Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any difficulties, errors or bugs when running PDF-eXPLODE, you can forward those issues with as much detail as possible to: support@3000AD.com.au  E-mails are generally responded to within 24 hours. E-mail support is free for both the Evaluation and Licensed product.

PDF-eXPLODE is a one-click batch e-mail delivery tool that makes it easy and cost-effective for small businesses to get their customers the information they expect on time. Through a click of the printer button, PDF-eXPLODE converts a report or a Word document into batches of individual PDF attachments and securely and reliably e-mails them to the designated recipients. In addition, users can pre-schedule routine mailings for hands-free delivery.

PDF-eXPLODE is designed to strengthen your business relationships by getting the information people need into their hands when they expect it.  Whether sending daily confirmations, monthly statements, or other critical reports or correspondence, PDF-eXPLODE reduces costs and saves time by eliminating the labor-intensive process of hand-mailing or e-mailing each document separately.  PDF-eXPLODE helps reduce costs, save time, increase cash flow and enhance customer service.

PDF-eXPLODE software improves productivity and costs by eliminating the need to send documents one-by-one, whether through the mail or by e-mail. It:

• Eliminates costly and inefficient paper-based workflows.
• Offers customers, partners and employees immediate access to the information they need.
• Pre-schedules routine and tedious mailings, freeing up staff to focus on revenue-generating activities.

It also adds value to your existing business systems. Most organizations already have made costly investments in software and equipment and can't afford new technologies that disrupt their current workflows. Thanks to its standards-based interface, PDF-eXPLODE software can work with any existing business application.

• As a printer driver, it easily installs onto existing Windows computers via the Printer Control Panel.
• It supports e-mail delivery of documents using SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) standards.
• It works with your existing business applications, including Crystal Reports, R&R Report Writer, Microsoft Word ( and Mail Merge Wizard), Microsoft Visual FoxPro, plus accounting and other software packages.

PDF-eXPLODE enables you to create focused, targeted documents, so you can treat your customers and partners as individuals, leaving them both satisfied and loyal. It:

• Customizes documents, such as financial statements and marketing brochures, for specific individuals or even departments and workgroups – sending them only the information they want and need.
• Allows you to send communications whenever you want for no additional cost so you can be responsive to your customers' needs.
• Combines multiple documents to the same recipient in a single PDF.
• Ensures that dynamically generated documents, including business reports and sales letters, are highly legible and consistently branded.
• Includes visually rich charts and graphs tailored to specific documents.
• Enhances your document delivery with targeted e-mail messages.

Everyone you do business with will benefit from PDF-eXPLODE. Communication is central to the success of a business, and customers expect – and demand – regular, consistent communication. PDF-eXPLODE makes it easy and affordable to get the right information into the right hands at the right time. That means customers – as well as business partners and your employees – will remain well informed and, subsequently, confident about and satisfied with how you do business.

PDF-eXPLODE helps companies communicate reliably, efficiently and regularly not only with their customers and outside vendors but also with and among departments. PDF-eXPLODE allows departments as well as workgroups – purchasing, operations and accounting, for example – to simultaneously receive business-critical reports, so they can continue to coordinate to keep the business running smoothly and efficiently.

PDF-eXPLODE can be used in virtually any business and by any department that sends bulk individualized communications – whether to customers, employees, vendors or prospects.

Below is a sampling of the most popular uses for PDF-eXPLODE.

Manufacturing/Shipping and Fulfilment

• Order confirmations
• Shipping memos

Accounting and Finance

• Invoices
• Account statements
• Contracts
• Purchasing orders
• Dunning letters
• Internal budget status reports

Human Resources Departments

• Benefits statements
• Open enrolment forms

Sales and Marketing

• Targeted sales letters
• Promotional mailings
• Thank you notes
• Re-order solicitations
• Internal lead status reports
• Regional sales reports

Professional Services

• Billing statements
• Appointment confirmations
• Reminders to schedule appointment

Financial Service Providers

• Monthly, quarterly, year-end statements
• Trade confirmations
• Portfolio management and reviews

PDF-eXPLODE is an all-in-one document delivery tool that allows you to both create individual PDFs and e-mail them in batches with a click of your printer button.

Easy Use and Set-up – PDF-eXPLODE can be used with both text documents and data-driven reports, seamlessly fitting into business workflows. PDF-eXPLODE works with most business applications, including Crystal Reports, R&R Report Writer, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word (Mail Merge Wizard), Microsoft Visual FoxPro, and accounting and other software packages. As a printer driver, it installs onto any Windows computer via the Printer Control Panel.

Automatic and Manual Process Settings – PDF-eXPLODE can be set in silent mode to run without intervention when a document is printed, whether from within an application by clicking the printer button or from a task scheduler for true hands-free processing. Or it can be set to run manually for full control to set options at any time, displaying interactive pop-up instructions that users respond to every step of the way.

Standard and Customized E-mail Messages – PDF-eXPLODE defaults to a general e-mail subject and message to make e-mail deliveries as easy and hands-free as possible. For enhanced customer service, it allows customization of e-mail subjects and messages for each individual PDF attachment. In addition, users can crate and name pre-scripted e-mail messages - such as "Invoice" or "Monthly Statement" - to sent to all recipients of a similar type of document to easily manage report distribution to multiple customers.

Multiple Delivery Modes – PDF-eXPLODE can distribute individual PDF attachments through a number of communications channels. In addition to sending through e-mail, it can send documents to shared network folders for employees to view. In the near future, PDF-eXPLODE will have the capability to send PDF documents to FTP sites for Web publishing. 

Streamlined Mailings Management and Archiving – PDF-eXPLODE has a number of features for managing mailings. It logs each task performed for job verification so users can review the results of each e-mail and correct any errors. It also saves a copy of each PDF attachment for archiving.

Professional Benefits of PDF Format – PDF-eXPLODE leverages the features and benefits of Adobe PDF. In addition to making documents accessible to anyone using free Adobe Reader^® software, it preserves the professional appearance of original documents so the electronic and paper versions look identical. It protects the integrity of documents by making them non-editable. It also offers efficiency, making it easy to copy and paste information from documents into other office productivity applications.

Secure Sending – PDF-eXPLODE has a number of security features that protect the integrity of documents, including the ability to select whether a recipient can edit the PDF document. In addition, it allows users to password-protects files to further secure their communications.

Efficient Operations – PDF-eXPLODE efficiently sends documents directly through a mail server (SMTP) instead of using an e-mail client, such as Outlook or Notes. This feature avoids having to manually confirm pop-up security-block messages. It also provides a choice of e-mail From: address, so e-mails can be sent from any address. It also compresses documents for more efficient delivery and storage.

Bonus PDF Creation – While the main purpose of PDF-eXPLODE is to create and distribute batches of PDF documents, it can turn any individual document, such as an Excel spreadsheet, into a PDF without sending.

PDF-eXPLODE functions as a Windows printer, so the document delivery process starts with the click of a printer button.

PDF-eXPLODE then runs through a series of three steps to create and distribute targeted e-mails. It:

1. Takes a report or a word or mail merge document and, instead of printing it, converts it to a master PDF document;
2. “Explodes,” or splits, the master PDF into individual PDF attachments based on hidden e-mail tags in the original document; and
3. Distributes each individual PDF either via e-mail, your local area network or FTP (available soon) to the designated recipients.

PDF-eXPLODE is ideally suited to work with any application that merges data from a database with a template, including Crystal Reports, R&R Report Writer, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Word (Mail Merge Wizard), Microsoft Visual FoxPro and other "report writer" software, either built-in to your business applications or used as a separate add-on to your business databases.   You also may use PDF-eXPLODE with any Windows application that is capable of printing if you wish to e-mail all or portions of the document or if you simply want to convert a document to PDF format.

System Requirements

• Operating System: Microsoft^® Windows^® XP, Windows 2000
• Hard Drive: Minimum 34MB of hard disk space
• RAM: At least 16MB of free RAM

Yes. PDF-eXPLODE merges all the documents “tagged,” or addressed, to the same recipient into one PDF attachment, which it then e-mails.

Can I Send a Document to More than One Recipient?

Yes. PDF-eXPLODE lets you send a single document to as many recipients as you like. This feature is helpful to keep everyone in the loop.

Yes. You can create and send a specific e-mail message with a specific PDF attachment. This is done by creating and saving a subject/message in a client folder and then “tagging” the original document with specific file name of the subject/message.

Yes. PDF-eXPLODE can run manually so that you have full control to set options for a mailing at any time. Instead of running automatically in “Silent Mode,” PDF-eXPLODE will display interactive pop-up instructions that you respond to every step of the way.

PDF-eXPLODE reads hidden “tags” in the original document to know where to send the attachment and what message to include in the e-mail. These tags include a recipient identifier – which is usually an e-mail address – and a message identifier. If a message identifier is not included, the e-mail attachment is automatically sent with the default message you indicated when you initially set up PDF-eXPLODE.

You insert a "tag" on each page, typically as the first line in the page header, in the following standard format:

<pdfexplode>messageIdentifier#client@email.com</pdfexplode>

• All tags must start (“open”) with <pdfexplode> and end (“close”) with </pdfexplode>
• Open and close tags must match one another in case (i.e. uppercase, lowercase or mixed case).
• All tags must always include a client identifier, which may be an e-mail address or a filename
• An optional message identifier, if used, must precede the client identifier and be followed by a pound sign (#)
• Tags must be formatted with the Arial font, and the color may be set to White to hide the tag.
• All tags must fit entirely on one line.
• You may include as many tags per page as desired.

Yes - the steps you follow to insert a PDF-eXPLODE tag depends on the application in which you are working.

• Tagging a Microsoft Access Document
• Tagging a Microsoft Word Document
• Tagging a Microsoft Word Mail Merge Document
• Tagging a Crystal Report
• Tagging an R&R Report

You can check on whether a document has been sent one of two ways.

1. You can view the “Log File,” which records and displays each action, so you can see if all documents were sent – and which ones, if any, had sending errors.
2. You also can look in the e-mail inbox for your e-mail return address (i.e., Sender Name) account for delivery errors returned by the intended recipient's e-mail server.

PDF-eXPLODE can be used with some Web mail server that offer POP3 functionality - which is essentially the functionality offered by most E-mail Clients  (like Outlook Express / MS Office Outlook. Greater use of Web mail servers is planned for the next and future versions of PDF-eXPLODE. For now, lets look at the most popular web mail servers:

 

Yahoo

Yahoo! Mail offers standard POP3 access for receiving and sending emails through your Yahoo mailbox, using an external email client software. This is the only web mail server that currently works with PDF-eXPLODE.

To setup your email client for working with your Yahoo account, you need to in PDF-eXPLODE enter the following for your mail settings:

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Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.mail.yahoo.com

Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) - smtp.mail.yahoo.com

Authentication: POP3

Username/Password: enter your Yahoo login & password

Port: 587

------------------------------------------------------------------------

YOU MUST also go to your Yahoo mail account on the web and access Mail Options and set it and click SAVE as shown in the graphic below:

 

Hotmail

Hotmail is using the HTTP protocol for connecting you to your mailbox. PDF-eXPLODE does not support HTTP protocol currently

GMail

Like Yahoo, Google GMail service offers email client access for retrieving and sending emails through your Gmail account. However, for security reasons, GMail uses an SSL (Secured Socket Layer) connection which sends the outgoing message encrypted.  Currently, PDF-eXPLODE does not support SSL connections. The settings below are given for future versions.

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Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.gmail.com

Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) - smtp.gmail.com

Authentication: Login

Username/Password:  enter your Gmail login & password

Port: 465 or 587

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AOL

The AOL email service uses HTTP IMAP access.  PDF-eXPLODE does not support IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) connections.

Netscape

Netscape outgoing mail server (SMTP) needs SSL support. Currently, PDF-eXPLODE does not support SSL connections. The settings below are given for future versions.

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Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.3.isp.netscape.com

Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) - smtp.isp.netscape.com

Authentication: Login

Username/Password:  enter your Netscape login & password

Port: 25

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You can have multiple document tags, each one starting with a '<pdfexplode>' and ending with '</pdfexplode>' tag set, formatted with the font 'Arial'.

For example:
Page 1 header
<pdfexplode>invoice@3000ad.com.au</pdfexplode>[space] <pdfexplode>mail@3000ad.com.au </pdfexplode>

Page 2 header - assuming each invoice is one page
<pdfexplode>invoice@300ad.com.au</pdfexplode> [space] <pdfexplode>jgeorge@zzz.com </pdfexplode>

OR
Page Header
<pdfexplode>invoice@3000ad.com.au</pdfexplode>
Invoice Group Header of your report writer
<pdfexplode>mail@3000ad.com.au</pdfexplode> (this will change with each NEW group header)

Note:
[space] means you must include one keyboard space between each tag set.
Tags must not word wrap. So the <pdfexplode> PLUS e-mail address PLUS </pdfexplode>must be fully contained on ONE line when the report or document is run.
You must ensure that the Group Header is repeated on each page.

PDF-eXPLODE currently does not cater for multiple Master PDF named files. However the following workaround should provide you with the answer.

You can have multiple document tags, each one starting with a '<pdfexplode>' and ending with '</pdfexplode>' tag set and formatted with the font 'Arial'. Create 2 pdfexplode tags for each page in the page header as follows

Page 1 header
<pdfexplode>invoice</pdfexplode>[space] <pdfexplode>mail@3000ad.com.au </pdfexplode>

Page 2 header - assuming each invoice is one page
<pdfexplode>invoice</pdfexplode> [space] <pdfexplode>jgeorge@zzz.com </pdfexplode>


The 'Invoice' tag is not a valid email address, so a file with the name INVOICEyymmdd_hhmmss.pdf will be created for each page in the batch run in the default document path or a nominated file path (Version V1.17.10(SP10)). This INVOICEyymmdd_hhmmss.pdf 'master' is in addition to the Master PDF created by PDF-eXPLODE. In the filename: 'yymmdd_hhmmss' represents the Date in year/month/day and the PC clock Time in hour/minute/seconds. In PDF-eXPLODE version V1.17.10(SP10) and beyond, you can optionally elect to remove the date/time from the saved filename.
Note:
[space] means you must include one keyboard space between each tag set.
Tags must not word wrap. So the <pdfexplode> PLUS e-mail address PLUS </pdfexplode>must be fully contained on ONE line when the report or document is run.

A separate license is required for each computer on which PDF-eXPLODE is installed.

Yes. You can download a 30-day free trial version. Click here

After downloading and installing the 30-day trial version of PDF-eXPLODE, you can purchase a license by running the program and selecting Purchase this software online and clicking Continue to order through our secure website.