Knowledgebase

Question:

I have created a user profile for PDF-XChange Editor and exported the settings as a *.xces file. How do I import these settings for users on multiple machines?

Answer:

A command line switch can be used to import settings from a file to users on multiple machines.

Please note that these settings are stored in the Windows Registry for the current user (HCKU) when they are applied. Therefore the intended user should be logged in when settings are imported, as this will ensure that the settings are stored in the correct manner. If a different user - or even an administrator - is logged in when settings are imported, then issues may be experienced subsesquently.

Runonce

The Microsoft "runonce" method is ideal for the purposes detailed above. Further information on this method is available here.

Batch File

A batch file can be used as an alternative to the "runonce" method. PDF-XChange Editor can then be called from the batch file and with the switch importsettings to import the desired settings. (All available command line options are detailed here). The batch file should be placed in the user's 'Startup' folder, from which it will run, silently import settings and then delete itself.

The command line to call the importsettings switch and PDF-XChange Editor is:

"\\UNC\path\to\PDFXEdit.exe /importsettings \\UNC\path\to\Settings.xces"

Please note that the default PDF-XChange Editor install folder is:

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Editor"

An example command line is detailed below:

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Editor\PDFXEdit.exe" /importsettings "Settingsfile.xces"

A example command to delete the batch file after it has run is:

Del "path to batch file\filename.bat"

A working example is:

Del "%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\importsettings.xces

The examples above would combine into the following complete batch file:

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Editor\PDFXEdit.exe" /importsettings "Settingsfile.xces"
Del "%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\importsettings.xces

Please note that having the correct paths to the PDF-XChange Editor executable, the *.xces file and the batch file is essential to this method.