PDF files

[mviens]

When using BC to compare two PDF files that are password protected, the only display is:

Process returned with a non-zero exit code (1)

Is it possible to modify BC to prompt for passwords on these files? A password may not be used on both files, or the password could be different. I might recommend trying the first password on the second file, and only if it fails to prompt for a different one.

Since BC can show images, is it possible to have the images in a PDF also be displayed? Optionally?

BC seems to take only the text within the PDF, but not the formatting. Is it possible to detect differences in fonts, size and styles, too?

Sorry for dropping 3 request items in one message, but since they were all related to PDF, I thought keeping them together made more sense.

[Chris]

It isn't possible to prompt for a password in the current version of Beyond Compare. It uses a command line tool to extract the text of a PDF, then opens the text for comparison.

The extraction tool does support providing a password on the command line, so if all your PDF files use the same password you could modify BC's settings to open the files. If you don't use a fixed password, then it isn't very useful.

To provide a password, add the command line argument "-upw <string>" for user password or "-opw <string>" for owner password. To edit the command line, select "Tools > File Formats". Select the "PDF Documents" format and go to the Conversion tab. Edit the "Loading" command line.

The best workaround in the current version is to open a PDF file in Adobe Reader X, then use the "File > Save As > Text" command to save the PDF to a text file. Then open the text file in Beyond Compare 3's Text Compare.

Opening password protected files, comparing images, and comparing formatting are all on our wish list. The current version is limited to comparing only the text contents of PDF files without images or formatting.