How to create editable/dynamic stamp?

[smannick]

Hi there,

My organisation (engineers) have been using PDF Xchange Editor for around 3 years now. Recently I created a stamp to add to the library. When we receive drawings from third parties to review, at the end of that process, we insert the stamp as part of our quality assurance procedures to note down the project name, number, author's initials, date, etc, along with a disclaimer.
We also then circle the drawing status using an ellipse/circle.

stamp.jpg

Currently, we manually draw text boxes over each box, and type in the relevant information. This does mean that this process is a bit repetitive and tedious, and the manual text boxes are not centred, aligned properly, and generally look messy on every single stamp/drawing.

stamp 2.jpg

I was wondering if it's possible to have such a stamp with editable text fields built-in for standardisation, consistency and to automate our workflow? I came across this thread, which suggests it is doable, but I haven't come across instructions to do so, so a link to them would be appreciated. viewtopic.php?p=174371&hilit=stamp#p174371

If it is possible, can it be done in Editor or Editor Plus? If the latter, would all members of our organisation need Editor Plus, or just the person creating the editable/dynamic stamp e.g. me? Note that I no coding/Javascipt experience, so may have delegate to someone in my IT team if the latter skills are required.

I understand that the text boxes would only be editable only at the point of inserting the stamp, and not after the stamp is placed - please correct me if I have misunderstood.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello smannick,

If you already have V10 of the Editor, you can then create your own dynamic stamps with little to no coding knowledge:

882-CustomDynamicStamp.gif

If you have an older Editor version - you can still create your own dynamic stamps - but you might need to write a bit of code yourself:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... nge-Editor
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... p-Creation

Kind regards,
Stefan

[smannick]

Hi Stefan,

Thank you! I have been successful at creating the stamp with text fields, and tested in with a few colleagues.

However, I have had a few queries subsequently:
1. I know where stamp collections are saved (containing this new bespoke stamp) and how to export and import stamp collections, but are individual stamps stored anywhere specific in the software folders?
2. More importantly, now that I have created this bespoke stamp, I cannot see any option to modify it e.g add an additional text box, or change the parameters of the existing text boxes. Is this possible, and if so, how?

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello smannick,

Each stamp collection will have its own special .pdf file under
%Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps

If you make a copy of one of those files and move it out of that folder you can then open that PDF in the Editor by double clicking it - and each stamp will have it's own "page" (when the Editor is open the files in the folder are locked for modifications).
So when you open a copy of the stamp collection - you can then make changes to is (e.g. adjusting the positions of the form fields).
Making more significant changes like adding extra text boxes will still likely require some JS knowledge, but yes it is possible for you to make further tweaks to your dynamic stamp(s).

Kind regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Hello all,

Thanks for this helpful discussion. I'd have some more question on this please.

I've created a dynamic stamp to correspond to an existing bitmap template (top left below), and where you can enter any number (or text) when placing the stamp. This has already worked quite well:

image.png

However, the text is too large. If I now open the file corresponding to this dynamic stamp from the folder %Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps, it appears that I can no longer edit the size of the text field ("25"), as that text field seems to have been flattened in that file.

Is this really the case, meaning that I have to recreate the stamp in order to make the text field size smaller?

And one more question, is there a way to create a dynamic stamp where you can change the text even after it has been placed, e.g. in the example above it should be possible to change the number in the stamp anytime afterwards?

Best regards
David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello David.P,

Yes - what is placed on the page is no longer dynamic, and is indeed static text.
You would need to edit the actual stamp template file.
That is probably under %Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps
So open that location, locate you stamp collection and the stamp in question.
That would contain the form field and there you should be able to set up a default text size:

image.png

Kind regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Thank you, Stefan.

Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to successfully edit the text field in the stamp template file. For example, after editing, the default value (here "XY") no longer appears in the text field, but only the text field name:

image.png

Also, if I change some properties of that field, then no (visible) text is displayed anymore when I insert the corresponding stamp into a document afterwards.

Is it important to first create a copy of the stamp template file in another folder, then edit this copy and finally move the copy back to the %Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps folder?

Best regards
David

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello David.P,

Yes - you would need to create a copy of the stamp outside of that folder (as when you are editing it in the Editor - the original copy is locked).

If you want to - you can also send me a copy of your stamp collection (the file in %Appdata%\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Stamps ) - I will take a look and see if I can change the font size for you

Kind regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Thank you Stefan, and sorry for the late reply.

I just realized that it seems that I have unfortunately/accidentally deleted my "editable stamp" template, which already had worked really well.

Let me try and recover that from a backup of the settings file that I hopefully can find somewhere...

Best regards
David

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

We will be here when you have it.

[MGruhy]

Is there now a solution for changing texts in a stamp retrospectively? Is there any other way to do this? It doesn't have to be a stamp per se, but it should be easy to place and change.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello MGruhy,

Welcome to our forums.

Is it that you want to change part of the static text inside the stamp template? You would need to edit the stamp for that.

Or is it that you want to change some text that has been added by a previous stamp? In this case you would need to flatten the said object and you should then be able to edit it's contents including updating the text.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MGruhy]

Hello Stefan,

thanks for your feedback.
We are looking for a solution to create a stamp on a PDF document. This stamp should contain a text field with which I can enter a number (so far so good, I already have that). But now the problem is that I can't customize this stamp, I want to be able to change the number/text in the stamp after placing it without having to set it again. Is this possible with a stamp and if not, is it possible with another function in PDF-XChange?

Many thanks and best regards

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello MGruhy,

Unfortunately dynamic stamps are only dynamic in the sense that parts of them are dynamically created/set up while you are placing them onthe document's pages. Once placed on the page - that stamp becomes a static object. There is no provision in the PDF specification that would allow us or anyone else to have a stamp that would e.g. place a form field inside the PDF.

So what you are trying to achieve is not possible, due to limitations in the PDF specification itself, not due to a limit in the tools we offer.
So if you need to make a change to a stamp that you have already placed on a document's page - you would either need to remove that stamp and place a new one with the new number, or you can "flatten" the stamp and then edit the text in it as per my suggestion in my previous post above.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MGruhy]

Hello Stefan,

Thank you for your feedback. What exactly is meant by the "flatten" function or where can I find it?
"Or you can "flatten" the stamp and then edit the text in it, as I suggested in my previous post above. "

Many thanks and best regards

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello MGruhy,

Imagine that a PDF page has 'layers' on it - this would be separate from the "optional content groups" that are referred to as layers in the PDF specification.

You have base content and "on top" of it - you would have the annotations. Stamps are a type of annotation, so when you place them initially they are in a separate "layer" of the page relative to the base content. All you need to do is right click your selected stamp(s) and select to flatten that selecton:

image.png

This will convert those annotation objects to base content ones, and you would then be able to select those together with other base items.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MGruhy]

Thank you very much!

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]