Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description" tab

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Jensen Head
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If there is a comma in the "Author" field, the application automatically adds quotation marks

Post by Jensen Head »

I don’t know if this is considered a bug or a forced evil, but this is unexpected behavior.

If I enter text without a comma in the "Author" field (for example,
Amplivox Ltd.
) after saving the changes in this field, the value does not change. If the text contains a comma (for example,
Amrus Enterprises, Ltd.
), after saving the file, the field value changes to
"Amrus Enterprises, Ltd."
.
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Radi - PDF-XChange
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Re: If there is a comma in the "Author" field, the application automatically adds quotation marks

Post by Radi - PDF-XChange »

Hi Jensen Head,

I tried to reproduce this and I was only able to partially reproduce it. I am able to save the name when it contains a "." (for example PDF-XChange Co. Ltd).

When I tried to reproduce this using "PDF-XChange Co., Ltd" and quotes were added to the name.

I'll forward this to our development team and investigate if this is the intended behavior. I'll let you know as soon as I have any news on the subject.

Regards,
Radi
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Jensen Head
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Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description" tab

Post by Jensen Head »

... of the "Document Properties" window. After inserting text values into other fields, saving the document and opening it again, the entered values retain exactly their appearance. But not the "Author" field. In it, all entered text (list of authors, separated by commas) is enclosed in quotation marks. Is this intended functionality or a bug? If the former, then why was this done? I understand when a title is put in quotes. But why put the list of authors in quotation marks?
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Paul - PDF-XChange
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Paul - PDF-XChange »

Hi, Jensen Head

thanks for the report.

I only see it when there are multiple authors, comma separated.
image.png
Multiple words without a comma separator are fine.
image(1).png
The behaviour is the same as Adobe. You may use a semi-colon as a separator:
image(2).png
I hope that helps

Kind regards,
Paul - Tracker Supp
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Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
PDF-XChange Support
http://www.pdf-xchange.com
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Jensen Head
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Re: If there is a comma in the "Author" field, the application automatically adds quotation marks

Post by Jensen Head »

> I'll forward this to our development team and investigate if this is the intended behavior.

?
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Jensen Head
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Jensen Head »

(related to #25603)

How is PDF supposed to correctly format the list of authors when it presents the following list?

1. Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich
2. Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich
3. Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich

(In Russian, as well as in Japanese and Korean, it is customary to place the surname first)

"Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich; Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich; Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich"?
"Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich;Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich;Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich"?
some other way?
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Daniel - PDF-XChange
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Daniel - PDF-XChange »

Hello, Jensen Head

I have merged these two topics, as they pertain to the same discussion, just with a few year gap in communications.

As far as I can tell, this is a consistent handling among numerous PDF software's. When a comma is present in the author field, most others will place Quotes around the data as well. I am unsure if this is part of the spec, or simply a data storage/consistency redundancy, perhaps to account for special characters that may be present here which necessitates it, but the consistency between apps is important.
After speaking with the Dev team leader, I can confirm that this is an intended handling, and will not be changing.

Is there a specific reason that having quotation marks around this content is problematic for you? I see no reason why their existence should be an issue.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
PDF-XChange Co. LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
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Jensen Head
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Jensen Head »

Daniel - PDF-XChange wrote: Wed Apr 09, 2025 6:06 pmIs there a specific reason that having quotation marks around this content is problematic for you? I see no reason why their existence should be an issue.
At the very least, it's weird. It's like if you were listing your friends and the list looked like this: Cruz Skinner, "Daisy Mcgee", Yousef Serrano, «Kaiden Hale» and Janet_Hanna. You'd be asked: is there a specific reason for doing this, and does it bother you in life? And you would most likely answer that - no, you can live with that, it does not make the text unreadable, and the names listed are uniquely identified. Also, it would be appropriate to mention that no one else among the developers of other applications is bothered by such formatting, and therefore it is the norm, no matter how incomprehensible from the point of view of logic it may be. Especially when such behavior does not bother one absolute authority, who, as they say, "is a big giraffe, and he knows better." =)

Upd. (Regarding blind following of leaders) Adobe's magnificent epic fail with Bluesky — linkedin.com/posts/chetfaliszek_today-adobe-tried-to-join-bluesky-tried-activity-7315563567674507264-zevg

Upd 2. I found that if I list authors in the "Document Properties" dialog box in the format
"Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich"; "Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich"; "Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich"
no additional quotes are added at the beginning and end of the line, and the authors in the PDF file properties list are displayed naturally, without quotes, when viewed in Windows File Explorer
Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich; Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich; Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich
This does not answer the question of why the quote characters are displayed in the PDF-XChange Editor interface, but we will leave it to the conscience of the Dev Team Leader and the developers of all the applications who, looking at each other, decided to follow this rule (enclose the list in quotes). I understand why this is done when exporting tabular data to csv/tsv (the values ​​of all cells or only those that contain separator characters). Here I admit that I am too stupid to understand this, probably, essentially very simple thing. So obvious that they forgot to include it in the format certification.
Last edited by Jensen Head on Mon May 26, 2025 2:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Stefan - PDF-XChange
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Stefan - PDF-XChange »

Hello Jensen Head,

Thanks for the follow up, however I am afraid that at the moment consistency is more important, and when there is a coma we will continue to add quotation marks. Sorry that this is not the result you were expecting here, but it is not going to be changing for the foreseeable future!

Kind regards,
Stefan
Mathew
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Re: Quotes are automatically added to the value of the "Author" field in the "Document Info" block of the "Description"

Post by Mathew »

Jensen Head wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 9:01 am .... You'd be asked: is there a specific reason for doing this, and does it bother you in life?
One thought on this: When you look at the actual stored document information, the names with commas do not have quotation marks around them. Here I entered
"PDF-XChange Co., Ltd", someone else
as the document author (ie multiple authors). The quotation marks are allowing me to use a comma to separate the authors - application actually changes it to a semicolon afterwards.

Looking that properties in explorer I get the following:
image.png
Also, using javascript we can look at the document info, which saves the names of the authors consistently - no additional quotation marks:

Code: Select all

JSON.stringify(this.info,null,2)
result:

Code: Select all

{
  "ContactEmail": "",
  "Authors": [
    "PDF-XChange Co., Ltd",
    "someone else"
  ],
  "Author": "PDF-XChange Co., Ltd",
  "CreationDate": "2025-04-22T17:28:02.000Z",
  "Creator": "PDF-XChange Editor 10.5.2.395",
  "ModDate": "2025-04-22T17:34:52.000Z",
  "Producer": "PDF-XChange Core API SDK (10.5.2.395)"
}
If, instead, I'd entered "PDF-XChange Co., Ltd", "someone else" the result is exactly the same.

So actually I think it's only the display in the document info dialog. Think of it as a feature: it allows one to use a comma separated list to enter multiple authors for a document. Based on the above, I don't think the quotation marks are part of the document metadata.
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Stefan - PDF-XChange
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If there is a comma in the "Author" field, the application automatically adds quotation marks

Post by Stefan - PDF-XChange »

:)