would leave those two collections separate, because it is way too much work to reliably merge them. We also do not plan to offer a function to do this automatically because of the way dynamic content works in stamps, it is impossible to know where the JS controlling a dynamic entity is, and if there are overlapping containers, merging the JS is not something which could happen automatically, the overall result is that it is simply not an automatable action in any way, and must be done manually.

If you really are set on it, to merge them you would essentially need to
1. Pull one of them out of the stamps folder (leaving the other in place) and
2. Use the "Create stamp from active document" feature (thereby removing all of the dynamic content) just to add that collections content/pages to the other collection.
3. Then you would close the editor, pull that other stamp collection out of the stamps folder,
4. Open the PDF document, re-create and reapply all of the dynamic content and most importantly the JS, that is missing from the pages added by the second collection (note that because new stamps have been created, any JS referring to the Stamp ID, will also need to be changed).
6. save the file.
7. and then place it back in the stamps folder.

All in all, the advanced dynamic stamp creation process is broken down in these three articles, please do give them a read through from start to finish, it goes into detail about the steps needed along the way better than my summary can.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... Stamp-Tool
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... nge-Editor
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... p-Creation

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

Ok, thanks for the instructions.

By the way, is it still not possible to combine dynamic and non-dynamic stamps in the same folder? If I remember correctly you used to not be able to do that.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

What do you mean by "the same folder"? All stamp collections would usually be located in
%Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps
And it is perfectly possible to have a stamp collection (would show as a single .pdf file in the above folder) that has dynamic stamps in it as well as some stating. You would have added JS code to make your dynamic stamps dynamic, and there is nothing to prevent you from adding another stamp to the same collection that does not have dynamic content.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

I meant folder as in group in the stamp tool palette.
So if I understand correctly you have to move 1 at a time. Or actually you can't move them, it's more like copying over and then deleting the original.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

A "goup" you can see in the stamp palette is a single file in %Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps with each stamp in that file being shown as a separate 'page' in the special .pdf document.

So yes - you would need to adjust those one by one, and can't mass arrange them through e.g. the stamps palette itself!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

So dynamic stamps are still not sorted alphabetically like normal stamps, is that right? Or is there a way to enable/disable this in the settings?

[MedBooster]

Oh and what determines the name of the dynamic stamps?

When I import them with "file-name" it just names all dynamic stamps the same (the title of the PDF)

Which stamp title code do we use to not lose the correct stamp name when exporting, combining and importing dynamic stamps?

image.png

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

Do you mean these stamps when you say "Dynamic Stamps"?

image.png

Those are I believe written with a specific code, and there isn't any real physical 'pages' in the stamp collection that you can edit. Those are pure code.
The majority of stamp collections you create you would be able to see pages for, but not for these two in particular.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

no no I am referring to my own personal stamps:

with PDFs you are able to view in the appdata stamp folder

When importing dynamic stamp collections all stamps get the same name if I choose "file-name", thus I am asking what to write in the field to import the correct dynamic stamp titles as well...


related posts:
viewtopic.php?t=44644

viewtopic.php?t=44674

[PHK]

...
When importing dynamic stamp collections all stamps get the same name if I choose "file-name", thus I am asking what to write in the field to import the correct dynamic stamp titles as well...
...

It seems that when creating stamp collections (dynamic or not), only what is in the "Stamp Title" box will be the Stamp Title. If you want more specific Stamp Titles, it seems the best thing to do is go through the newly-created Stamps in the Stamp Palette using F2 to rename each stamp after they have been imported/created.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello,

As PHK says, the best way to do this would be using the option in the UI. The Stamp name is another part of the embedded Metadata which cannot easily be edited. Thankfully, it is a more accessible one which we can fiddle with after the fact using the action PHK mentioned.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

I understand... so basically each time you combine and change the order of a PDF of a dynamic stamp collection you lose the names of the stamps in the process – and you'll have to "rename" each stamps manually when you import the collection again...

Really hoping for an easier way to move around dynamic stamps from collection to collection in the future .... (from within PDF-XCE itself)

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

Yes, your understanding is right. Those collections have not been intended for frequent and extensive manipulations and merges. Usually you set up a stamp collection, and then it hardly ever changes. You might add new stamps to it but that is relatively easy.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[PHK]

The following is a bit off-topic but perhaps a worthwhile digression triggered by Stefan's observation below.

...
Those collections have not been intended for frequent and extensive manipulations and merges. Usually you set up a stamp collection, and then it hardly ever changes.
...

Well, yes, but there are stamps and there are STAMPS, if you know what I mean.

Those stamps like "Confidential," "Draft," and "Expired" that are in a collection meant to be used multiple times in multiple documents are one thing. That was probably the Stamps' collections were expected to be used.

But there are also those stamps which are really more like elements of a visible clipboard that get created by users for single or few uses such as with the Snapshot tool or copied selected areas that then get applied to a page or sheet when compositing such.

Perhaps something should be done to separate these two functionalities (both are very useful) to minimize confusion.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, PHK

I am sorry to say that there will not be changes coming in that area anytime soon. As Stefan said, stamps are not designed to be manipulated frequently, they are very much intended as a "set and forget" kind of system, even the "dynamic" creations. If you are editing and combining collections so frequently that this is a problem, you should revise your process, and try to make the stamps themselves more generic.

The long and the short is, editing of dynamic stamp content/data is extremely complicated, and quite honestly, it is not something we have the manpower to automate or even alter extensively enough to offer what you are asking for at this time (assuming it is even possible).

Kind regards,