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PDF creation software question

by balsimon
25 replies
Hello Fellow Warriors...

I recently purchased a PDF ebook and it had a truly nifty feature.

Upon purchase, the footer said: "This ebook was prepared for exclusive PERSONAL use by Bal Simon. If you are not Bal Simon, please let us know so we can pursue his violation of our license."

What software do you know of that can personalize an ebook on the fly like that. I'm not so interested in putting the fear of god into people. Life's too short, even if you're immortal, to be getting that ninnyish in my view.

But from a marketing perspective - to be able to personalize an ebook on the fly to make my customer feel special - now THAT would be of significant win-win benefit in my view.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks.

- Bal
#creation #pdf #question #software
  • Profile picture of the author ButterflyGarden
    It sounds like that watermark is being used to protect an evaluation version. I understand your thoughts but couldn't you simply add a footer to each page, that way you can control the message.
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  • Profile picture of the author pearlydean
    I use open office to create my products and then add a copyright in the footer.

    It's then easy to just click the one button pdf creation.

    OK some people may rip off your info but if you think positively and just cater to the honest people you don't need to get into all the hassle of trying to protect everything you create in my opinion!
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  • Profile picture of the author GregGarrison
    Open Office is great and very easy to write up an informational ebook and then create it as a PDF.
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  • Profile picture of the author balsimon
    Hi - thanks for your replies. I must have miscommunicated...

    I'm not interested in using this technology to protect my intellectual property. I have a lawyer at the ready for that.

    What I want is to be able to personalize a PDF with variables on the fly - so I can write, "So, JohnBoy, you see that you can make a gazillion dollars in 20 seconds flat by using the Triple Z factor on your whizbang product."

    Personalizing on the fly in a delivered PDF is what I'm after.

    - Bal
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    balsimon,

    This does sound like a nice touch.

    I have seen PHP scripts that create PDF's on the fly. Perhaps you could hire a programmer to create a PHP script that generates your PDF, inserting the name of the customer.

    Personally though, I would invest that time/money making more sales rather than fancy stuff like this.
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    • Profile picture of the author balsimon
      Martin - that's a valid point. But if it's easy and inexpensive, it would be (a) a good differentiator for some products and (b) could be part of the main product, e.g., a mother giving an ebook with little Susie's name laced all through it.
      - Bal
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      • Profile picture of the author mcmahanusa
        balsimon,

        The product offered by ebookcompiler.com (I'm not an affiliate, don't even know if they have an affiliate program), among a lot of other things, has a feature that allows you to personalize with a distributor ID on (or in?) the ebook. I would guess that a name could be substituted for the ID number. Just a guess, though.
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        • Profile picture of the author balsimon
          Thanks McMahanUSA - I'll take a look, but it sounds like a desktop program. What I want is a server based program that takes information at the point of sale and merges it into a pdf compiled by the server and seamlessly delivered to my customer.

          - Bal
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        • Profile picture of the author balsimon
          Cathy - that does look interesting. As you say, not quite on point, but if they can tag a header, maybe they can tag a variable in the body. Certainly worth my asking...

          Thanks!

          - Bal
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  • Profile picture of the author IdeaLady
    This is not exactly what you are asking about (i.e., the ability to personalize sections of the PDF), but UltraCart will tag a PDF with customer information:

    Tag PDF with Order Information - Embed the customer's name, email, and order
    ID in the header and footer margins of the document (all pages).
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  • Profile picture of the author ErnieB
    Isnt it kinda like a rebrander? You would create a pdf with a special place holder snippet and when you were ready to send the pdf, run it through the rebrander and have it change all the place holders to what you inputted?
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    There are PHP PDF scripts that will help you do this...

    I have built a couple scripts that would have enabled me to do this, but at the moment, I cannot think of the PHP modules that I used to make it happen. I do recall however that there were more than two dozen options, but in the end, only one worked out for me...

    I am not a professional PDF programmer, but a pro would be able to help you...

    Just be sure that the person you hire to do the coding has experience working with PHP to PDF files, and you will be fine...
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  • Profile picture of the author balsimon
    Ernie - if the "rebrander" is a server based "variable merger," then yes - that could do the trick.

    Bill - I'm sure a PROgrammer could help me. Indeed, I have one who comes recommended, and I may go that route. I want to explore a bit more to see one that is OTS rather than custom - if possible. If not, then I have some business decisions to make along the lines that Martin made above.

    So - recapping: something server based; "rebrandable/variable merging" and OTS if possible.

    Any other thoughts on this?

    - Bal
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  • Profile picture of the author JayPeete
    Originally Posted by balsimon View Post

    Upon purchase, the footer said: "This ebook was prepared for exclusive PERSONAL use by Bal Simon. If you are not Bal Simon, please let us know so we can pursue his violation of our license."

    What software do you know of that can personalize an ebook on the fly like that.
    While it is a nice touch Bal, in my opinion it won't increase sales by much because the person has already purchased.

    I don't know. What do you think Warriors?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Didn't Butterfly Reports used to have something similar on their website? The PDFs were uploaded with tags in place where you wanted the personalization to occur. Then, if you grabbed a report to distribute to your members, it automatically personalized the first page to read something like "This free report brought to you by Your Name".

      As I recall, that was just a simple tag substitution. So, it can be done.

      Anybody know if Butterfly Reports was connected with Butterfly Marketing? Wasn't the latter open sourced not too long ago? If so, maybe that PDF personalization script was included in there? I don't know. Just asking questions...
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  • Profile picture of the author kavi
    hi Bal,

    You mean something like this:

    Thank you for your purchase. Please download/register here. (it's a test download page)

    Regards,
    Kavi
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  • Profile picture of the author balsimon
    Jay - I agree with you - up to a point. But how much repeat business happens because of "nice touches?" Might not this "nice touch" be perceived by at least some customer/clients as a form of heightened customer care? Is it ultimately worth it? I think so. It was enough to make me sit up, take notice and post this question. Certainly it's worth testing IMO.

    Dan - I hope your question leads to a good OTS solution. Looking forward to Warriors' replies.

    Kavi - yes - that is similar to the product that I received. Now if that is done on the fly, on the server that delivers the purchased product, we're more than half way there. The question the becomes, can I insert any variables I want in any location in the document that I want? And if it's off-the-shelf without me having to hire a programmer for a custom solution, I think we've got a home run.

    I hope this is a worthwhile pursuit - not just on the tech side, but secondarily on the application (what is it good for) side, too.

    - Bal
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  • Profile picture of the author kiopa
    Banned
    Yeah, you're looking for a PHP script. What you're looking for is quite simple though. Just goto one of the freelance sites out there like guru.com or oDesk, and submit a project.

    Shouldn't cost you anymore than $100 for someone to customize your existing membership software, and add a customized download link into your member's area. When they click it, a PHP script will dynamically place a footer at the bottom of each page, customized with the member's name, and send the PDF to the member's browser.

    Easily done...
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    • Profile picture of the author balsimon
      kiopa - I'm not a techie, so this question may seem obvious and "well duh, Bal," but I'll ask anyway.

      Is what you're talking about limited to header/footer (is there something special about pdf headers and footers?), or could it be anywhere in the doc, with the variable being most anything I want?

      - Bal
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      • Profile picture of the author kiopa
        Banned
        Originally Posted by balsimon View Post

        kiopa - I'm not a techie, so this question may seem obvious and "well duh, Bal," but I'll ask anyway.
        No such thing as a stupid question.

        Originally Posted by balsimon View Post

        Is what you're talking about limited to header/footer (is there something special about pdf headers and footers?), or could it be anywhere in the doc, with the variable being most anything I want?
        Nope, no limitations at all. You can either create an entire PDF from scratch on the fly (eg. invoice), or modify an existing PDF. Anything can go anywhere on any page though, with no limitations; images, background shading, lines, text, etc.

        PDF generation is a bit of a pain on the development end, hence why I wouldn't expect a WYSIWYG PDF editor anytime soon. You have to go pixel by pixel, so you're constantly regenerating the PDF, then modifying the positioning by a pixel or two to make it perfect. It's a pain, but there are no limitations, and anything is possible.

        If you get a developer for this, if they don't already know, tell them to learn the fPDF library. It's based in PHP, and what I would recommend at least.
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        • Profile picture of the author balsimon
          Kiopa - I appreciate your comments. One clarification please...

          You say "pixel by pixel." Does that mean that the output is in the form of images rather than text? Or is it that you are positioning text and other elements "geographically" on a page?

          Thanks.

          - Bal
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          • Profile picture of the author kiopa
            Banned
            Originally Posted by balsimon View Post

            You say "pixel by pixel." Does that mean that the output is in the form of images rather than text? Or is it that you are positioning text and other elements "geographically" on a page?
            Just geographic positioning. For example, if you give your developer an eBook, and tell him, "I want the second sentence in the third paragraph personalized with *this* info", the developer will have to play around a bit, figuring out the exact X & Y coordinates of that sentence. It still gets placed into the PDF file as text though, not an image.

            Again, bit of a pain, but anything is possible with PDF generation. You can easily allow people to put their own logos on PDFs, or whatever you wanted. No limitations. Simply put, anything you can do in Microsoft Word, you can do in dynamic PDF generation, on-the-fly, personalized with whatever information you want.

            HTH!
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  • Profile picture of the author kiopa
    Banned
    Originally Posted by balsimon View Post

    The customization should not be limited to header/footer locations. I want to be able to merge variables at any point in the document.
    That's a bit more of a pain in the ass, unless you use PDF forms... then it's easy.

    With PDF generation, it goes on a pixel by pixel basis. For example, the developer will have to specify in the code, "on page 2, at pixel 128 x 520, add this piece of text". PDF is a pain like that...

    So you'd have to give your EXACT requirement to the developer, and he'll implement them. If you ever want to change, you'd have to go through your developer again. As far as I'm aware, there isn't any server-based WYSIWYG editor for PDFs yet, and honestly, I wouldn't hold my breath for one.

    Or if you have a list you think you could sell a WYSIWYG PDF editor to, let me know. I can develop it, and maybe we can do a JV together. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author kavi
    Hi Bal,

    You can merge the variables anywhere in the document - it's not limited to header/footers only. Apart from the name and receipt number you can merge the customer's email and mailing address as well. The pdf is personalized and generated on the fly and since it's a hosted service you don't have to install anything - you can start generating personalized ebooks immediately. The system is a html to pdf converter so you'll only have to convert your ebook into html and feed that into the pdf generator's WYSIWYG interface. PM me and I'll setup a test account for you.

    Kavi
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