Having the right technology in place is essential for healthcare organizations seeking to deliver better patient outcomes. That’s why medical technology developers are working hard to build the next generation of software tools that will help medical professionals to deliver care more effectively. 

Annotation features provide a number of benefits in these ongoing efforts. Although typically associated with editing and workplace collaboration, medical annotations also have a very different and very specific role when it comes to diagnostic imaging and patient health records.

Enhancing Healthcare Collaboration with Annotations

One of the most straightforward use cases for medical annotation is communicating important information regarding diagnostic images. As images like MRIs and X-rays are passed back and forth between providers, radiologists, technicians, and clinicians, the ability to add comments and point out important details greatly reduces the chance of confusion or of some critical detail being overlooked.

The challenge in these cases, however, is to annotate images and documents without altering the integrity of the original files. This requires healthcare technology developers to build solutions that can retain an unaltered version of the file even as multiple collaborators view and make comments. 

Medical Annotation and Machine Learning

Healthcare solutions are rapidly incorporating sophisticated machine learning tools to analyze large quantities of data and make a quick, accurate diagnosis of conditions. Before these powerful tools can perform that diagnostic work, they need to be properly trained to know what they’re looking for, especially when it comes to very nuanced differences between scanned images and seemingly unrelated details in patient records.

By using annotation tools, medical technology specialists can provide excellent guidance for machine learning development. An MRI scan, for instance, contains so much information that an AI-driven program isn’t going to know what to look for unless the key elements are called out with annotations that indicate certain parts of the image or provide comments about noteworthy aspects.

The DICOM Dilemma

While many software integrations allow developers to incorporate annotation tools for common file formats like PDF and JPEG, the healthcare sector presents a unique challenge in the form of DICOM files. This industry-specific format contains both images and important metadata identifiers that provide information about the image itself and the patient in question. While there are ways to extract images from DICOM files and convert them into a more manageable format, doing so could endanger compliance status or permanently degrade the image quality.

Developers working on healthcare technology solutions need to make sure they can not only deliver annotation tools, but also the ability to add annotations to DICOM files without altering the source file itself. 

Mastering Medical Annotation with ImageGear Medical

ImageGear Medical provides a broad range of XML-based annotation features that allows healthcare software developers to implement UI elements for marking up both images and documents. Since this powerful imaging SDK also gives users the ability to create and view DICOM files, it can quickly enhance the functionality of medical applications to enhance collaboration and ensure diagnostic accuracy.

Once integrated into an application with a viewing UI, ImageGear Medical supports several commonly-utilized annotation marks that makes it easy for users to highlight certain aspects of an image, comment on them, and even cover up some elements using filled-in graphical objects. Annotations can also be grouped in layers to make them easier to manage and distinguish from one another.

ImageGear Medical annotation objects for DICOM include:

• Text: Adds descriptive text using a variety of fonts, colors, and sizes. Opacity can be adjusted and the text object can appear with or without a border.
• Point: Places a coordinate point on the image or document, which can be used to support other annotation marks.
• Polyline: A series of connected straight lines formed by dragging and clicking a mouse or pointer.
• Curve: Used for creating spline curve marks. Users can select multiple vertices and tensions when creating curves.
• Ellipse: A circular outline mark that can be used to indicate important elements of an image or document. When filled, it can also cover up areas of the image.
• Polygon: Like the ellipse, it can be filled or unfilled and is typically deployed to cover or highlight some aspect of an image or document. Polygons are especially useful for medical annotation because they can capture more lines and angles than simple rectangles or circles.

In order to maintain the integrity of the original image, ImageGear Medical stores annotations as a separate file that is overlaid upon the image during display. While annotations can be merged, or “burned in” the file, keeping them separate ensures that the original image itself is not altered directly. This is incredibly important when it comes to DICOM files, which often need to be kept on file for baseline comparisons on a future diagnosis.

Enhance Healthcare Flexibility with ImageGear Medical

Annotations and DICOM viewing support are just the beginning of ImageGear Medical’s expansive feature set. It also provides advanced filtering tools for sharpening and smoothing as well as image cleanup functions like despeckling, noise removal, and deskewing. With support for several dozen medical image and document formats, ImageGear Medical can easily convert files into easy-to-manage formats and compress files for efficient storage.

Available for .NET and C/C++ environments, ImageGear Medical can turn your healthcare application into a powerful annotation platform with full support for DICOM files. Start your free trial of this powerful SDK to discover first-hand how it can empower your medical annotation solution.

The industry-wide push to digitize documents and minimize the use of physical paperwork has made PDF one of the most ubiquitous file formats in use today. Business and government organizations use PDFs for a variety of document needs because they can be viewed by so many different applications. When it comes to archiving information, however, PDFs have a few limitations that make them unsuitable for long-term storage. That’s why many organizations require such files to be converted into the more specialized PDF/A format.  Learn how easy it is to convert PDF to PDF/A with ImageGear.

What Is PDF/A?

Originally developed for archival purposes, the PDF/A format is utilized for long-term preservation that ensures future readability. It has become the standard format for the archiving of digital documents and files under the ISO 19005-1:2005 specification. Government organizations are increasingly utilizing PDF/A to digitize existing archival material as well as new documents.

The distinctive feature of PDF/A format is its universality. Although PDFs are well entrenched as the de facto standard for digital documents, there are many different ways of assembling a PDF. This results in different viewing experiences and sometimes makes it impossible for certain PDF readers to even open or render a file. Because PDF/A documents need to be accessible in the indeterminate future, there are strict requirements in place to ensure that they will always be readable.

PDF vs PDF/A

While PDF and PDF/A are based upon the same underlying framework, the key difference has to do with the information used to render the document. A standard PDF has many different elements that make up its intended visual appearance. This includes text, images, and other embedded elements. Depending upon the application and method used to create the file, the information needed to render those elements may be more or less accessible for a viewing application.

When a PDF viewer cannot access the necessary data to render elements correctly, the document may not display correctly. Common problems include switched fonts (because the original font information isn’t available), missing images, and misplaced layers.

A PDF/A file is designed to avoid this problem by including everything necessary to display the document accurately. Fonts and images are embedded into the file so that they will be available to any viewer on any device. In effect, a PDF/A doesn’t rely on any external dependencies and leaves nothing to chance when it comes to rendering. The document will look exactly the same no matter what computer or viewing application is used to open it. This level of accuracy and authenticity are important when it comes to archival storage, which is why more organizations are turning to PDF/A when it comes to long-term file preservation.

How to Convert PDF to PDF/A

ImageGear supports a broad range of PDF functionality, which includes converting PDF format to a compliant PDF/A format. It can also evaluate the contents of a PDF file to verify whether or not it was created in compliance with the established standards for PDF/A format. This is an important feature because it will impact what method is used to ultimately convert a PDF file into a PDF/A file.

Verifying PDF/A Compliance

By analyzing the PDF preflight profile, ImageGear can detect elements of the file to produce a verifier report. The report is generated using the ImGearPDFPreflight.VerifyCompliance method. 

It’s important to remember that this feature does NOT change the PDF document itself. The report also will not verify annotations that have not been applied to the final document itself. Once the report is generated, a status code will be provided for each incompliant element flagged during the analysis. 

These codes can have two values:

• Fixable: Indicates an incompliance that can be fixed automatically during the PDF/A conversion process.
• Unfixable: Indicates a more substantial incompliance that will need to be addressed manually before the document is converted into PDF/A.

Converting PDF to PDF/A

After running the verification, it’s time to actually convert the PDF to PDF/A. The ImGearPDFPreflight.Convert method will automatically perform the conversion provided there are no unfixable incompliances. This process will change the PDF document into a PDF/A file and automatically address any incompliances flagged as “Fixable” during the verification process.

While it is not necessary to verify a PDF before attempting conversion, doing so is highly recommended. Otherwise, the document will fail to convert and return an INCOMPLIANT_DOCUMENT code. The output report’s Records property will provide a detailed report of incompliant elements. Since any “Fixable” incompliances would have been addressed during conversion, the document’s remaining issues will need to be handled manually.

This method is best used when manual changes need to be made to the PDF file prior to conversion. One of the most common changes, for example, is making the PDF searchable. Once the alterations are complete, the new file can be saved using the ImGearPDFDocument.Save method.

Other ImageGear PDF to PDF/A Conversion Methods

Raster to PDF/A

ImageGear can save any PDF file produced directly by a raster file as a PDF/A during the initial conversion. A series of automatic fixes are performed during this process to ensure compliance.

• Uncalibrated color spaces are replaced with either a RGB or CMYK color profile. This could change the file size.
• Any LZW and JPEG2000 streams are recompressed since PDF/A standards prohibit LZW and JPEG 2000 compression.
• All document header and metadata values are automatically filled in to comply with PDF/A requirements.

Quick PDF to PDF/A Conversion

For quick conversions in workflows that don’t require displaying or working with a file in any way, the ImGearFileFormats.SaveDocument method is another useful option. This process loads the original file, converts it, and saves the new version all at once. It’s important to set the PreflightOptions property to be set in the save options. Otherwise, the new document will not save as a PDF/A compliant file.

Take Control of PDF/A Conversion with ImageGear

Accusoft’s versatile ImageGear SDK provides enterprise-grade document and image processing functions for .NET applications. With support for multiple file formats, ImageGear allows developers to easily convert, compress, and optimize documents for easier viewing and storage.

ImageGear takes your application’s PDF capabilities to a whole new level, delivering annotation, compliant PDF to PDF/A conversion, and other manipulation tools to meet your workflow needs. Learn more about how ImageGear can save you time and resources on development by accessing our detailed developer resources.

Printers, scanners, and other imaging devices have long been a source of headaches and frustration for developers and users alike. All too often, multiple software tools are required to connect an application to a device and acquire image files from them. This not only slows down workflows, but also creates opportunities for human error. Files can easily be misplaced or imported using the wrong parameters under these conditions.

Thanks to ImageGear’s TWAIN scanning support, however, developers can ensure that their application makes acquiring images from compatible devices both straightforward and mistake free. 

What Is TWAIN?

Developed in 1992 by a consortium of software developers and hardware manufacturers, the TWAIN standard is a standard software protocol and API that facilitates communication between imaging devices and software applications running on a computer. The word itself refers to a famous line in the Rudyard Kipling poem “The Ballad of East and West” that reads “never the twain shall meet.” Although sometimes alleged to stand for “Technology Without An Interesting Name,” the term is not actually an acronym despite being capitalized.

The name is well chosen because the TWAIN standard helped to solve the enduring problem of getting imaging devices and computers to connect and send data between one another. Most commonly used for scanners and digital cameras, TWAIN made it possible to request an image file to be imported into an application without having to utilize additional software or input commands using the physical device.

Implementing TWAIN Scanning with ImageGear

As a versatile image processing SDK, ImageGear fully supports the TWAIN specification, which allows developers to support any TWAIN-capable device directly into their applications. In most instances, this will involve adding a “Scan” button or option somewhere in the platform’s interface so that users can quickly and easily instruct their scanner to capture an image and pass it along to the application’s storage or workflow. Developers can also use the integration to adjust device settings directly from their application, such as changing the scanning area, modifying brightness and contrast, or increasing/decreasing dots-per-inch (resolution). 

ImageGear’s TWAIN scanning feature works with three external elements to facilitate image file transfers:

• The Device: Usually a scanner or digital camera, this is the primary imaging source. The device must be compliant with TWAIN protocol.This is typically indicated by the manufacturer.
• Data Source: Although ImageGear’s TWAIN scanning features can connect an application to a scanner, the device still needs a software driver that allows it to communicate with the computer’s operating system.
• Data Source Manager: The TWAIN manager software provides a universal mechanism for managing and using data sources from different device manufacturers. Developed by the TWAIN consortium, it can be downloaded for free and installed wherever the application is running.

(Both the device’s data source driver and TWAIN data source manager should be included with its installation software. They are not provided by the ImageGear SDK).

Acquiring an Image Using TWAIN Scanning

ImageGear can configure an application to gather an image or set of images from a connected device with a few simple steps.

Step 1: Open the Data Source

Developers can set the application to automatically open a default Data Source. This is typically the best choice when only one scanner is available, as is often the case in a small workplace. They can also use the Data Source Manager to provide a list of all available Data Sources and let the user select the one they need.

Step 2: Adjust Settings

ImageGear’s TWAIN scanning features allow image acquisition parameters to be set through the application. Parameters such as page count and image size can be set to a common default, but developers can also give the option to obtain the various capabilities (listed as “ScanCaps”) and display them for users to select from. ImageGear supports a wide range of TWAIN-related capabilities.

Step 3: Acquire Image

After all settings are configured, the image can be scanned and loaded into an ImGearPage Class object. When acquiring a multi-page image, ImGearPages are loaded into an ImGearDocument Class object instead.

How ImageGear TWAIN Scanning Looks in Code

As an example, here’s what the C# code may look like when using ImageGear to help an application import an image from a TWAIN Data Source:

using System;
using ImageGear.Core;
using ImageGear.TWAIN;

public ImGearPage AcquireImage(IntPtr Handle)
{
    ImGearPage igPage = null;
    ImGearTWAIN igTWAIN = new ImGearTWAIN();

    igTWAIN.WindowHandle = Handle;
    igTWAIN.UseUI = true;

    try
    {
        // Open the data source selection dialog
        igTWAIN.OpenSource(String.Empty);

        // Initialize the scanning
        igPage = igTWAIN.AcquireToPage();
    } 

    catch(ImGearException e)
    {
        // Handle the exception ...
    }

    finally
    {
        if(igTWAIN.DataSourceManagerOpen == true)
        {
            igTWAIN.CloseSource();
        }
    }

    return igPage;
}

Expand Your Application’s TWAIN Support with ImageGear

Accusoft’s ImageGear SDK provides comprehensive support for a broad range of TWAIN devices, which makes it easier than ever for developers to control the scanning process directly from their applications. Integrating TWAIN scanning can streamline workflows and significantly improve the software user experience by completely eliminating the need to turn to external programs for image acquisition. ImageGear is fully compatible with multiple generations of the TWAIN standard, including TWAIN v1.6, v1.7, v1.8, v1.9, and v2.4.

In addition to TWAIN scanning support, ImageGear provides powerful image and document processing capabilities that can transform your application workflows. With extensive file conversion and compression features, it’s the best way to quickly integrate content management features into your platform. To get a glimpse of what ImageGear can do for your .NET application, download a free trial today and start building.

Accusoft’s ImageGear is a powerful image processing SDK integration that allows software developers to give their applications the ability to open, convert, and transform multiple image file formats. Given the complexity of image processing tasks, turning to a comprehensive SDK can save significant time and headaches in the software development cycle. Rather than building image manipulation features from scratch or seeking out multiple open source solutions for every processing need, developers can use ImageGear to add image processing essentials and whatever capabilities they need to keep their project on schedule.

8 Essential ImageGear Features

ImageGear delivers several noteworthy capabilities that are worth highlighting for developers looking to add image processing features to their applications. Here are a few of the most essential:

1. General Use Tools

Although ImageGear delivers a wide range of advanced image processing capabilities, it also provides a variety of conventional tools for image modification. Developers often incorporate these features into their application’s viewing interface, which allows users to easily alter images as needed. Some of the more commonly used tools include:

• Image cropping 
• Image rotation and resizing
• Thumbnail creation
• Sharpening/smoothing filters
• Contrast adjustment/gamma correction
• Red eye removal

2. Region of Interest Selection

Using ImageGear’s region of interest (ROI) features, it’s possible to create a freely shaped image area that can be targeted for additional processing. The ROI can be an ellipse or polygon shape, or it can be drawn freehand. Marking a specified area creates a 1-bit mask image to indicate which pixels will be affected by image processing algorithms.

3. Erosion/Dilation

ImageGear deploys mathematical morphology operations to help clean up and enhance binary images. Erosion works by removing layers of pixels from the inner and outer boundaries of defined regions in the foreground. This causes the white pixels in the foreground to shrink, which has the effect of making the area darker. Dilation performs the opposite function, increasing the boundaries of those same pixels to make the image region lighter. These functions are typically deployed in combination to remove objects or smooth borders on black and white or grayscale images.

4. Edge Detection

A key image processing capability, edge detection is used in pattern recognition, image matching, and 3D vision applications to identify the boundaries of objects within images. This function is particularly useful for image segmentation and data extraction tasks.

5. Speckle Removal

Speckling is the distinctive “salt and pepper” noise commonly found in many scanned or low resolution images. ImageGear has two different ways of removing speckles from an image to reduce noise and improve the overall quality without blurring details.

• Despeckle Method: Removes color noise from a 1-bit image by finding the average color value within the ROI and replacing the other pixels in the speckle area with this value.
• GeomDespeckle Method: Uses the Crimmins complementary hulling algorithm, which sends the image through a geometric filter that reduces speckle noise without compromising the edges of the original image.

6. ImageClean

The ImageClean function is a multi-faceted cleanup tool that uses several classes to perform common image processing tasks. Some of those tasks include:

• Inverting white text or auto-inverting black text on a white background.
• Auto-orientation or auto-cropping of an image.
• Cleaning borders.
• Dotted or solid line removal.
• Punch hold removal.

7. Background Correction

ImageGear can identify the best-fit plane for an image and then adjust the image luminance tilt accordingly, either by increasing or decreasing the image plane. This method is particularly effective at correcting illumination gradients in low-quality digitized images.

8. Image Effects

As part of its image processing capabilities, ImageGear provides a wide array of image effects that can be used to transform or modify image files. Developers can easily integrate these tools into their application’s viewer to allow end users to easily alter images. Some of these image effects include:

• Aging Effect: This effect adjusts image saturation and contrast to make an image appear worn and old. Noise and random vertical lines are also added to enhance the effect.
• Boost Effect: Often used to make older or faded images look new and more vibrant, this effect increases saturation, brightness, and contrast.
• Drop Shadow: This method adds a drop shadow to an image, which is often useful for setting an image apart from a background when combining visual elements.
• Gaussian Blur: Typically used to smooth out composited images, this effect blurs pixels to soften images and make them appear slightly (or extremely) out of focus.
• High Density Range Effect: This effect increases the contrast of shadow, highlight, and midtone areas separately, which mimics the human eye’s ability to adjust to lighting conditions rather than applying a uniform contrast adjustment.
• Lens Flare Effect: Commonly used to make images appear more dramatic or realistic, this method simulates a bright light reflecting within the camera lens.
• Solarize Effect: This effect sets a light threshold and then inverts the colors of any pixels that exceed that value. When applied to an image, it mimics the look of photographic film that was exposed to too much light during development.
• Toy Camera Effect: Often used to liven up an image, this effect emulates the distortions and imperfections created by using a low-quality camera lens in poor shooting conditions. 
• Sketch Effect: By blending the original image with a texture image, this effect can make the image look like it was sketched with a pencil or charcoal.
• Artistic Effects: This feature includes a series of effects that make images look as if they were hand painted. Two of these methods, the Pointillist and Splatter methods, use randomly generated pixel elements that cause the resulting image to be different each time the method is applied.

Expand Your Image Processing Capabilities with ImageGear

The features listed above only scratch the surface of ImageGear’s capabilities. In addition to essential image processing tools, the SDK also allows developers to add document features like annotation, conversion, compression, and full-page optical character recognition (OCR). With support for dozens of file formats, ImageGear gives software teams the tools they need to expand their application’s capabilities without wasting months of valuable development time. To get a first-hand look at what ImageGear can do for your .NET application, download a trial today.

Security is everything for organizations when it comes to their sensitive data assets. Whether it’s vital documents, account passwords, or proprietary financial formulas, essential business information needs to be well-protected as companies continue to incorporate digital platforms into their operations. Developers can support this critical goal by providing secure digital vault applications that allow their customers to manage and use information assets without exposing them to unnecessary risks.

The heightened emphasis on security has made digital vault services quite popular in recent years. In order to maximize the potential of these security platforms, however, developers must integrate the right tools for managing multiple file types ranging from standard documents to complex financial spreadsheets.

What is a Digital Vault?

Much like its physical counterpart, a digital vault is a secure repository for storing vital assets in one easy-to-manage and fully-encrypted location. In some respects, these platforms are similar to information management services or cloud-based storage, but they set themselves apart by emphasizing security and access control. Digital vaults are frequently used for estate planning thanks to their ability to securely store account log-in information and vital documents, but they’re also popular with high-net worth individuals and organizations that need a safe place for sensitive financial data.

The core feature of a digital vault is its ability to prevent unauthorized access to materials stored inside them. They do this by strictly monitoring access rights at multiple levels. Just because someone has access to the vault itself, for instance, doesn’t mean they have access to everything it contains. The files and documents stored within the digital vault can all be set with their own access permissions. These controls mirror those used in a physical bank vault, such as:

• Requiring manual authorization from an administrator to access data.
• Implementing dual key control mechanisms.
• Limiting access to certain times of day.
• Segmenting access to relevant assets only.

Managing Digital Vault Information

Digital vaults also make the process of managing data much more secure. Since all of the assets stored within the vault are protected by encryption, they can be shared through a portal rather than downloaded, copied, or transmitted over poorly secured channels like email. The data itself never leaves the protective confines of the vault, and the security controls track who has been granted access when files are shared. This makes it easy to monitor activity and ensure that confidential files are not broadly distributed.

In order to facilitate this access, however, digital vault developers need to build viewing and editing tools into their applications. Without the ability to open and view a document within the web-based portal, for instance, users will be forced to rely on external software. This defeats the whole purpose of a digital vault, as it exposes the file to whatever security vulnerabilities that application might possess.

Integrating HTML5 viewing capabilities into their vault’s web portal allows developers to let their customers review documents and even make annotation markups without having to remove the file from a secure, encrypted environment. For most documents and images, this is a relatively straightforward process using a series of API calls to render the file within the browser.

The Challenge of Excel Spreadsheets

Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, however, frequently pose a major challenge to digital vault platforms. Unlike documents, spreadsheets are often designed to be interactive and can contain sensitive financial calculations within cell fields. Simply sharing a static, print preview image of a spreadsheet might be helpful for reviewing financial records, but it’s not very useful to someone who needs to enter fresh data into the formulas to calculate new results.

While the XLSX file could be made available for download to anyone who is authorized to use it, this defeats the purpose of having it stored in a digital vault. Not only would it be impossible to track the downloaded file, which creates serious data security risks, but allowing multiple copies of the file to proliferate will quickly lead to version confusion.

Enhancing Spreadsheet Functionality with PrizmDoc Cells

Digital vault developers can easily solve their spreadsheet challenges by integrating Accusoft’s PrizmDoc Cells into their application. A completely web-based spreadsheet viewer and editor, PrizmDoc Cells provides native XLSX file support without any external dependencies. The API-based integration allows users to open their existing Excel files to view, edit, and add comments completely within the application’s web portal. PrizmDoc Cells provides a familiar interface that developers can customize to meet the specific needs of their customers.

That same customization extends to the spreadsheet elements themselves. A digital vault provider may not want to allow users to have full access to every element of an Excel file. For instance, an organization may be fine with allowing someone to enter new data and calculate results in the spreadsheet, but not want anyone to be able to view the proprietary formulas buried within the cell fields. When integrating PrizmDoc Cells, developers can control what aspects of the XLSX file are actually shared. This makes it easy to keep formulas and other data locked in place within the spreadsheet and secure from unauthorized viewing.

Unlock Your Digital Vault’s Potential with PrizmDoc Cells

Accusoft’s PrizmDoc Cells gives digital vault developers the ability to control how spreadsheet files are shared and managed within their secure application environment. By integrating native Excel support, they can sever their dependency on Microsoft Office and other potentially insecure software platforms and enhance the value of their digital vault services. With PrizmDoc Cells, their customers can easily access, review, and edit their spreadsheets without exposing them to additional security risks or version confusion.

To learn more about the versatile functionality of PrizmDoc Cells, check out our detailed fact sheet for an overview of critical features and use cases. If you’re ready to test the integration in your application environment, download a free trial today in an easy-to-deploy Docker file.

Having the right file conversion tools in place can make or break an application. Developers frequently face the challenge of managing multiple file types within a consolidated workflow. Without effective conversion tools, users are forced to rely on external applications that compromise both efficiency and security.

Out of all the file formats developers must account for, PDFs remain among the most important. The ability to convert a wide variety of document and image file types into PDF format can provide an application with unmatched versatility. In fact, PDF conversion support is one of the keys to unlocking better workflow performance, security, and collaboration.

5 Reasons to Convert Files to PDF

1. PDF Format is Consistent

Sharing documents and images across different devices and operating systems can sometimes create problems if the recipient lacks the up-to-date software necessary to view the file properly. This is a particular challenge with documents created using Microsoft Word since the formatting could look quite different across different versions of the program. Since PDF files are designed to look the same no matter how they’re being viewed, the format is ideal for sharing. Both documents and images can display equally well as PDFs, so converting files into this format is a quick and easy way to make them accessible for viewing.

2. PDF Files Are Easily Compressed

Sharing large image files can be a challenge for many organizations. High-resolution JPEG or TIFF files are often too large to share over email or web-based applications. Converting them to compressed PDFs is a quick way to reduce file size for easier sharing while still retaining a copy of the original file. Since the compressed version is in PDF format, there is less chance of version confusion when someone needs to access the original source image.

3. PDFs Are Widely Supported

Although PDFs once required specialized viewing software, thanks to JavaScript-based libraries like PDF.js, they can now be viewed by a conventional web browser. For all intents and purposes, this has made PDF a universal file format that can be viewed on any device. Converting a file into PDF ensures that it will be accessible to anyone who is granted access to it, regardless of the device or operating system they’re using.

4. PDFs Offer Security Protections

For many organizations, protecting privacy and confidential information is incredibly important. Converting document and image files into PDF format allows them to take advantage of the standard’s security features. Passwords can be set to authorize viewing and editing access to a file, which not only helps to ensure privacy but also limits who can make changes to a file so version control is easier to maintain. Files can also be converted into PDF/A format for secure archival purposes.

5. PDFs Support Annotation Markups

Most PDF viewing solutions support some form of annotation markups, which allows multiple contributors to make notes and comments on a file. Converting documents or images into a PDF facilitates this collaboration while safely preserving the original version of the file for future reference. Since PDF viewers provide a variety of annotation tools, they offer a great deal of flexibility when it comes to marking up images and documents without having to depend upon specialized software. Image and document files with additional annotation layers can also be converted into flattened PDFs for easier viewing.

Converting Files to PDF Using ImageGear

Accusoft’s ImageGear provides an extensive array of file conversion tools that allow developers to easily save multiple document and image file types into PDF format. With these conversion capabilities built into the back end of their applications, developers can help customers streamline their file management.

Converting Microsoft Documents to PDF

ImageGear supports the conversion of multiple Microsoft Office documents, including Word (DOCX/DOC), Excel (XLSX/XLS), and PowerPoint (PPTX/PPT). The conversion engine supports all text elements, raster images, and graphic shapes for Microsoft Office Open XML and Microsoft Office 97-2003 formats. It can convert the entire document into a PDF as well as any designated page or page ranges. The following examples show how this can be done using C#.

Converting Microsoft Word to PDF

To convert a Microsoft Word document in its entirety, the first step involves loading the ImageGear filters to create the input and output instances: 

ImGearFileFormats.Filters.Add(ImGearOffice.CreateWordFormat());
ImGearFileFormats.Filters.Add(ImGearPDF.CreatePDFFormat());

For the next step, the PDF library needs to be initialized:

ImGearPDF.Initialize();

The ImGearFileFormats.LoadDocument method is then used to read all pages of the file:

ImGearDocument igDocument;
using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(inputFileName, FileMode.Open,
       FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read))
{
   igDocument = ImGearFileFormats.LoadDocument(fileStream);
}
Finally, the ImGearFileFormats.SaveDocument method is used to save the output PDF: 
using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(outputFileName, FileMode.Create,
       FileAccess.ReadWrite))
{
   ImGearFileFormats.SaveDocument(igDocument, fileStream, 0,
       ImGearSavingModes.OVERWRITE, ImGearSavingFormats.PDF, null);
}

Converting Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint to PDF

The process for converting Excel and PowerPoint files follows the same basic format as converting Word files. First, initialize the input, then modify the sample code from above for the appropriate formats.

To initialize Excel:

ImGearFileFormats.Filters.Add(ImGearOffice.CreateExcelFormat());

To modify sample’s open file dialog for XLSX/XLS extensions:

ofd.Filter = @"DOCX files (*.docx)|*.docx|XLSX files 
(*.xlsx)|*.xlsx|XLS files (*.xls)|*.xls";

To initialize PowerPoint:

ImGearFileFormats.Filters.Add(ImGearOffice.CreatePowerPointFormat());

To modify sample’s open file dialog for PPTX/PPT extensions:

ofd.Filter = @"DOCX files (*.docx)|*.docx|PPTX files 
(*.pptx)|*.pptx|PPT files (*.ppt)|*.ppt";

Converting an Image File to PDF

ImageGear PDF supports the conversion of multiple image types into PDF format just as easily as it converts documents, but the process looks a bit different in code. After initializing PDF support for ImageGear.NET, the following C# example can be used to load an image file and then save it as a PDF page. The conversion process can be used for any file format that ImageGear supports.

using System;
using System.IO;

using ImageGear.Core;
using ImageGear.Formats;
using ImageGear.Formats.PDF;
using ImageGear.Evaluation;

public void SaveImageAsPDF(string inputFilePathName, string outputFilePathName)
       {
           try
           {
               const int FIRST_PAGE = 0;

               // Initialize evaluation license.
               ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize();
               ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark;

               // Initialize common formats.
               ImageGear.Formats.ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize();

               // Add support for PDF and PS files.
               ImGearFileFormats.Filters.Insert(0, ImGearPDF.CreatePDFFormat());
               ImGearPDF.Initialize();

               // Load required page from a file.
               ImGearPage page = null;
               using (Stream stream = new FileStream(inputFilePathName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
                   page = ImGearFileFormats.LoadPage(stream, FIRST_PAGE);

               // Save page as PDF document to a file.
               using (Stream stream = new FileStream(outputFilePathName, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
                   ImGearFileFormats.SavePage(page, stream, FIRST_PAGE, ImGearSavingModes.OVERWRITE, ImGearSavingFormats.PDF);
           }
           catch (Exception exp)
           {
               // Write error to Console window.
               Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
           }
           finally
           {
               // Call PDF engine terminating in any case.
               ImGearPDF.Terminate();
           }
       }

Add Conversion Flexibility to Your Application with ImageGear

Accusoft’s ImageGear provides applications with comprehensive conversion, annotation, and viewing support for PDF files. As part of the broader ImageGear collection, it also delivers powerful image processing capabilities and support for multiple document and image file types. These features can help turn any application into a robust document management platform capable of streaming workflows and empowering collaboration.

If you’re ready to see how the SDK will function as part of your development environment, start your free trial and get straight to the code.