Creating Default User Settings for Large Deployments

Q: How do I create and deploy custom settings for company wide use?

A: Custom settings can be setup for large deployments by using the “defaults” folder located within the PDF Studio installation directory. This can be used to create company wide default settings for all features within PDF Studio including:

  • Application Preferences (language, units, software updates, page size, etc…)
  • Stamps
  • Signatures
  • OCR languages
  • Optimizer Settings
  • and more…

See detailed instructions below on how to create and apply user default settings.

Creating the Default Settings

The first step is to setup all settings and preferences within PDF Studio for a given user which can then be copied into the PDF Studio “defaults” folder.

  1. Install and launch PDF Studio on an Admin machine
  2. Setup or modify all settings and features you wish to have as defaults for your users
    • General application preferences: File Tab -> Preferences
    • Custom Toolbar Settings
    • Custom Rubber Stamps
    • Custom Action Wizard Settings
    • Custom Optimizer Settings
    • Custom Imposition Settings
    • Trusted Timestamp Certificates
  3. Once complete, you need to exit PDF Studio (File Tab -> Exit) to write out and save the settings changes
  4. Locate the admin user settings files and copy any files you wish to make defaults into another folder for use in the next steps below

 

Applying Default Settings for All Users

Once the default settings have been created you can apply these settings for all users by following the instructions below. This process can also be automated using any automated software management tools using scripting or command line calls to copy these settings into the defaults directory after installation.

  1. Locate the defaults folder in the PDF Studio installation directory
  2. Copy and paste any settings files you wish to use into this directory making sure to overwrite any existing files

 

When the user launches PDF Studio the first time on a machine, the default settings will be read from that defaults folder.

Important: From the second launch and on, the settings will be read from the user home folder, so any defaults must be set PRIOR to first launch. To reset all settings for a user, you can wipe out the PDF Studio user settings folder, i.e, delete all the files and folders located under that folder (See Where and What are the settings files for PDF Studio).

 

PDF Studio “defaults” Folder Locations by OS

Below are the default installation directory location for each OS. If you specify a custom installation directory you will need to instead look in your chosen location.

NOTE: [version] is the version of PDF Studio you have installed. For example, .pdfstudio2020

Windows

 C:\Program Files\PDFStudio[version]\defaults

 

Linux

Installations can vary by distro, but should be located in the same place for most distros in the following folder

Home Folder/pdfstudio[version]/defaults

 

Mac

Apple applications are stored in a single bundle and require additional steps to modify

  1. Close / Exit PDF Studio – Application must NOT be running to make changes
  2. Open Finder
  3. Go to Applications
  4. Right Click or CTRL + Click on the PDF Studio [version] application icon and select “Show Package Contents” in the menu
  5. Then go to Contents\java\app\defaults