Technical FAQs

As part of its ongoing mission to serve the specialized needs of today’s largest enterprises, IBM offers multiple solutions for managing business content and a wide range of digital assets. The ECM family of services and solutions helps organizations capture, protect, activate, analyze, and engage with their content to generate better insights that can inform decisions. While many enterprises still deploy their ECM on-prem, IBM also offers the cloud-native FileNet Content Manager, which incorporates some of the company’s latest innovations in AI to derive more value from unstructured content.

Post-secondary schools look very different this year as colleges and universities embrace both blended learning and online-only approaches to content delivery and engagement. But this isn’t a one-off operation. Even as pandemic pressures ease, the shift to distance learning as the de facto solution for many students won’t disappear.  As a result, it’s critical for schools to develop and deploy learning management systems (LMSs) that both meet current needs and ensure they’re capable of keeping up with educational evolution. But what does this look like in practice? How do developers and team leaders build fully-functional LMS solutions that empower student success without breaking the bank?

Learning Management Systems (LMS) Challenges

When schools first made the shift to distance learning directives, speed was of the essence. While students were barred from campus for safety reasons, they’d paid for a full semester of instruction, and schools needed to deliver. As a result, patchwork programs became commonplace. Colleges and universities combined existing education software with video conferencing and collaboration tools to create “good enough” learning models that got them through to summer break. Despite best educational efforts, however, some students still went after schools with lawsuits, alleging that the quality of instruction didn’t align with tuition totals.

So it’s no surprise that as fall semesters kick off, students aren’t willing to put up with learning management systems that barely make the grade. They want full-featured distance learning that helps them engage with instructors and connect with new content no matter how, where, or when they access campus networks. 

As a result, development teams can’t simply correct for current COVID conditions. Instead, they need to create systems that deliver both blended and purely online interactions, and have the power to ensure students that choose to continue with digital-first learning can still stay connected even after returns to campus become commonplace.

How to Create a Functional LMS Framework

So what does a fully-functional LMS framework look like in practice? Six features are critical for ongoing success. Let’s explore how these features can enhance your learning management system and set your end-users up for success in the classroom and at home:

Diverse Document Viewing

As schools make the shift to distance learning, the ability to view multiple document types is critical for long-term LMS success. From standard Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations to more diverse image types — such as those used in medical educational programming or manufacturing courses — students and instructors need the ability to both send and view diverse document types on-demand. 

While both free and paid solutions for viewing exist outside LMS ecosystems, choosing this route creates two potential problems. Students with diverse technological and economic backgrounds may face challenges in finding and using these tools, and data security may be compromised. This is especially critical as schools handle greater volumes of students’ personal and financial information. If document viewing happens outside internal systems, private concerns become paramount.

In-Depth Annotations

With students now submitting assignments and exams via educational software, viewing isn’t enough. Staff also need the ability to annotate assets as they arrive. Here, professors and teaching assistants are best-served by built-in tools that allow them to quickly redline papers or projects, add comments, highlight key passages, and quickly markup documents with specific instructions or corrections. 

Without this ability, staff have two equally unappealing choices. They can either print out, manually correct, and then re-scan documents, or send all comments as separate email attachments. Both are problematic, since they limit the ability of students and teachers to easily interact with the same document.

Comprehensive Conversion

File conversion is critical for effective learning management systems (LMSs). Specifically, schools need ways to quickly convert multiple document types into single, searchable PDFs. Not only do PDFs offer the ability to control who can edit, view, or comment on papers or exams, they make it easy for teachers to quickly find specific content. The permissions-based nature of PDFs makes them ideal for post-secondary applications and a must-have for any education software solution. 

Cutting-Edge OCR and ICR

Optical character recognition and intelligent character recognition also forms a key part of distance learning directives. With some students still more comfortable with hand-written hard copies and some classes that require students to show specific work, OCR can help bridge the gap between form and function. By integrating tools with the ability to recognize and convert multiple character types and sets, schools are better equipped to deal with any document type. Search is also bolstered by cutting-edge OCR; instead of forcing staff to manually examine documents for key data, OCR empowers digital discovery.

Complete Data Capture

Forms are a fundamental part of university and college life — but the myriad of digital documents can quickly overwhelm legacy education software. Integrating tools with robust form-field detection allow schools and staff to streamline the process of complete data capture, both increasing the speed of information processing and reducing the potential for human error.

Barcode Benefits

As campuses shift to hybrid learning models, students occupy two worlds, both physical and digital. But this duality introduces complexity when it comes to tracking who’s on campus, when, and why. These are currently key metrics for schools looking to keep students safe in the era of social distancing. 

By deploying full-featured barcode scanning solutions as part of LMS frameworks, colleges and universities can get ahead of this complexity curve. From scanning ID cards to take attendance and track resource use to using barcodes as no-contact purchase points or metric measurements for ongoing analytics, barcode solutions are an integral part of LMS solutions.

Automation Advantages

The sheer volume of digital documents now generated and handled by post-secondary schools poses the problem of practicality. Teachers and administrators simply don’t have time to evaluate and enter data at scale and speed while also ensuring accuracy. By automating key processes including document conversion, capture, and character recognition, schools can reduce the time required to process documents, leaving more room for student engagement.

Building an LMS Product for Teachers & Students

The bottom line for LMS solutions? If they don’t work for end-users, they won’t work for the broader school system as a whole. Gone are the days of invisible IT infrastructure. Now, students and staff alike are school stakeholders with evolving expectations around technology.

By deploying distance learning solutions that prioritize end-user outcomes with enhanced document viewing, editing, data capture, and automation, developers can create LMS tools capable of both solving immediate issues and offering sustained student success over time. Learn more about these functionality integrations for your learning management system at accusoft.com/products. 

The ability to watermark documents is essential for many businesses. By utilizing watermarks, organizations can quickly brand their assets and take steps to protect their valuable intellectual property. When identifying mission critical document features for their applications, developers need to keep in mind all the ways that watermarks continue to be deployed for a variety of use cases.

What Is a Watermark?

A watermark is a semi-transparent line of text or an image that is embedded into a file to indicate that it belongs to a person or organization and cannot be reproduced or distributed without permission. In most instances, watermarks are visible, but some text-based watermarks are embedded in such a way that they only become visible after the document is scanned or printed.

Digital watermarks are one of the earliest and most effective forms of security for documents and images. They are most commonly used by photographers who want to protect their images from unauthorized usage. Their watermark is superimposed over the image, making it difficult to remove without also damaging the source image in the process. 

The same basic principle applies to documents, especially PDF files that are easy to download, view, and distribute. Many organizations continue to add specialized watermarks to their documents to protect both confidential information and intellectual property. Understanding which types of watermarks to use and why is an important aspect of effective document security.

Why Should You Watermark Documents?

There are a few reasons why an organization may want to watermark documents. Although they’re most often associated with security, they can be used for other purposes as well. Here are a few major use cases involving document watermarks:

Classify Documents More Easily

File management can be a challenge for organizations of all sizes. While steps like naming conventions can help somewhat, it can be difficult to keep track of which files can be shared openly and which ones should only be opened and viewed within a secure application environment. Watermarks can be added to documents to indicate how they should be handled. A contract that’s labeled “Confidential,” for instance, makes it clear to the user that they should follow the proper security precautions when viewing the file, such as not leaving the screen open unattended or not sharing their screen with another participant on a video call. It also removes any ambiguity about the nature of the document.

Track Your Documents

While many free watermarking tools only allow users to add a generic logo or text to a document, dedicated viewing solutions like PrizmDoc Viewer can create watermarks that contain unique identifiers, making it easier to track documents throughout their lifecycle. This makes it easier to track down the source of a leak or breach if a file ends up somewhere unexpected. In addition to the security benefits, customized watermarks that include a user name, time stamp, or revision number helps organizations maintain better version control over their documents and avoid any confusion over which file is the most up-to-date.

Discourage Unauthorized Distribution

Watermarks are an easy way to indicate ownership of a document and its contents. While many files, and PDF files especially, are protected by some form of digital rights management (DRM) that limits who can open, edit, or copy them, this form of security is often circumvented by inventive tactics like taking a screenshot, capturing video footage, or even photographing a screen with an external device. 

If the captured document has a watermark, it will be quite difficult for someone to distribute the file without revealing the owner. While it’s possible to remove a watermark without damaging the document contents, doing so can be a difficult and time-consuming process that often isn’t worth the effort. More importantly, if the watermark contains identifying information, it’s often possible to find out where a security breach occurred and then locate those responsible for it.

How to Watermark Documents

While many organizations understand the value of adding watermarks to their documents, they often don’t have the tools in place to do so effectively at scale. There are a number of free watermarking web applications available, but these sites typically require a file to be uploaded first, which creates a huge security risk for most businesses. In many cases, this process is also irreversible because it burns the watermark into the document itself. 

Microsoft Word can easily add watermark text or images to a document, but they’re also quite easy to remove. In fact, a quick Google search points to multiple resources for removing Word-based watermarks from both DOCX and PDF files.

PrizmDoc Viewer supports multiple forms of document watermarks natively within an application, including identifying text, diagonal text, and images. More importantly, since the watermark is associated with the document viewing session, it isn’t applied to the source document itself, which remains secure within the main application. Watermark document properties can be specified to include more than one watermark in a viewing session, even supporting mixed types on different areas of the page.

Text Watermarks

The watermark API for PrizmDoc Viewer allows users to adjust the location, size, and style of the text. Information included can be adjusted based on document needs.

Diagonal Text Watermarks

PrizmDoc Viewer can apply a single directional text watermark across the center of the page. By including control characters in the text string, it’s possible to create line breaks in the text.

Image Watermarks

The watermark API can also add a transparent PNG file to the document, which is ideal for displaying a company logo. PrizmDoc Viewer can adjust the opacity of the watermark regardless of whether it’s an image or text.

By adding multiple watermarks, organizations can easily brand their files across the company while also providing effective tracking information for individual documents.

Start Watermarking Documents Today with PrizmDoc Viewer

A fully-featured HTML5 viewer, Accusoft’s PrizmDoc Viewer is easily integrated into web applications in need of comprehensive viewing and document management capabilities. In addition to watermarking, it delivers conversion, OCR, annotation, and redaction support for more than 100 different file types. Get a hands-on view of how easily PrizmDoc Viewer can apply custom watermarks to your documents with our watermarking API demo.

TAMPA, Fla. September 9, 2020 – In August, Tampa Bay Tech’s Software CEO Council (TBSC) met to tackle what so many CEOs and founders are experiencing right now as the country continues to reopen. The outlook was optimistic amongst the group as all attendees reported that their businesses were maintaining financial stability and growing headcount.

During this quarterly meeting, TBSC usually gathers to discuss business ideas, philanthropic efforts, and community involvement. This meeting was a little different considering the effects that COVID-19 has had on the market.

“It’s important for TBSC to keep our meetings going, especially during a pandemic,” states Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software. “We can rely on each other to share feedback and ideas regarding the management of new COVID-19 protocols.”

Prior to the meeting, the members participated in a brief survey about the impact that the pandemic had on their businesses.

“Across the board our CEOs reported challenges in the past several months, but I was encouraged by the optimism for not only ending the year in a positive place, but heading into 2021 with solid strategies to grow,” reported Jill St Thomas, Tampa Bay Tech’s Executive Director. “The commitment of these leaders to support one another absolutely embodies our mission of building a radically connected tech community in Tampa Bay.”

“We need to understand the way the pandemic has influenced not only our own business plans and strategies, but how it will affect the technology landscape in Tampa Bay,” states Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “We have light-hearted meetings, but we do discuss serious subjects. I took over a page of notes on ideas my peers shared, and I’m interested in implementing them across my teams.”

Members of the group in attendance included: Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft, Kevin Coppins, CEO of Spirion, Seng Sun, CEO of SunView Software, Ed Holmes, CEO of FairWarning, Gregory Ross-Munro, CEO of Sourcetoad, Paul Toomey, CEO of Geographic Solutions, Chris Karlo, CEO of Mercury New Media, Jody Haneke, CEO of Haneke Designs, and moderator, Jill St. Thomas, Executive Director of Tampa Bay Tech.

For more information about TBSC, visit the group’s website at https://www.tampasoftwareceos.com/.

About Tampa Bay Tech

Tampa Bay Tech is a 501(c)6 non-profit technology council that has been engaging and uniting the local technology community for 20 years. With over 100 companies representing thousands of tech employees – as well as thousands of students within the area’s colleges and universities – Tampa Bay Tech provides programming and initiatives to support all those in the technology space. Through their membership and partnerships, their mission is to build a radically connected, flourishing tech hub where opportunity is abundant for all. Join the TBTech community at tampabay.tech and follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter.

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 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.

TAMPA, FLA. (Dec. 1, 2021) Last night, the Tampa Bay Software CEOs (TBSC) met for their quarterly social meeting at the Current Hotel in the Rox Rooftop Bar. Hosted by Accusoft, this networking event provided a great venue for discussion about attracting top talent to the area’s innovative businesses, driving growth opportunities for the high tech industry in Tampa, and sharing mutual problems and uncovering solutions.

“Our tech community and the opportunity for further innovation in Tampa Bay is growing”,  said Jack Berlin, CEO at Accusoft. “With this great collaboration of software CEOs, we can bring the local tech community together, to attract top talent, effectively communicate to our leaders what our tech community needs, and learn from each other to drive further growth.”

The Software CEO Council comprises the area’s premier businesses, executives, and entrepreneurs of Tampa Bay’s technology community. Its mission is to create the largest communal ecosystem for tech startups in the state of Florida and put Tampa Bay on the map as a beacon for innovation and success, to foster talent and fuel growth. Council companies include A-LIGN, Accusoft, Applied Data Corporation, ComplianceQuest, CrossBorder Solutions, Digital Hands, Geographic Solutions, Haneke Design, MercuryWorks, Sourcetoad, Spirion, Transcendent and Vendita.

Pictured above left to right: Greg Ross-Munro, Prashanth Rajendran, Kevin Coppins, Dan Gaertner, Chris Karlo, Shamus Hines, Charlotte Baker, Jack Berlin, Jody Haneke.

For more information about TBSC, visit the group’s website at https://www.tampasoftwareceos.com/.

About Tampa Bay Tech

Tampa Bay Tech is a 501(c)6 non-profit technology council that has been engaging and uniting the local technology community for 20 years. With over 100 companies representing thousands of tech employees – as well as thousands of students within the area’s colleges and universities – Tampa Bay Tech provides programming and initiatives to support all those in the technology space. Through their membership and partnerships, their mission is to build a radically connected, flourishing tech hub where opportunity is abundant for all. Join the TBTech community at tampabay.tech and follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and Twitter.

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 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.

So, thanks to a global pandemic, you’ve been forced into running your business remotely. Perhaps this is a scenario your company was prepared for. Far more likely, you’ve found yourself scrambling to move to a 100% remote workforce with little time to prepare. The good news is: no matter where you find yourself on the preparedness scale, it’s not too late to set your business up for success.

There’s a popular Chinese proverb that says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Basically, if you want success and growth in the future, the time to prepare your business for remote work is now, rather than wasting time wishing you’d taken action earlier.

So, where does one begin when remote work has been so suddenly forced upon you? Certainly, there are dozens of issues to consider when it comes to optimizing a remote workforce — too many for us to adequately address here. So, for now,  we’ll stick with what we know best — how to manage your documents and forms.

Why Automation and Digitization Is Critical

To begin with, if you’ve been operating with paper-based processes — entering data manually on forms, distributing and filing paper-based documents, or collecting in-person signatures — those days are over…at least for awhile. So, if automating and digitizing your paper-based processes was on your “nice to have” priority list, it’s probably time to move it into the “must-have” category, pronto.

When it comes to managing a remote workforce, there’s also the tiny issue of security. Simply put, digital files are generally easier to secure than paper documents. This is especially important when your employees are working from home, where you have less control over who has access to those documents. 

Scanning and sending documents via email also poses a potential security risk if the documents are lost or stolen in cyberspace. Not to mention the fact that your employees’ inboxes are likely flooded with messages, making it hard to keep track of and manage those documents effectively. 

Many business leaders also feel that automating your documents, forms, and processes can help your business better weather the storms of an economic recession, including the one we appear to be entering now. According to  Forbes, 63 percent of business leaders say that automation tools will help safeguard operations against economic downturn.

Automation Offers Long-Term Benefits to Business

Even when you’re back in your office, there are probably many processes you can implement now that will help streamline your business for the future. According to TotalProSource, implementing a well rounded digital automation software solution can benefit your business long-term,  in many different ways, by enabling you to:

• Access and complete documents easily, from anywhere, whether using a mobile device on the road or working offline at home. 
• Collaborate with team members no matter where they’re located, and eliminate manual processes. 
• Collect information and signatures and put them to work on automated workflows.
• Integrate with systems you already use to get the most ROI.

Choosing the Right Digitizing and Automation Solution

When it comes to your business, we know that a document isn’t just a document and a form isn’t just a form — they’re both critical components of how your business operates. That’s why you must look for an automation solution that easily integrates with your existing systems to ensure you are getting the most productivity and ROI.  

In order to help your business succeed in this changing environment, you need a solution like Docubee, a process automation tool that simplifies the creation, routing, review, and approval of documents and forms. Not only will Docubee help optimize your business for a remote workforce, it will also help enhance your operations for the future by allowing you to:

• Digitize your forms and document in minutes to collect the right information the first time and put it to work.
• Route, revise, and approve documents with multiple collaborators.
• Empower employees to build their own configurable workflow solutions.
• Automate workflows that enable your team to work and collaborate more efficiently.
• Create workflows to meet your unique needs and integrate with your CRM and other favorite tools, using a configurable, no-code workflow designer that puts you in control of the process.

Ultimately, by automating and digitizing your forms and documents, you’re not only setting up your remote workforce for success now, you’re also preparing your business to avoid disruption in the future — anytime you, or any key team member is unable to make it to the office.

Anyone who has watched a thriller about government secrecy probably has an image in mind about what it means to redact a document. That picture usually involves piles of classified pages with entire paragraphs blotted out with black marker. At some point, a character holds a sheet up to a light and finds a spot where the redacted text is just barely visible enough to provide them with the next clue that moves the story forward. They may even use some special form of scanner that allows them to see the hidden material.

Such scenes reveal the fundamental problem with text redaction. As long as the content remains present, there might be some way of making it visible again, which presents serious problems in terms of privacy and security. The transition to purely digital documents should have made these concerns a thing of the past. Unfortunately, too many people fail to take advantage of PDF redaction tools and leave their confidential material dangerously exposed.

PDFs Are Not Like Physical Documents

In 2016, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made the embarrassing mistake of releasing a cache of documents that contained improper redactions. Journalists easily found what was hidden beneath the black markings by copying the PDF text and pasting it into another document, which instantly revealed the redacted material.

This was not the first time government officials, or other organizations, released improperly redacted documents. Part of the reason why this mistake keeps happening is that people frequently apply the same practices used with physical documents to digital documents. It’s a simple matter to use shapes or drawing tools to obscure text in a PDF, but doing so only hides the content from view rather than removing it altogether.

As the “copy and paste” trick described above shows, it’s often trivially easy to bypass such “redactions.” That’s because a PDF document is not like a physical, printed document, even though it resembles one in a viewer. A PDF consists of multiple layers, as well as extensive metadata that isn’t visible. Adding a black box over text simply adds another layer to the document. Accessing the layer of text information underneath is quite simple, even with relatively basic software tools.

Redacting Content from Electronic Documents

The first step in true redaction involves the removal of selected content entirely. This ensures that even if someone is able to extract the text layer from the document, the redacted portions will not become visible when pasted elsewhere.

However, even removing the visible text itself may not be enough to protect confidential information. That’s because there may be some data remaining in the document that could contain information about how to render the redacted portions. While it would be possible to avoid this problem by converting a PDF to a bitmap image, removing the portions to be redacted, and then building an entirely new document using OCR, this process is time consuming and difficult to scale.

Using PDF Redaction Tools in PrizmDoc Viewer

A much more efficient approach would be to utilize dedicated PDF redaction tools like those built into PrizmDoc Viewer. Thanks to a sophisticated and intuitive API, PrizmDoc allows users to perform a number of redaction functions within its easy-to-use HTML5 viewer:

• Add individual redactions by selecting text, applying a redaction rectangle, or marking out the whole page.
• Perform a search for specific terms and apply redactions to each instance.
• Add redaction layers to a document that can be saved and edited during preparation.
• Apply redaction reasons to explain why certain content has been removed.

When integrating PrizmDoc Viewer into their applications, developers can also customize the HTML5 viewer to apply predefined redactions, preload entire redaction layers, or create unique redactions programmatically. This is especially useful for high-volume document workflows that need to identify and remove commonly used private data like Social Security numbers, contact information, and financial information.

PrizmDoc Viewer’s redaction API strips out all information associated with the redacted material from the document. That means any removed content isn’t just no longer visible; it also can’t be highlighted, copied, searched, or indexed because it’s no longer present in any way. Remaining text content, however, is still readily available. Even better, sharing documents through the HTML5 viewer also hides metadata that could contain sensitive information.

When redactions are made, PrizmDoc Viewer allows users to indicate the reasons for these removals. This is especially important for transparency purposes when working with government documents. The redaction API supports single and multiple redaction reasons for improved clarity.

Of course, most organizations still need to retain access to unredacted documents for internal use. That’s why PrizmDoc Viewer retains an unaltered version of the document safely uploaded to the server. The actual redacted document is a new file with all redacted content removed. Users can then use PrizmDoc Viewer’s sharing controls to further manage access to the file.

Redact Your Documents the Right Way

Today’s applications can’t afford to take redaction lightly. Whether they’re building the next generation of government technologies or LegalTech applications, developers need to provide their customers with the ability to easily screen documents to protect sensitive and private information from being exposed. By integrating viewing and document editing solutions with PDF redaction tools, they can help organizations take control over document security and avoid embarrassing redaction mistakes that could expose them to severe liability.

PrizmDoc Viewer’s versatile HTML5 viewing capabilities leverage powerful APIs to easily incorporate document redaction into application workflows. With just a simple API call, users can quickly locate and remove information from documents before sharing them with anyone outside the organization. To see PrizmDoc Viewer’s PDF redaction tools first hand, check out our interactive online demo today.

As digital processes become more commonplace, it’s more important than ever for organizations to have the tools in place to manage electronic documents effectively. The evolution of PDF viewing technology continues to provide new levels of flexibility for software applications. Now that HTML5 is capable of rendering PDF data within a conventional browser, developers are looking for new ways to make the viewing experience even more seamless. By embedding PDFs in HTML, they can continue to streamline document viewing and reduce the need for external software.

Why Embed a PDF in HTML?

Sharing a PDF online is far easier to do today than it was just a decade ago. For many years, the two most commonly used options were providing a link to download the file directly from a server or sending it as an attachment in an email. Once the file was downloaded, it could be opened and viewed with PDF reader software installed on a computer. This, of course, introduced numerous security risks that are associated with downloadable files and email attachments.

The widespread adoption of cloud storage has made it very convenient to share a PDF file and even manage who has access to it. And since most modern browsers can view PDFs without needing to download the file, providing a link is typically all that’s necessary to pass the file along.

While this solution is usually sufficient for the personal needs of an individual user, it’s not a practical option for even a small-scale business when it comes to public-facing document management. Organizations want to retain control over their files with respect to how they’re accessed and displayed. By embedding PDFs in HTML, they can keep their documents within their secure application environment where they have full control over how they’re managed, shared, and viewed. For developers looking to provide a seamless user experience, building options for embedded PDFs into their software is critically important.

The Value of an Integrated PDF Viewer

Since most modern browsers can utilize HTML5 to render PDF files, developers could lean on those capabilities without building a dedicated PDF viewer for their application. That decision will very quickly lead to some unpleasant complications, however. In the first place, they are leaving a lot to chance in terms of the viewing experience. Not every browser renders PDF files the same way, so it’s very possible that two different users could have two very different experiences when viewing a document. In some cases, that could mean nothing more than a missing font that’s replaced with an alternative. But in other cases, it could mean that the document doesn’t open at all or is missing important graphical elements.

This approach also forces users to make do with whatever PDF functionality is incorporated into their browser’s viewer. In most cases, that will mean subpar search performance, a lack of responsive mobile controls, and no annotation features. The browser may also have trouble with some of the less common PDF specifications, making it impossible for some users to even view a document.

By embedding a JavaScript-based PDF viewer into their application, developers can ensure that documents will display the correct way every time. Since the viewing is handled through a viewer embedded into the web application by default, it will be the same no matter what kind of browser or operating system is being used. A customizable viewer also allows developers to adjust the interface to permit or hide certain features, such as downloading or markup tools.

The open-source PDF.js library is a popular choice for many web applications, but it comes with a number of well-documented shortcomings. In addition to lacking key features like annotation, it also doesn’t support the entire PDF standard and does not provide a responsive UI for mobile devices. For developers looking to add more robust features, working with PDF.js often entails quite a bit of additional coding and engineering to build those capabilities from the ground up.

Embed PDFs in HTML with Accusoft PDF Viewer

Accusoft PDF Viewer takes the foundation of PDF.js and provides robust enhancements to meet the viewing needs of today’s applications. In addition to incredibly fast text search, expanded PDF standard support, and optimization for high-resolution displays, this lightweight SDK is also equipped with a responsive UI that adapts automatically to mobile screens. Developers can integrate essential mobile features like pinch to zoom quickly and easy, with no additional integrations or engineering required.

With no external dependencies or complicated server configurations, Accusoft PDF Viewer integrates into a web-based application with less than 10 lines of code. Once the viewer is in place, developers can embed PDFs in HTML and easily render them to provide a state-of-the-art PDF viewing experience regardless of the browser or device users have at their disposal. And since the UI can be customized to your application’s needs, there’s no reason to sacrifice control for the sake of viewing convenience.

Accusoft PDF Viewer is a JavaScript SDK that you can incorporate into your application environment quickly and easily to provide much greater viewing control and functionality than is possible with a standard browser viewer or base PDF.js library. If you’re planning to embed PDFs in HTML as part of your software solution, taking just a few moments to integrate versatile and responsive viewing tools can ensure a high-quality viewing experience. Download Accusoft PDF Viewer Standard Version today at no cost to see how easily it can transform your application’s HTML5 viewing potential.

For additional features like annotation, eSignature, and UI customization, contact one of our solutions experts to upgrade to Professional Version.