Technical FAQs

Question

We are in the process of converting multiple Microsoft Office documents to PDF files and noticed a few PowerPoint files are returning the following:

“errorCode”: “CouldNotConvert”.

What could be causing this issue?

Answer

This issue can occur specifically with PowerPoint files when using PrizmDoc’s MSO feature or PrizmDoc Cloud. When a document is marked as final, it becomes non-editable and the MS Office API does not allow the document to be edited and returns “errorCode”: “CouldNotConvert”.

Currently the only work around is to open the PowerPoint file in its native application and remove the Mark as Final flag and save the file.

At the time of writing, there exists a pending feature request for the ability to remove this flag automatically. The feature request can be seen here.

Question

We are using the Webforms Samples and want to know how to enable the “Always User Raster” feature. Which file needs to be modified and how should it be modified?

Answer

In order to enable the “Always Use Raster” option for our Webforms sample, you will need to do the following:

  • Modify the Default.aspx file
  • Update the Central Configuration file

How To:

  1. In the Sample, before modifying, make a backup of the following file for safekeeping:

\Prizm\Samples\dotnet\webforms\full-viewer-sample\Default.aspx

  1. In the original file, modify the code that is located close to line 115:

\Prizm\Samples\dotnet\webforms\full-viewer-sample\Default.aspx

Line to Replace:

} else {
        sessionData.source = getDocumentSource(query.document || '');
        }

Replace with:

} else {
        sessionData.source = getDocumentSource(query.document || '');
        sessionData.render = {
          html5: {
             alwaysUseRaster: true
          }
       };
}
  1. Next, to update the Central Configuration file you will need to stop the Prizm Services.

  2. Make a backup of the prizm\prizm-services-config.yml file.

  3. Edit the .yml file and remove the leading # for the following line and add true to the array so that it looks like the following:

viewing.sessionConstraints.render.alwaysUseRaster.allowedValues:
[true, false]

  1. Restart the Prizm Services.
Question

When I click on the download button a ‘download options’ pane appears to the left of the Viewer.

Is there a way I can modify the client code such that clicking the download button skips this step and just downloads the document as a PDF, burning in all the marks/redactions/e-signatures?

Answer

To clear the event listener for the download button and attach your own, you can add this in your client-side JavaScript after the Viewer has been initialized:

$("button.pcc-icon.pcc-icon-download").off("click");

$("button.pcc-icon.pcc-icon-download").on("click", function (event) {
    $("div.pcc-select-download div.pcc-label").html("PDF");
    $("div[data-pcc-checkbox=\"burnMarks\"]").addClass("pcc-checked");
    $("button[data-pcc-download=\"download\"]").click();
});

This will add a new click listener to the download button. In the example above, the click listener sets download parameters (type is set to “PDF”, and marks/redactions/esignatures are included), and then immediately calls the click event on the “download” button that would normally be in the download pane. This should make it so that when the user clicks the download button, the notification dialog immediately appears instead of the download pane, as shown below:

From here the user can click the “save” button to download the resultant document.

Question

Can European/CJK character sets be auto-redacted in PrizmDoc?

Answer

In general, if PrizmDoc is able to extract text from the document, it is able to do a redaction. There are no known issues with auto/manual redaction except OCR’d “text over image” documents. For these documents, image text may have a different location or height/width in comparison to the text recognition result included in that document as well. A redaction will be applied to the text, but the underlying text on the image can still be visible.

Question

I have a PDF of a form that I’m sending to PrizmDoc to have it auto-detect, but PrizmDoc does not find any fields in the document. What would cause this?

Answer

Currently only PDF files with embedded AcroForms will be auto-detected. If the PDF document
has an embedded image of a form, PrizmDoc will not find any results from auto-detection.

Question

In PrizmDoc Viewer, can I delete a saved annotation collection? When I make annotations on a document, I can save them and give them a name. Then if I come back to the document later, I can access my saved annotations, add new ones, and delete individual ones, but I don’t see a way to delete the collections themselves, is this possible in PrizmDoc?

Answer

Deleting the annotation references is possible, though our Viewer sample does not have a built-in way to delete them. This is so individual users cannot delete annotations meant for a larger audience. You can add the feature to your project by using our Markup Layers API:

DELETE /MarkupLayers/u{viewingSessionId}/{layerRecordId}

Question

Is there a way to modify the colors used in PrizmDoc Viewer’s search results? In particular, the currently selected search result has a very similar color to the other results from the same term. Is there a way to increase the contrast?

Answer

Currently, we don’t support the ability to set anything other than the highlight color through the search API.

There is a feature request to enable such modifications:

https://ideas.accusoft.com/ideas/PDV-I-531

Question

With a fully-running PrizmDoc environment (version prior to v10.5), I’m noticing times where the system becomes unresponsive. That is, at some point, it no longer processes requests being made to the backend and I have to restart PrizmDoc in order to alleviate it. What could be causing this?

Answer

Prior to version 10.5, PrizmDoc used ProxyServer as its image processing system. Our Development Team eventually began seeing that the ProxyServer exhibited architectural problems that lead to a multitude of issues, such as unresponsiveness.

Starting in version 10.5, the Development Team created the Prizm Content Connect Imaging Service (PCCIS), which is far more stable.

To resolve this issue we suggest upgrading to the latest revision of PrizmDoc. Please see the product page for more information found here: https://www.accusoft.com/products/prizmdoc/overview/

The legal profession may not be the first sector that comes to mind when thinking about how technology is transforming the way organizations conduct business, but LegalTech is quickly becoming an essential component of practicing law. Innovative digital platforms are helping legal firms to improve efficiency and solve problems, even though choosing and implementing these solutions isn’t always an easy process.

Despite the clear benefits of legal technology, status quo bias and concerns about onboarding difficulties have combined to make many organizations hesitant to invest in these tools. The concerns are understandable given that each new solution has the potential to disrupt established processes and ways of doing business. Today’s legal clients, however, expect firms to be more responsive to their needs and move quickly to advocate for their cases. Forward-thinking legal organizations  recognize that LegalTech isn’t so much a “necessary evil” as an outright necessity to business success.

Obstacles Facing LegalTech Adoption

As the legal industry becomes more competitive, firms are under intense pressure to do more with less while also improving their administrative agility. While there are many technology solutions available to facilitate this digital transformation, the implementation process often presents a series of obstacles. The sheer number of LegalTech solutions to choose from, whether in terms of software applications and platforms or devices and locations, can be overwhelming, especially when it comes time to integrate into a coherent IT strategy.

Lawyers routinely need to switch between different platforms and systems, some of which don’t communicate with each other. A key tool in one application may not exist in another, and in many cases data can’t be transferred between them easily. The constant juggling not only disrupts workflows and impacts efficiency, but also introduces abundant opportunities for human error to creep into processes. These risks combine to make many legal organizations resistant to adopting and learning new legal technologies, and instead drive them to rely upon outdated practices and systems.

Law firms have also been forced to adapt the way they operate due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, essential tasks like meeting face-to-face with clients, conducting records research during discovery, and consulting with fellow attorneys are much more complicated. With many law offices shifting to a remote environment, legal professionals  find themselves switching between work laptops and personal devices frequently while also trying to access their firm’s intranet securely from off-site locations. All of these factors combine to reduce remote productivity since lawyers aren’t able to access the full range of their legal resources from their current location or device to create a single, cohesive workflow.

LegalTech and API Integrations

Despite the obstacles posed by adopting new tools and platforms, legal firms simply can’t afford to ignore digital transformation trends. By investing in innovative new legal technology, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to long-term growth and providing a better customer experience. Law clients understand that automation and other smart technologies can help them save money and receive better, more personalized service. In order to be successful in this environment, firms need to adopt a competitive growth strategy that is complemented by investments in technology.

Fortunately, many of the technology challenges facing legal organizations can be solved through API integrations. Short for application programming interface, APIs are an essential feature of today’s IT deployments that allow companies to get the most out of their disparate systems and applications.

How API Integration Works

At a very simple level, an API consists of code that allows two separate technology systems to communicate and interact with one another. It functions a bit like a translator and messenger, delivering user requests and data from one system to a completely separate system. This effectively allows an application to utilize the features and data of other applications without having to build out that functionality from scratch.

For example, the Uber ride-sharing app connects customers to available drivers within a specific area. It does this with a combination of smartphone geolocation and accurate maps, but the Uber app doesn’t actually have its own mapping capabilities. To get those features, it connects to Google Maps by way of an API that allows it to access the relevant navigational data and use it to connect customers to drivers.

Another key function of APIs is their ability to automate key processes and connect legacy infrastructure to newer technology systems. Data can be collected in one system, for instance, and “pushed” into another automatically. This not only eliminates the complicated (and error prone) task of manually transferring data between different systems, but also allows users to build a workflow in an application they’re already accustomed to without having to learn an entirely new system. 

More importantly, since APIs allow newer technologies, devices, and legacy applications to talk to each other, they provide firms with substantial flexibility when it comes to adding new platforms. Purchasing new software doesn’t mean throwing out existing tools, which substantially reduces the risks associated with technology investments and upgrades.

Stay Tuned for More

API integration and interoperability can deliver tremendous benefits to legal workflows and help firms better serve their clients. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series to learn how Accusoft’s API capabilities can unlock the full potential of your applications.

Question

Why does my markupBurner call with XML data get an InvalidJson error?

Answer

The MarkupBurner accepts two types of payloads, XML and JSON.

When making a call to the markup burner with either type, you have to specify what kind of payload you are sending by specifying a Content-Type header.

For more information on MarkupBurners, see here:

https://help.accusoft.com/PrizmDoc/latest/HTML/webframe.html#pas-markup-burners.html