LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2 Upgrade Center

Upgrading to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2

What is new in Adobe LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2 delivers:

• Ability to create rich PDF Portfolios using Assembler for more professional and streamlined output for customers or prospects
• Automatic file-type detection for Microsoft Office files for additional reliability
• Multiple concurrent OpenOffice and MS Office conversions for multi-threaded processing
• Ability to embed SWF files in PDF
• Support for the latest versions of AutoCAD 2009 and WordPerfect X4, for more interactive customer communications

Upgrading to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2

What are the top reasons to upgrade to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

Key reasons to upgrade include:

• Better performance and greater scalability
• Support for new capabilities introduced with Adobe Acrobat® 9 software, including PDF 1.7 and PDF document packaging
• The ability to assemble new or existing PDF files or pages into customized PDF document packages such as case files, reports, regulatory filings, or requests for quotation
• Support for PDF/A-1a and PDF/A-1b for standards-compliant document archiving
• The ability to convert PDF files to print or image file formats and deliver them automatically for unattended printing or archiving
• Quicker deployment and easier integration with other LiveCycle solution components
• Windows® print driver submission

Has anything changed about the administration console in LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

Yes. Although LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2 still has a console that looks similar to its predecessor's, configuration of submission processes is now managed by LiveCycle Workbench ES2. This includes watched folder, web service, and SOAP requests. Some functions related to the queue manager and the submission monitor have changed as well.

What are the new features in LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2 provides the following new or improved capabilities when compared with LiveCycle PDF Generator 7.0:

• Ability to create rich PDF Portfolios using Assembler for more professional and streamlined output for customers or prospects
• Automatic file-type detection for Microsoft Office files for additional reliability
• Multiple concurrent OpenOffice and MS Office conversions for multithreaded processing
• Ability to embed SWF files in PDF
• Support for the latest versions of AutoCAD 2009 and WordPerfect X4
• Open Document Format (ODF) and Microsoft Office 12 conversion
• PDF/A-1a (in addition to existing support for PDF/A-1b), delivering conformance to the highest level of the archiving standard
• Higher performance image file processing, including TIFF-to-PDF with and without OCR, as well as conversion of PDF files with embedded images into searchable PDF files
• PDF package assembly, which is the ability to create PDF packages from multiple PDF documents and forms (a capability introduced with Acrobat 8); PDF packages contain independent PDF files inside one integrated PDF unit — including pages that have been signed or protected — without compromising their integrity
• Bates numbering in the header or footer while assembling PDF packages, allowing compliance with standards in legal, pharmaceutical, and other regulatory filings
• PDF page overlays during document assembly, supporting overlays on multiple pages, where the previous generation supported overlays on single pages only
• High-performance, multithreaded service availability across a wider range of operating systems and functions, including Windows, UNIX®, Linux®, and AIX®, to speed the conversion of nonproprietary file formats such as PDF to image, PDF to PostScript®, HTML to PDF, Open Office to PDF, PostScript to PDF, and image to PDF (OCR off)

Upgrading to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2

What is involved in migrating from Adobe Acrobat Elements Server 6.0 to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

Acrobat Elements Server 6 customers will have to pay close attention to any applications your organization created with the Elements Server APIs. The Elements Server 6.0 APIs are no longer available in LiveCycle ES2, so you will have to port your applications to use the new PDF Generator ES2 APIs. The same types of operations are possible, so all you should have to do is swap out the old calls for the new ones.

What is involved in migrating from Adobe Document Server?

Adobe Document Server was designed to perform several PDF-based operations in a server environment such as PDF distillation, page assembly, document formatting and output, and form data merge/extraction. Over time, these capabilities were enhanced and separated into individual LiveCycle modules:

• LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2: PDF distillation and page assembly
• LiveCycle Output ES2: Document formatting and output
• LiveCycle Forms ES2: Form data merge/extraction

If you own Adobe Document Server, you would typically upgrade to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2, but you may choose to upgrade to LiveCycle Output ES2 or Forms ES2 instead. To learn more about your options, read the Adobe Document Server migration FAQ (PDF, 145K).

Is there any cost to upgrade?

Customers with current maintenance and support contracts who purchased Acrobat Elements Server, LiveCycle Assembler, or Adobe Document Server may upgrade to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2 at no cost. Customers without premium maintenance and support can typically purchase upgrades. Contact your Adobe sales representative for details.

I own a copy of Adobe Acrobat Distiller Server. Can I upgrade to LiveCycle PDF Generator ES2?

No. In December of 2007, Adobe introduced Adobe Distiller® Server 8, which provides an upgrade path for existing Acrobat Distiller Server customers. Contact your reseller for complete details.