Each time I reprint a previously produced tagged PDF using the PDFeXPLODE printer in Adobe Reader, it always fails to create an exploded PDF and email

ISSUE:

Occasionally I have to reprint a previously run PDF Invoice using the PDF-eXPLODE process. This is essential because once the Invoice is printed and flagged, I am unable to easily reprint the Invoice in my accounting software again. On those occasions, I tend to open the previously produced PDF Invoice, in Adobe Reader and FILE/PRINT --> Printer: PDFeXPLODE. However, this action does not seem to work, and the exploded Invoice along with the email is never produced. Why is that and how do I resolve it?

  ANSWER:

Some users are unaware that reprinting the tagged PDF for various Business reasons will result in failure to produce an exploded PDF and consequently no emailing of that PDF will occur. Reprinting any PDF using our PDFeXPLODE printer will consistently fail for the reasons explained below. Please read on....

1. Background

Occassionally, some users need to re‑send or re‑explode a PDF that was successfully processed earlier, usually because they cannot re‑run the original report in their Accounting or Business backoffice software. A common approach is, to open the previously exploded PDF in a PDF reader (such as Adobe Reader) and print it again to the PDFeXPLODE printer, expecting it to explode and email as before.

However, this reprint normally produces only a new master PDF , and the job does not explode nor email. So the required solution must be able to skip the first step in the process (namely Printing to the PDFeXPLODE printer") and jump to Step 2 - Exploding and complete the process with Step 3 - Emailing and/or Archiving only. This is graphically represnted here:

<======================NORMAL PROCESS================>

  <===============eXPLODE-&-eMAIL====================>

2. The Problem (simple explanation)

Modern PDF viewers and Windows 10/11 and Win Servers 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 often convert the entire page into an image or convert the PDF format to Language Level 3 of Postscript (PDF programming language)  when printing. When this happens:

• The text inside the PDF is no longer text or if converted to Language Level 3, appears as "normal text" but is not created in ASCII text and hence unreadable by our Exploding engine  

• The embedded <pdfexplode> tag becomes unreadable

• PDF‑eXPLODE cannot detect the tag and consequently can't explode the page(or pages)

• The reprint stops after creating the master PDF

This behaviour is caused by Windows and the PDF viewer, not by PDF‑eXPLODE.

3. Solutions

A. If you do NOT have a support plan

You can manually trigger a re‑explode using a Windows shortcut.

Use this command format:

• There must be one space after PDF-EXPLODE.EXE

• There must be no space after -Printfile

• The full PDF path must be inside double quotes

• This method skips printing and directly explodes the tagged PDF using the current user’s PDF‑eXPLODE settings.

B. If you have a Paid Annual Priority Support Plan

You may request the free Explode&Email.exe utility by emailing: support@3000ad.com.au

Explode&Email.exe :

• Processes tagged PDFs directly from a folder

• Avoids Windows printing issues entirely

• Preserves the embedded tag

• Can process multiple PDFs in one run

• Supports both attended and unattended (scheduled) operation

• Uses a simple INI file for configuration

This is the recommended and most reliable method for re‑processing previously created PDFs.

Explode&Email.exe has an Explode&Emailconfig.ini settings file. This file is a simple text file which contains consecutive lines showing a "Parameter="

• PDFSFOLDER  : the folder where you intend to store all PDF documents which are to be reprinted 

• EXPLODEEXE  – the path where PDF-eXPLODE.exe is installed

• LOGFOLDER – any Log path/name where the Log will be created 

• DELETE  where DELETE=0 means 'preseve and do not delet the PDF after processing and DELETE=1 means delet the processed file

• SILENT is a 'flag' to the program to suppress any display and do not prompt for User responses.  SILENT=0 - IGNORE the display suppression, SILENT=1 means suppress all displays. This is important when creating a Windows Scheduler Basic Task. Note: PDF-eXPLODE must be set to VERY SILENT in the General Settings menu item of the configuration 

4. Summary

Reprinting a tagged PDF through a viewer cannot be guaranteed on modern Windows systems because many viewers convert the page into an image, destroying the embedded tag. To reliably re‑explode a previously created PDF:

• Use the -Printfile command‑line method (no‑support users), or

• Request the free Explode&Email.exe tool (supported users)

Both methods bypass the printing process and ensure the tag remains intact so the PDF can be exploded and emailed correctly.