Technical FAQs
On July 12, 2022, Accusoft announced the latest update to PrizmDoc, its industry-leading document processing integration. The PrizmDoc 13.21 update improves existing features and adds key functionality related to format support, redaction capabilities, content conversion, and more, allowing developers to offer enhanced functionality within their applications.
One of the main improvements in this release is to PrizmDoc’s Content Conversion Service (CCS). PrizmDoc now provides the ability to convert PDF documents to MS Word (DOCX) documents, making shared collaboration easier than ever before.
Other features and updates in this release include:
- High-Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF, HEIC) support for viewing, redaction, and conversion to JPG/JPEG, PDF, PNG, SVG and TIFF.
- PrizmDoc Viewer Markup Burner API now provides the ability to burn in redaction reason text for transparent (draft mode) redactions and provides the ability to remove PDF AcroForm fields.
- Improved performance of the PAS GET MarkupLayers API when using AWS S3 storage, which significantly reduces network traffic between PAS and S3.
PrizmDoc provides customizable document processing to help developers deliver in-browser document creation, editing, and collaboration functionality, to enhance their software applications.
For more information about PrizmDoc or to download a free trial, please visit our website.
About Accusoft:
Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in document processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.
Join us for an engaging webinar with Dan Lee, Senior Product Manager at Accusoft, as we unravel the potential of AI for revolutionizing document management within your ECM.
Key Insights to be Discussed:
- Document Automation with AI
Learn how AI technologies can streamline document-related tasks, such as data extraction, classification, and indexing - Document Search and Retrieval Enhancement
Discover the transformative power of AI-driven semantic search, enhancing document navigation and boosting decision-making and productivity. - Security and Compliance
Explore how AI plays a pivotal role in bolstering document security and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
This webinar will delve into real-world cases showcasing PrizmDoc AI Integrations for PII identification within documents.
Key Take-Aways:
- How to configure PrizmDoc AI to identify PII in documents in your environment
- How to use PrizmDoc AI for PII detection
- Understanding of potential future PrizmDoc AI Integrations to further streamline your document workflow
Don’t miss this opportunity to shape the future of document management with AI.
Introduction
A large government agency with millions of employees needed to manage personnel records and payment information while also making documents and images easily accessible for all users. Each document trail spanned the duration of the employee’s time with the agency, resulting in a repository containing hundreds of millions of documents. The existing system used a combination of custom-developed, Windows-based image viewers that were cumbersome, difficult to maintain, and presented security risks.
Overview
As the system struggled to keep up with demand, employees became increasingly frustrated with the system. Rather than viewing documents within the system, they began using workarounds like printing out files or saving them to another device, both of which presented serious security risks since the records contained personally identifiable information. The agency needed a solution that could manage hundreds of millions of documents while still providing users with simple, secure, and quick access to personnel records and payment information.
Although the document repository’s legacy viewing solution was no longer able to meet the agency’s needs, developing a new document viewer was prohibitively expensive and required expertise its IT team did not possess. Rather than building a solution from scratch, it made more sense to evaluate viewing integrations available on the market. The agency set out to find a viewer that could support multiple document types, including TIFF and PDF/A, for both viewing and archival purposes. Whatever solution the IT team chose to adopt would have to integrate smoothly into the existing legacy system to avoid a costly and time-consuming overhaul.
Challenges
After evaluating several options, the agency turned to Accusoft’s PrizmDoc® for Java, formerly VirtualViewer®. As a Java-based viewer that uses HTML5 to render files for viewing, PrizmDoc® for Java would allow the document repository to access files quickly and easily. PrizmDoc® for Java’s extensive file format support allowed the agency to render PDF, Word, Excel, AFP, DWG, TIFF, and more in one universal viewer. The integration’s built-in library eliminated the need for a third-party application or additional license, further simplifying the agency’s document management processes.
Another key priority was giving employees the ability to access documents from multiple devices. In the past, the system’s legacy viewer only allowed them to open and view documents on a desktop with the right software installed. To streamline the employee experience, the agency required a viewer that could be accessed from any device that supports a web browser, including tablets and smartphones. PrizmDoc® for Java’s true cross-platform support and complete mobility provided the flexibility the agency needed to access documents from anywhere, at any time. The integration’s HTML5 technology and Java-based viewing allowed users to view and manipulate files within the browser, eliminating the need for an external application.
PrizmDoc® for Java’s quick installation and integration process made it the ideal solution for the agency. Installing PrizmDoc® for Java’s document viewer took less than 10 minutes for proof of concept (POC) testing on any desktop, laptop, or virtual machine. The integration also provided APIs and developer tools to make integrating and leveraging the technology simple and easy, including RESTful content handlers that allowed for a more flexible development and deployment process.
Results
PrizmDoc® for Java’s high-speed viewing for large files allowed document rendering and processing to be split between the server and browser, delivering an extremely high-speed response. The integration’s advanced features, including annotation, redaction, splitting, merging, and more, provided far more functionality than was possible under the legacy viewer. PrizmDoc® for Java’s robust thumbnail panels also simplified working on large documents using full-panel thumbnail displays, as well as the option to adjust thumbnail size.
By implementing PrizmDoc® for Java, the government agency was able to provide more streamlined access to personnel and payroll records, saving employees and HR personnel time and money while eliminating security and management issues associated with the previous viewing solution. Millions of users are now able to view critical information related to their records via any device that has access to a web browser. PrizmDoc® for Java’s robust document support and easy-to-use interface made it an essential tool for the agency’s document management and collaboration processes. The agency was able to continue using their existing repository system while also gaining the benefits of a modern, user-friendly document viewer.
About Accusoft
Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including Docubee, PrizmDoc Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.
Integrating third-party viewing solutions like Accusoft’s PrizmDoc allow developers to seamlessly incorporate powerful document conversion and viewing capabilities into their web applications to deliver a seamless user experience to their customers. However, building a solution that works great for customers without heavy server reliance, and a fast responsive viewing experience can sometimes be challenging as usage demands scale. PrizmDoc’s new Hybrid Viewing feature makes it easy to meet growing viewing requirements without locking developers into unsustainable processing loads.
How PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing Works
Rather than converting files into large SVGs, a web-friendly format, for client viewing on the server side, PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature instead converts files into optimized PDFs and then offloads the viewer processing work to client-side devices. Rendering PDF files in the browser on the end user’s device significantly reduces the amount of pre-conversion workloads needed to display documents. Since all the processing work associated with viewing is being handled on the client’s device, the user experience is much more responsive.
The Business Case for Hybrid Viewing
The Accusoft engineering team developed the Hybrid Viewing feature based on extensive conversations with PrizmDoc customers about their evolving application needs. While there are still many situations where documents need to be processed and edited on the server to take full advantage of PrizmDoc’s server-side features, customers were looking for a more flexible option that would allow users to simply view files without increasing server loads.
Hybrid Viewing provides several important business benefits to existing and potential PrizmDoc customers.
Reduced Costs
One of the challenges with server-based processing is that scaling to a larger number of users can be expensive. Adding more users increases the overall server workload because each viewing session requires the server to prepare and process the document for viewing. Scaling this model after a certain usage threshold becomes expensive for many organizations. By offloading the processing work needed for viewing to client-side devices and minimizing server loads, PrizmDoc customers can scale usage more cost-effectively.
Improved Performance
Server-based viewing sometimes struggles to keep up when users are scrolling through a large, multi-page document. Lag can be even more significant if they need to jump from one section to another, forcing the server to stop loading one page so it can begin processing another. Offloading that processing work to a client-side device speeds up viewing performance because the device doesn’t have to continually connect to the server each time the user pulls up a new page. Increased responsiveness provides end users with a better overall viewing experience.
Tech-Stack Consolidation
Limitations with server-based viewing forced many customers to implement alternative solutions that made sense for their applications but involved a lot of extra development and maintenance. These solutions often include outdated desktop-based viewers that don’t offer much in the way of features. Transitioning to PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing will allow customers to consolidate their tech stack, streamline development, and provide a more unified user experience without sacrificing performance or incurring additional costs.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hybrid Viewing
It’s understandable that there are many questions about how the Hybrid Viewing feature works and how it will impact deployments. To address those concerns, we’ve provided answers here for some of the most common questions we’ve received.
Do I have to move to metered licensing?
PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature is only available with metered licensing. We understand that some customers are currently on OEM licensing or one of our deprecated licensing options and we will work with you, review your current and projected transactions, and make the move to metered licensing as easy as possible.
How will metered licensing impact my data security?
Under our metered licensing plan, your PrizmDoc Server instance must contact Accusoft to 1) report the number of documents you have processed and 2) validate that your license is still current. Each report covers a period of time (usually 4-hour intervals) and is sent once every 18 hours. The data contained in these reports include:
- Timestamp of when the period began
- Duration of the period
- Count of documents processed
- An auto-generated ID
No other data is reported back to Accusoft.
Do I have to upgrade PrizmDoc to use Hybrid Viewing?
Yes, PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing is only available starting in v13.22. We always recommend that customers upgrade to the latest version of PrizmDoc Server. Our engineering team is constantly implementing bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and critical security updates. Neglecting to upgrade PrizmDoc Server instances could leave your application exposed to potential security risks. All PrizmDoc versions are backward compatible. The Hybrid Viewing feature works for self-hosted, private cloud-hosted, and public cloud-hosted servers and requires customers to use metered licensing.
Start Taking Advantage of Hybrid Viewing Today!
If you’re already a PrizmDoc customer and you’re looking for a better way to scale your application’s viewing capabilities, our new Hybrid Viewing feature can help you achieve those goals. Talk to your Accusoft Account Manager to find out how you can implement Hybrid Viewing today.
Considering using PrizmDoc to implement powerful viewing and document management tools into your application? Talk to an Accusoft solutions specialist to learn more about how Hybrid Viewing can help you deliver greater value to customers without taking on unsustainable costs.