topic Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf in Management & Governance

Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 15:33:30 GMT

We have upgraded from Qlikview Server April 2019 SR4 to Qlikview May 2021 (12.60). The PDF-Xchange printer driver is no longer installed with Qlikview 12.60. The printer Qlikview now uses is 'Microsoft Print to PDF'.

After the upgrade Qlikview Reports (RP objects) that print to PDF are either 20 times the size of the files that used to get generated by the PDF-Xchange printer, or the PDF files are corrupted and you can't even open them. This occurs in Server and Desktop.

However, if you choose the PDF-Exchange printer in Desktop the reports are produced as they were - just fine. It appears that there is no way of changing the printer to 'PDF-Xchange' in Qlikview Server. I have changed the printer in Publisher to 'PDF-Exchange' but that does not seem to feed through to Qlikview Server in Access Point.

Any assistance, or fixes, would be appreciated.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

NadiaB — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:18:01 GMT

Hi @ssapseid

Are we saying that with the Microsoft Print to PDF printer option is possible to print PDF's is just the PDF size increases?

Have you tried to change the printer Resolution?

Ctrl + P

Click on "Page Setup"
Select Paper tab, then "Print Options", then "Advanced", find the "Image Size and Quality" section and change the "Default Resolution" to the lower setting.

Kind Regards.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:55:05 GMT

Thank you for the response NadiaB

With the 'Microsoft Print to PDF printer' I can't see the Page Setup, so I can't get to the Paper tab, then "Print Options", then "Advanced", find the "Image Size and Quality"

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

stevedark — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 06:54:26 GMT

Hi @ssapseid ,

This is not something that I have encountered myself, but it sounds like you want to ensure that the printer driver you want to use is the default on the server. To my mind the best way to do this is to uninstall all of the other printer drivers.

This article seems to have the how on that:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/remove_microsoft_print_to_pdf.html

It also shows how to set a default printer (if you don't want to remove the others).

If there is a problem with the PDF-Xchange driver, as it has not been installed with the new release, you could look at purchasing the driver from Tracker Sofware:
https://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads/enduser/pdf-xchange-standard

It looks as though it may be a free component, but you will have to check on that.

Hope that helps!

Steve

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:39:59 GMT

Hi Steve

Thank you for the above, however:

It appears that Qlikview Server 12.60 is hard-coded to print to ''Microsoft Print to PDF'. By removing the printer 'Microsoft Print to PDF', even if you install 'PDF-Xchange' and set as default, you get an immediate 'Timeout has been exceeded' error in QV Access Point.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

NadiaB — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:48:27 GMT

Hi @ssapseid

The option is at the bottom:

Kind Regards.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

NadiaB — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:57:20 GMT

Hi @ssapseid

I just found out that when using Print to PDF there is an option to change the driver.

1. Open "Printers & scanners" window.

2. Select "Microsoft Print to PDF", you will see three options, select "Manage"

3. In the new window select from the left menu "Printer properties", in the "General" tab select "Change Properties" button

4. The same window will reopen and then go to "Advanced" tab, there is a drop down list for "driver" selection, select PDF-Xchange 3.0, select "Apply" and "OK" on the next window.

Let me know if any of the options worked.

Thank you in advance.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

stevedark — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:01:37 GMT

Hi @ssapseid

That is a shame. I use the PDF-Xchange app outside of Qlik and find that it consistently gives better results than the Microsoft one. I suspect the decision to change was a commercial one rather than a technical one, and it's a real shame if there is no way to change to get the prior functionality.

It feels like something that may be buried in a registry key or config file, but I wouldn't know where to go looking for it.

If you wanted to try a bit of a hack, it should be possible to rename printers on the server, so you could try renaming the PDF-Xchange driver to be Microsoft Print to PDF, to try and fool QlikView.

The PDF-Xchange driver no longer ships as OEM with QlikView you may need to purchase the driver to have it work without a watermark. You should be able to test the approach without paying for a licence though.

Steve

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

stevedark — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 13:03:53 GMT

That sounds more sensible than what I just suggested! The only thing I can imagine you would need to be careful of is that the changes are made under the right user context on the server. You may need to RDP to the server using the QlikView Service account to make it work?

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 16:19:31 GMT

Hi NadiaB

That sounded like a good idea, but it still doesn't work.

I also tried renaming the PDF-Xchange driver to be Microsoft Print to PDF, but no joy.

If only I knew how to change the QVS printer, but like Steve says it's probably hidden deep in a registry setting.

Thank you both for your help.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

p_verkooijen — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:20:22 GMT

Got several issues, first of all the printing of reports does not respect paper sizes anymore. All reports are printed as Letter instead of A4. Letter is higher and smaller in width, so all reports objects are squished because of the smaller width

Windows Server 2012 lacks the printer Microsoft Print to PDF and therefore you get the timeout. It cannot start the print to PDF. Worst thing here is cannot install Microsoft Print to PDF on a Windows Server 2012 so Qlik has eliminated the possibility to Print reports using the access point.

There is a "fix" for distribution of PDF's, however this setting does not apply for manually generating Qlik Reports https://community.qlik.com/t5/Knowledge/QlikView-May-2021-12-60-running-Publisher-reports-on-a-Windows/tac-p/1825347/highlight/true#M3880

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

p_verkooijen — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 16:25:33 GMT

QlikView May 2021 SR1 has been released, you can now set your default printer

https://da3hntz84uekx.cloudfront.net/qlikview/12.60/126020100/QlikView%20May%202021%20SR1%20Release%...

Reports fail to print
Issue ID: QV-22394
Fixes the export to pdf action parameter PDF Printer Name and adds the setting DefaultPDPrinterName that makes it possible to specify the name of a default PDF printer. The problem only exists on Windows Server 2012.

Also works on Windows Server 2019 (tested Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2019)

Steps:

Edit the : C:\ProgramData\QlikTech\QlikViewServer\Settings.ini
Add: DefaultPDPrinterName=PDF-XChange 3.0 somewhere below [Settings 7]
Restart QlikView Server service

And Yes Qlik named the setting DefaultPDPrinterName instead of DefaultPDFPrinterName

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 20:53:16 GMT

The issue that we are having is that the same PDF report (using PDF-XChange 3.0) takes 3 times longer to generate in 12.60 SR1 when compared to QV12.50 SR4.

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

Richard_T — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 04:29:01 GMT

Hi All, you can follow this steps to fix the issue.

https://community.qlik.com/t5/Knowledge/Print-Report-to-PDF-via-Ajax-Client-with-error-Timeout-has-been/ta-p/1839585

Thanks

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

Maria_Halley — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 09:40:38 GMT

@ssapseid

I just wanted to let you know that this is fixed in 12.60 SR1.

There are a setting added that allows you to change the default printer.

See the release notes for more info

Re: Qlikview 12.60 problems with print to pdf

ssapseid — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 16:26:39 GMT

Hi Maria

The issue that we are having is that the same PDF report (using PDF-XChange 3.0) takes 3 times longer to generate in 12.60 SR1 when compared to QV12.50 SR4.

So it is fixed in 12.60 SRF1, but much slower than before. I have reported this to Qlik Support.