i-net PDFC Server brings the power of document comparison to your server - clients only need a browser to upload documents to the server and compare them. The result of these comparisons can then be saved and shared.

This document will walk you through setting up your server so you can hit the ground running.

In order for users to start a comparison, they must first be logged in. By default, i-net PDFC uses the operating system/domain accounts of the server for authentication. On Windows, it uses Windows Authentication, on Linux/Unix/MacOS it uses PAM authentication based on /etc/pam.d/pdfc or /etc/pam.d/login.

That means that you should be able to login with your own Windows / Linux / MacOS credentials out of the box when you click on the login button.

To compare documents just open up the start page of your server and click on Comparison to open the i-net PDFC web interface. After logging in (see above), upload two documents by clicking the large plus on the left and right side or just drag and drop two documents onto that area in your browser. Then click the green play button to start the comparison and view the results. In most cases, this should already work great and since it's running on your server, anyone who can log in can make use of it!

However, if the comparison results do not satisfy your needs, then you may need to change the configuration settings which affect which elements in the documents are compared and how. i-net PDFC offers some predefined configurations which should match most use cases, but you can also configure everything on your own (for advanced cases).

In the Comparison Application you can:

• rename the comparison
• change how to compare the two documents as well as which elements must be compared (comparison settings)
• publish the comparison result to share it with other users
• start a new comparison
• view all of your saved comparisons

If a comparison was finished, you can also:

• restart the comparison (e.g. after changing the comparison settings)
• hover over differences to see details of any differences which were detected
• show a list with all differences when clicking differences on the header line

All comparison features of the i-net PDFC Server can be used in an automated mode as well using the optional Task Planner plugin. It enables to automatically run any type of comparison and export in case of pre-defined events like a timer or a file change.

With the Task Planner you can:

• run single and batch comparisons
• define triggers to start the automated comparison like timer or file change
• use several action to process the result lime sending an email or storing the PDF export

To enable the Task Planner please activate the plugin in the configuration and grant the task planner permission if required.

We highly recommend to activate the Error Handler plugin as well and to set a valid SMTP and email address in the configuration. This is required to get notified in case a task does not complete normally.

i-net PDFC Server comes with a Web API which allows to integrate the comparison of documents into a custom environment. The API offers commands to start, view and delete comparisons. The Comparison Application can be embedded in custom web applications as well.

The respective plugins have to be enabled to use the Web API. A description of the commands can be found in the help pages.

It is recommended to create a backup job in the Maintenance module. The backup can automatically be run as a task using the Task Planner.

Anti Virus scans, such as the Windows Defender, are generally recommended. Live scans may, however, have a negative impact on the performance of i-net PDFC. The application produces many index and cache files that need to be created and read very fast.

If the performance degrades, especially while starting up the server, some technical folders should be considered to be excluded from the scans. The main index resides in the persistence sub-directory index and can be excluded. Due to its binary nature it is possible that it generates false-positive matches otherwise. The location of the persistence can be looked up in the Diagnostics module → Server Information.