File processing

File format conversion

Previously scanned documents may have been stored in a different file format than the one you want in your current database. Older document databases often use formats such as TIFF, CALS, Edmics or even JPEG, while newer databases mostly use PDF. With the right software, you can convert these files to your standard file format without having to rescan.

Born-digital documents, such as Office documents, may also be converted to a standard file format. This will make your document database platform and application independent. Any user can view the documents on their device with just the standard software.

Benefits of using a standard file format

Easier for the entire organization to use the documents
View, comment and reuse documents regardless of what device and office application that is being used
Documents will be readable on any system in the future

File formats

PixEdit Software can be used to view, edit and convert more than 100 file formats. With powerful automation tools you can easily convert entire document archives.

The most common file formats are:

Portable Document Format - PDF

The file format most commonly used for storing electronic documents today

This format was developed by Adobe and it is now an open standard: ISO 32000-1:2008.

PDF Archive - PDF/A

When using PDF in digital archiving, it is essential that the PDF files preserve all the information necessary to reproduce the document exactly as written. For this purpose, a special standard has been developed called PDF/A. It is a specialized version, which has restrictions on many PDF features. For example, it is not allowed in PDF/A to store just references or links to the fonts that are used in the document. The actual font must also be embedded in the pdf file, to ensure that the document will always look the same when viewed or printed on different devices.

PDF/A Verified

When you use PixEdit software for scanning, converting and archiving your electronic documents, you can be assured that they are stored according to the current PDF/A ISO standard.

TIFF Before PDF, the most commonly used format for electronic documents was TIFF (Tagged Image File Format). This format was originally created by Aldus, and it was used mostly in the publishing industry which required a high quality on scanned material. The format is now owned by Adobe

JPEG JPEG is a format commonly used by photographers but also by scanner manufacturers. With JPEG, one can only store one page per file, so this is not a very good format for digital archiving

Techsoft Document Format -TDF

The Techsoft Document Format is a file format for scanned documents developed by PixEdit (formerly Techsoft). Like the well known TIFF format, it can store multiple pages in the same file. But it can also store several image layers for a page, each layer having a unique color.

It is useful when capturing and archiving electronically architectural and engineering drawings, maps, etc, which consists of several drawings made on transparent paper.

Zip arkiv og epost vedlegg The software automatically extracts the Zip archive and converts all the documents in it. The converted PDFs are "linked", so that all the documents are preserved in a single PDF file. The same applies to e-mails with attachments: All attachments are converted and collected with the e-mail itself in a single PDF file.

PDF/A

PDF/A is a format specialized for long-term preservation of electronic documents. It ensures all needed information is included to render the document exactly as the original in the future and on any system. PDF/A is now an ISO standard and recommended by public archives administrations and archiving companies worldwide.

Compared to standard PDF, PDF/A is much more restrictive. This is to ensure that the document is fully contained in the file.

Advantages and benefits of PDF/A

All used fonts are included in the file: Text will always appear the same
Platform independence: Documents are ensured to look the same on any device
Full text search: Scanned documents can be made searchable through OCR
Colors are clearly defined and preserved
Metadata (information about the document) in a standard format is mandatory

OCR

All conversion solutions from PixEdit include OCR.

Advanced OCR technology (Optical Character Recognition) turns an image of text into digital text. This provides searchability and the possibility to reuse text.

More about OCR

Automation

With powerful functionality for automating repetitive tasks, entire document archives can be processed efficiently.

Folder monitoring and conversion is run as a server service where the documents are automatically processed and converted according to configuration.

System integration

PixEdit software is used with a wide range of document management systems and applications. Alternative integration options provide flexible setups for easy and seamless integration.

More about system integration