Getting Started

PDF Ink is installed on your server. Now what? There are a lot of settings and options, so here are some tips for how to get going quickly.

WordPress

We will venture to guess that most people will be using PDF Ink with WordPress. If that’s you, keep reading. There are four main ways to integrate PDF Ink with WordPress:

  • WooCommerce (Woo)
  • Download Monitor (DLM)
  • Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)
  • Shortcodes

If you are using WooCommerce, Download Monitor or Easy Digital Downloads, and are not working with a developer for customized setups, you will probably not need to use shortcodes, and can ignore the Shortcodes settings page entirely. Below we will talk about getting going with Woo, DLM and EDD.

Head over to the Integrations tab to turn on stamping for whichever integration you are using.

This is a screenshot of the WooCommerce integration settings. Those for EDD and DLM are nearly identical, and are also located on the same Integration Settings page. For the quickest start, just check both boxes. This gets the ball rolling. If you just want to get a quick stamp going, skip ahead to Testing Stamping.

Per-product settings

You will notice that you can turn on stamping globally (for all PDF files), but that you can also drill down to the product — and even to the product variation — levels. So technically, you could leave the “Global Stamping” checkbox unchecked, and head directly to the product listing for the only file(s) you want manipulated, and set PDF Ink settings there (at the product settings level). To change settings at the product level make sure you have disabled Gutenberg (at least temporarily) because there are no Blocks settings for PDF Ink (yet).

Per-variation Settings

If your Woo, DLM, or EDD product has sub-products (variations, files), then you will find further drill-down of PDF Ink settings under each product variation. If you want to override the parent settings, make sure to check the override checkbox and save all your override settings.

Testing Stamping

Now stamping is turned on. To get a quick test stamp, maybe try playing around in the Sandbox. If you don’t know which library to choose, start with TCPDI + TCPDF. Many defaults are set for you, but if you want to see stamping in action right away, go to Placement settings and write some content:

We entered “Hello world!” then clicked Save. Scrolling down the page we find a rainbox-colored box containing the actual Sandbox. Here we can test settings we have saved in the Sandbox, or settings we have saved in the Front end. Right now we are testing in the sandbox, so change “Which settings to Use?” to “Sandbox settings” and click “Save Changes.”

Next, click the blue “Manipulate PDF” button.

PDF Ink will spit out a PDF in another window, which should be altered, like this:

Great! Our first stamped PDF with PDF Ink. We just wanted to show how easy it is to get started. This isn’t by any means a pretty stamp, it just says “Hello World.” Using the PDF Ink settings, though, it’d be easy to move it anywhere on the page, rotate it, and change the font and color and size.

The sandbox is for play and experimentation; everything there is hidden from your users. The frontend settings will apply to all your WordPress frontend (user/customer) downloads, unless they are overwritten by per-product or per-variation settings. You can learn more about all the frontend settings here.

After you have tested your stamping settings in the backend, you will probably want to run through some test purchases and downloads to make sure the frontend runs smoothly, too. Right?

If using Woo, EDD, or DLM, two alternatives for frontend testing, instead of using the sandbox (backend) include:

  1. Create a secret coupon in your shop to allow 100% free purchases. Test your watermark by purchasing PDFs from your shop using the coupon.
  2. Create a free product but make it hidden, or better yet make it a private post (visible only to you).

How Do These Integrations Work?

When WooCommerce, Download Monitor, and Easy Digital Download file links are clicked by the customer, allowances are made by those respective plugins to perform last-minute tasks before the file is delivered. PDF Ink takes advantage of those allowances (WordPress filter and action hooks) to gather the file path, and manipulate a duplicate of that file. That manipulated duplicate is delivered to the customer, and the original file remains untouched (and unseen by the customer).

PDF Ink runs on any click of any official WOO/DLM/EDD download link, whether it be in an email receipt, order confirmation screen, or account pages. If stamping is turned on for the file, it will be stamped and/or encrypted/passworded.

Stamped Files

What happens to those duplicate files with customer stamps on them? Naturally they must be stored somewhere, at least until they are handed to your user. The default location for them is in your wp-content/uploads/pdf-ink/ folder.

Check out your PDF Ink Housekeeping Settings. If you are using a forced download method, and are not keeping a copy on your server, an attempt will be made to delete it directly after delivery. If you are using a redirect-type download method and are not keeping a copy on your server, they will be cleaned later using CRON.

With PHP

If you or someone you know is good with the PHP programming language, PDF Ink can be used without WordPress. The footwork has been done for you to prepare and bundle all the best PDF manipulation PHP libraries and give means for calling them ad lib in your PHP project.

If you would like to team up to build a formal integration with Drupal, Joomla, Magento, OpenCart, OctoberCMS, Craft, TYPO3, etc., please get in touch. This might be easier than you’d imagine.

Otherwise, if you’re running one of those aforementioned CMS platforms, PDF Ink would be a handy tool to get PDF watermarking/passwording going in your application.