How to control Excel conversions in DCS (Document Conversion Service)


The Excel converter options

The Excel converter has options to control the printing order of worksheets and charts, what data is shown, and what printing area, if any, is used.

You can control how the workbook is printed, including grid lines, comments and notes, margins, and headers and footers. You can also provide passwords to handle protected documents.

A useful feature for e-Discovery applications is the ability to control what is printed in any auto date, time and file name fields in the document.

You can configure either a Conversion Profile, if you are calling the Command Line or .NET library from your code, or the Watch Folder service to handle the converting of Excel spreadsheets.

When using the settings in the steps below, Excel spreadsheets will be printed with:

  • the charts first, then the spreadsheet with any comments visible,
  • gridlines displayed on the spreadsheet,
  • and all date fields replaced with the string “***DATE***”.

Steps For Controlling Excel Conversion using Watch Folder

  1. Stop Watch Folder Service. (Start – Programs – Document Conversion Service 3.0 – Watch Folder – Stop Watch Folder Service)
  2. Open Watch Folder configuration file. (Start – Programs – Document Conversion Service 3.0 – Watch Folder – Configure Watch Folder Settings)
  3. Add the following lines to the WatchFolder section you are using. This example, we are adding the lines to the ConvertToTIFF section:
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PrintOut” Value=”PrintOutChartsThenWorkbook”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintGridlines” Value=”True”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintComments” Value=”PrintInPlace”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.ReplaceFieldDateWith” Value=”***DATE***”/>
    • For a complete list of settings and values, see Excel Converter Options in the User Guide.
      <WatchFolder Name="ConvertToTIFF Watch Folder">
       <Settings>
        <!-- Folder options -->
        <add Name="InputFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Input"/>
        <add Name="SearchFilter" Value="*.*"/>
        <add Name="IncludeSubFolders" Value="True"/>
        <add Name="DeleteInputSubFolders" Value="True"/>
        <add Name="StagingFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Staging"/>
        <add Name="WorkingFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Working"/>
        <add Name="FailedFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Failed"/>
        <add Name="CompletedFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Completed"/>
        <add Name="OutputFolder" 
        Value="C:\PEERNET\WatchFolders\ConvertToTIFF\Output"/>
        <add Name="PollingInterval" Value="15000"/>
        <add Name="DCOMComputerName" Value="localhost"/>
        <add Name="TestMode" Value="false"/>
        <add Name="NormalizeFilenames" Value="false"/>
        <add Name="CopyInstructionsFromResources" Value="ReadMe_ConvertToTIFF"/>
      
        <!-- 0 means no limit -->
        <add Name="Polling.MaxFilesToProcessAtATime" Value="0"/>
        <add Name="Polling.SynchronousFilePickup" Value="false" />
        <add Name="UseTimeDateSubFoldersInCompletedFolder" Value="true" />
        <add Name="UseTimeDateSubFoldersInFailedFolder" Value="true" />
      
        <!--Excel Specific options -->
        <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PrintOut" Value="PrintOutChartsThenWorkbook"/>
        <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintGridlines" Value="True"/>
        <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintComments" Value="PrintInPlace"/>
        <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.ReplaceFieldDateWith" Value="***DATE***"/>
      
        <!-- Output file options -->
        <add Name="Devmode settings;Resolution" Value="300"/>
      
        <add Name="Save;Output File Format" Value="TIFF Multipaged"/>
        <!-- Replace the above with this to create serialized images. -->
        <!-- <add Name="Save;Output File Format" Value="TIFF Serialized"/> -->
      
        <add Name="Save;Append" Value="0"/>
        <add Name="Save;Color reduction" Value="Optimal"/>
        <add Name="Save;Dithering method" Value="Halftone"/>
      
        <!-- This creates file.ext.tif, change to 1 to create file.tif-->
        <add Name="Save;Remove filename extension" Value="0" />
      
        <add Name="TIFF File Format;BW compression" Value="Group4"/>
        <add Name="TIFF File Format;Color compression" Value="LZW RGB"/>
        <add Name="TIFF File Format;Indexed compression" Value="LZW"/>
        <add Name="TIFF File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="LZW"/>
        <add Name="JPEG File Format;Color compression" Value="Medium Quality"/>
        <add Name="JPEG File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="High Quality"/>
       </Settings>
      </WatchFolder>
  4. Save the Watch Folder configuration file.
  5. Start the Watch Folder Service. (Start – Programs – Document Conversion Service 3.0 – Watch Folder – Start Watch Folder Service)

Steps For Controlling Excel Conversion Using a Conversion Profile

  1. Stop your application.
  2. Open Profiles folder. (Start – Programs – Document Conversion Service 3.0 – Open Conversion Profiles Folder)
  3. Edit the profile you are using in the Command Line or .NET library call.
  4. Add the following lines:
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PrintOut” Value=”PrintOutChartsThenWorkbook”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintGridlines” Value=”True”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintComments” Value=”PrintInPlace”/>
    • <add Name=”Microsoft.Excel.ReplaceFieldDateWith” Value=”***DATE***”/>
    • For a complete list of settings and values, see Excel Converter Options in the User Guide.
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
       <Profile Type="0"
                DisplayName="TIFF 200dpi Optimized Color"
                Description ="Excel Charts First with Gridlines, Comments, Date Replacement.">   
      
      <Settings>
      
           <!--Excel Specific options -->
           <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PrintOut" Value="PrintOutChartsThenWorkbook"/>
           <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintGridlines" Value="True"/>
           <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.PageSetup.PrintComments" Value="PrintInPlace"/>
           <add Name="Microsoft.Excel.ReplaceFieldDateWith" Value="***DATE***"/>
      
           <!-- Output file options -->
           <add Name="Devmode settings;Resolution" Value="200"/>
           <add Name="Save;Output File Format" Value="TIFF Multipaged"/>
           <add Name="Save;Append" Value="0"/>
           <add Name="Save;Color reduction" Value="Optimal"/>
           <add Name="Save;Dithering method" Value="Halftone"/>
           
           <!-- TIFF Compression Options -->
           <add Name="TIFF File Format;BW compression" Value="Group4"/>
           <add Name="TIFF File Format;Color compression" Value="LZW RGB"/>
           <add Name="TIFF File Format;Indexed compression" Value="LZW"/>
           <add Name="TIFF File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="LZW"/>
           <add Name="JPEG File Format;Color compression" Value="Medium Quality"/>
           <add Name="JPEG File Format;Greyscale compression" Value="High Quality"/>
           <add Name="Image Options;Fax" Value="0"/>
      
         </Settings>
       </Profile>
  5. Save the profile.

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