Suggestions for Built-In Stamps

[irv]

I don't know how to make stamps that look as good as the ones that are built-in to PDF-XChange Viewer, so I thought I'd suggest some additional ones:

• Skip This (green)
• Low Priority (blue)
• Critical (red)
• Complete (green)
• Revise (yellow)
• Follow-Up (yellow)

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Can you send us some drafts ?

[irv]

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "drafts."

[irv]

I was imagining the above texts in the styles you have for stamps already. What program do you use to make them? Maybe I could edit those originals with the above texts, but it would probably be faster for you to do so.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Clearly it will be much better if you (and everyone else) could learn how to make their own stamps, using whatever text, fonts, designs, and colours they like.

I tried, and got half way there, but we need a bit of help on how to do this.

I created the stamps in PagePlus with artistic text, a rounded rectangle, and a drop shadow.

I put one stamp on each page and exported the six pages to a PDF file.

In PDF-XChange, I opened the Custom Stamps palette, Created a new collection and imported my PDF file. The dialogue says there were six pages (OK so far) and scrolling through the pages showed the six different stamps. However, when I attempted to add each page as a different stamp, only the first page was imported each time.

Secondly, although my stamps were transparent when dragging them out onto the page, they were not transparent when placed on the page, although they were transparent in PagePlus. They are vector images and text.

My PDF file is attached if anyone wants to try importing the stamps. Perhaps Tracker Support can tell me what I did wrong.

[Lzcat - Tracker Supp]

Looks like attachment is missing.

Strange, I can easy attach file ...
Can you try to clear your browser caches?

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Forum code problem is now resolved

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I cannot edit posts either, which is a real nuisance.

[John - Tracker Supp]

We will investigate - but if you are having problems - use the option under the Viewer help - Report a Problem

[irv]

Making a stamp shouldn't require the user to learn a new program or do graphic design. For standard style stamps, it would be nice to make custom ones within PDF XChange by just specifying the text and color desired. For a specialty stamp, importing makes sense but it's pretty inconvenient to have to import to merely label.

[Lzcat - Tracker Supp]

Then you will want built-in graphics editor, which support all modern features, and for free. Isn't it?
We provide a way to create any stamp as you wish and you can, and this is for free. You just need to create image or pdf which meets some requirements. Yes, this may be not simple, but we will be not able to create wizard wich will satisfy everyone, and we will not add features which will be used by a few people, at least for now - because there are more important features.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

You just need to create image or pdf which meets some requirements.

That's all I want to know. I figured out how to get transparency in PNG images, now I need to know the requirements for PDF files:

1. How to get multiple stamps from a single PDF (If this is possible)
2. How to make stamps from PDF files transparent.

I absolutely agree, don't waste your time implementing graphics tools or adding any more default stamps. The needs of different users are endless so the more you provide the more they will ask for.

It is simple to produce a PDF file from any graphics or DTP application. One can select any font, any colour, or create any design. The stamps can be landscape, portrait, or rotated to any angle in the DTP application. Any computer savvy user could produce all of the stamps he/she needs in a few hours.

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

1. How to get multiple stamps from a single PDF (If this is possible)

Fixed in build 2.0.37.2 which will be released today.

2. How to make stamps from PDF files transparent.

If the original page was transparent (i.e., there was no white rectangle on the background), the stamp created from this page will be transparent too. Any Stamp, created from a PDF page, has the exact same content as the original page, simple any annotations are removed.

HTH

[irv]

I'm not requesting a free built-in graphics editor. I also don't think it's very helpful to call proposed features that you don't need a "waste of time" to implement. It's fair to prioritize feature requests, but being dismissive is unnecessary. I should say, however, that the professionalism of Tracker Software has been very impressive overall; I hope all posting on the forums try to be similarly courteous.

My point when I started this thread was that the stamps that come with PDF-XChange all look about the same; they differ only in their text content and color. However, there were some commonly used labels that weren't part of the set, so I suggested them. I don't believe there should be a concern that this might start some kind of slippery slope where users would flood with requests for stamps with obscure content. However, if only the content of a stamp is an issue, it made sense to me to have a function where users could specify text for a new stamp. What I was imagining was something similar to the function of Instant Messaging clients where there may be some built-in away messages, but users can select "Custom..." and input their own and have it become part of their set. For instance, in PDF-XChange, "Custom..." could be part of the Stamp drop-down menu, and there could be a little dialog with a text field for the stamp content and a color drop-down menu for stamp color. To get (relatively) fancy, there could additionally be an option to choose the font for the stamp.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Great to hear that the update will let me add several stamps from one PDF file. That will be much more convenient. Amazing how fast you guys are.

I solved the transparency problem by exporting from a later version of PagePlus. The results of my first test can be seen below. The graphic is a PNG, but the text stamps are vector image stams from a PDF.



When I get the new version I will try to find a matching font to the stencil font, and make a new PDF to share with other users.

@ irv

Sometimes it is necessary to dismiss impractical feature requests to avoid further wasted efforts and discussion. It is clearly impractical if you consider that PDF-XChange is used world-wide so users will want stamps in German, French, Korean, etc. There really is no limit to what users may want. I assume that it would require a great deal of programming effort to provide a way of producing custom stamps from text — that is not the way that it currently works. Custom stamps use bitmaps or PDF images.

Duplicating the work of other applications within PDF-XChange truly is a waste of time. You may be happy with the stencil font use, and just those six more stamps, but other users will surely want a different font and different colours too, no doubt.

It is very easy to create your own stamps — I suspect that OpenOffice Draw would do it, but I have used PagePlus X2, which is only £50. There may be many other suitable programs you could use. Once you have decided on a font and a design, it is a matter of a few minutes' work to add another stamp with different text.

[ChrisAlba]

Hello, I have just downloaded the latest verstion of the PDF viewer and discovered the personnalised stamps option. Great !!!
I have searched the help file and the forum for the keyword "stamp" and transparent and I have read what I found, basically "You just need to create image or pdf which meets some requirements."....

I managed to create a transparent stamp using a pdf, so I can sign my clients pdf work orders... Perfect !!!

But... I can't make transparent stamps with my transparent gif images (they do have the transparency I'm after when I past them on a coloured backgrounds in my email programme, so the images are ok). Is it possible to do it ? Where can i find instructions about the requirements ?

Christine

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

GIF uses key-transparency, not alpha channel. Into current build we making transparency stamps from images which contains alpha channel.

[ChrisAlba]

Thanks for the answer.
Christine

[John - Tracker Supp]

Pleasure

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Thanks for the latest 2.037.2 update. Now we can import many stamps from a single file.



I have updated My Review with a link to the PagePlus X2 source file if anyone wants to create their own stamps.

If the forum permits, my Custom Stamps PDF file is attached.

[irv]

I found something that worked well for me: http://cooltext.com

I made the following, and they are attached if you might find them helpful:

• Follow Up (yellow)
• Know Cold (red)
• Low Priority (blue)
• Skip This (green)

I used the Outline logo with the Depot font, 100 pt, 0 outline, no gradient, and the file format was .PNG with transparency.

[irv]

Another set with the Dirty Headline font.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Thanks to all - once things quieten down a bit we will look at archiving some of the better stamps to the FAQ section or maybe even offering as a seperate download.

cheers

[irv]

Vector Studio

More are attached:

[extin]

I would like the ability to not to show the standard stamps as they are of no use for non-english speaking.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I would vote for the option to remove the standard stamps, or at least to place my custom stamp collection first in the list. Sort collections by alphabetical order would be good enough.

One little bug: if you create a new collection by accident, it cannot be deleted while it is still empty. You must add a stamp to it, then you can delete it. Since users are quite likely to click the icon to create a new collection by mistake, it would be useful to be able to delete an empty collection.

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Will check why deletion of empty collection doesn't work. by the way, empty collection will not be stored on the disk, so, during next run of the viewer, they will disappear

[tdvargo]

Where are our custom stamps stored on our systems? I've created a rather large custom stamp palette and would like to copy/export it to my other machines, without re-creating it on each machine. Thanks,

Tim

[Podhorny]

They are stored in your profile directory
On WinXP in C:\Documents and Settings\<your name>\Application Data\Tracker Software\PDF-Xchange Viewer\2.0\Stamps

[rittergig]

Hi,
I found a very simple and fast way to create your own stamp which is not an picture but vector graphic.
The advantage of an vector graphic is that it looks always good even if you zoom in very deeply.

However, you just need OpenOffice 3.x:
1. Open OpenOffice Writer or Impress or Draw.
2. Draw your stamp, for example with the draw tool pallet. Make circles or rectangles and rotate them if you want.
The position of your stamp on the OpenOffice Page doesn't matter. The size doesn't matter, too, but you should draw your stamp in that size you would like as standard size.
3. Export the document as PDF file.
4. Import this stamp (use pdf file) into PDF XChange Viewer

The PDF XChange Viewer find the stamp on your PDF Page and cut only the stamp automatically.
Thats great. Works perfectly in my case.

[Chris - PDF-XChange]

Thanks, Good suggestion rittergig