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How to save the Report Pack pdf from Direct Print when an Adobe Acrobat client is installed on the workstation

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Abstract

How to save the Report Pack pdf from Direct Print when an Adobe Acrobat client is installed on the workstation

Body

Hi there,

I want to share a tip from a recent PMR regarding Direct Print/Print From Toolbar at 7605

 

With the latest updates (see this collection of excellent articles by Pam Denny https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/a9ba1efe-b731-4317-9724-a181d6155e3a/entry/BiLog_Report_Toolbar_Access_and_Print_Updates?lang=en) we now have the opportunity to save the resulting Record Pack locally and we can then email this pdf. We can also print to a printer of our choice instead of the default defined on the workstation.

 

Sounds great.

 

But there is a tiny little catch (isn't there always?)

 

These options are only available when there is no Adobe client installed on your workstation. In this case, Maximo uses the pdf viewer built into the browser. It is this viewer that gives the option to save the pdf or print to a destination of our choice. The dialogues (I'm still a Brit)  that pop up are browser-dependent and some are easier to navigate than others. They might also change when a browser update is installed, so I won't include many details here.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I, for one, find life without a pdf client rather frustrating, especially if I want to view the pdf of a Record Pack that I have just produced or one that I have asked a client to send me.

 

Catch-22.

 

I have discovered that Microsoft Word can open pdfs, converting them to Word documents along the way, but I really do want to be able to see the file in a native Adobe viewer just in case something gets lost in translation.

 

So, how to have our cake and eat it?

The solution turned out to be straightforward: Don't tell your browser that an Adobe client is installed.

 

For Google Chrome, this now happens by default..

After a recent update, Google Chrome no longer supports the Adobe Reader plugin, so it will always open pdfs using its inbuilt pdf viewer. This can no longer be disabled. 

 

In Chrome, after clicking on a Direct Print icon, we see a pop-up

 

After a little while, it changes

 

(Click on Save if you hadn't guessed)

 

The saved pdf can then be opened by your Adobe client.

 

If you want to print, maximise the window, and  click on Change to change the destination to a printer of your choice.

 

So, what about Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer you may ask?

It is possible to disable the Adobe plugins in these browsers without uninstalling Adobe Acrobat on the workstations. The details are browser dependent and can be found out there on the internet with a modest amount of effort.

 

But there is another tiny catch.

 

The resulting pdf knows that we were trying to print and just won't let us forget. Open the pdf in an Adobe client and it just tries to print and will not display. Back to square 1.

 

Hmmm, Just when that cake was looking tasty.

 

Never fear, there is a way to remind the pdf just who is in charge. The reason it insists on trying to print is that we injected some javascript into the file when we generated it. So, we just have to tell our Adobe client that we don't want it to run javascript,

 

In Adobe Reader DC, this can be done via Edit -> Preferences. Clear the check box called Enable Acrobat JavaScript (it is ticked by default) and click OK

 

 

Time for cake

image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of afterthoughts

1) No, i don't know why a pdf saved from Chrome doesn't insist on printing. Perhaps it got the hint when we saved it?

2) Browser plugin support in general appears to be on the wane, so some of the above will change with time

 

 

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ibm11113021