'Convert PDF to Image'

What is the command line?

NOTE: After installation, you can find several simple batch (*.bat) files for quick and easy usage by going to Start\All Programs\Convert PDF to Image\Example Batch Files. These will work without modification provided the installation was in the default folder. Email us at  if you have any questions or need additional examples. We will get you up and running fast!

Although we'll discuss the use of the command line here, it's only to give you a taste. For the full, accurate, and up to date information see the 'Convert PDF to Image' command line documentation. There you will also find a full list of examples and how to troubleshoot. See using the Windows Scheduler also.

There are two approaches to using the command line:

• Specify one or more conversion tasks in a conversion job
• Specify a single conversion task in detail. See Convert PDF To Image command line examples to get started quickly with specifying a conversion task or continue reading.

Specifying a 'Conversion Job'

Specifying a 'Conversion Job' is very easy, as you only need to tell 'Convert PDF to Image' where to find the associated *.SII 'Conversion Job' file.  A 'Conversion Job' file is created within the user interface. Set up all the conversions you want within the user interface, then save the conversion job file from the File menu. All the details associated with this conversion job are executed in one fell swoop.

The syntax for specifying a 'Conversion Job'  is:

 ConvertPDFtoImage /J{ConversionJobFile}  [/V] [/L{LogFile}] [/B{LogToJobFile}]

Items above enclosed in square brackets "[ ]" are optional, all other ‘switches’ are required.  Therefore /J should always be specified on the command line.
Example:

To run the 'Conversion Job' specified by "C:\MyJobs\convert-PDF-to-TIF.SII" type the following in at the 'Command Prompt':
  ConvertPDFtoImage /J "C:\MyJobs\convert-PDF-to-TIF.SII"

You can include or exclude spaces between switches and parameters.  For example,  "/F6" is the same as "/F  6".  For long file names you may be required to use double quotes.  For example /J "C:\Program Files\MyApp\convert-PDF-to-TIF.SII".

Specifying a 'Conversion Task'

Specifying a 'Conversion Task' is a bit more tedious, but does not require the prior creation of a 'Conversion Job' file.
The syntax for the command line when specifying a conversion task is:

 ConvertPDFtoImage /S{Input File(s)} / T{Output File(s)} [/C#] [/G] [/R] [/L{LogFile}] [/B{LogToJobFile}] [/V] [/Z] [/1-9]

NOTE: See also Convert PDF To Image command line examples to get going quickly.

Items above enclosed in square brackets [ ] are optional, all other 'switches' are required.  Therefore /S, /T  should always be specified on the command line.  There is one exception however, and that is when /G (Save to input folder) is specified, the /T switch is not necessary.

For long file names you may be required to use double quotes.  For example, /S "C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyImage.JPG".  Command switches are case sensitive, therefore /F is completely different from /f.

 /S{Input File(s)} is used to specify which files to convert.  You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.PDF").  

 /T{Output File(s)} is used to specify where to save the converted file(s) to.  You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.BMP").  

 /C# tells 'Convert PDF To Image' what the output file type is.  You must supply a number for the # symbol.  For all constants see File Type Constants table immediately below.

Remember the output file, specified by the /T{Output File(s)} switch, has an extension which determines it's file type.   /C is only required if you are not using file names with standard file extensions (standard file extensions are jpg, tif, gif, etc.).  For example if you working with bitmap files with file names like mybitmap.abc then you definitely need to specify the /C switch.

 [/G] Save files to their input folders.  Use this instead of /T to place the converted files in the same folder as the input file.  This cannot be used when converting a single, specified file from within a folder.  Use the /T switch instead.

 [/R] Seek out and do all files found in the sub-folders specified in the /S switch.  Recursive subdirectories.  You may add this switch if you are processing whole directories of files.  See /S, /T and /G for more details on selecting whole directories to be converted.

 [/L{LogFile}] Log file path and name (i.e. d:\mylogs\CITP.LOG) If this switch is specified a log file with the given path and name will be created and the results of the conversion will be written to it.  See also /V.

 [/B{LogToJobFile}]   Save the Log file as a 'Conversion Job' ONLY IF ERRORS OCCURRED.  This is useful if the files that had problems can be done at a later time, or with a different method.  /B is different from /L, since the file generated with /B will not include extraneous comments not allowed in a 'Conversion Job' file.  Save as a .SII file type so it can be loaded as a job.

 [/V] Verbose mode.  Specify this switch to display a message box indicating how the conversion went.  See also /L.

 [/Z] Verbose Log. All file operations will be recorded in the log.

 [/1] PDF pages to convert.  For example if you have a multipage PDF and you want to convert pages 2-5 use /1 2-5 . ALWAYS put a space after the 1 in /1. To do page one for example use /1 1

[/3] TIFF: Append to existing when converting to a TIFF.  Use /3 TRUE to append /3 FALSE not to.

[/4] JPEG: Quality of the resulting JPG from 0 to 100 (default is 100).  0 is lowest and 100 is highest quality.  The higher the quality the larger the resulting output file.  Use /4 100 for highest quality. Default is 100.

[/5] Resolution: Specified in DPI, the image resolution is critical. Default is 150.

[/6] Width: Width of the output image in pixels. Leave out this switch or use a value of 0 to use the size within the PDF file.

[/7] Height: Height of the output image in pixels. Leave out this switch or use a value of 0 to use the size within the PDF file.

[/8] lTiffConvertToSingleFile: If you are converting multiple pages in a PDF file to a TIF, you can have a single file output or multiple file output.  Use /8 1 to create a single file or /8 0 to create multiple output files.

Table of File Type Constants