There are a couple of options when importing PDFs into BMI. In this article I’ll cover each method and the pros/cons of each.
Method 1 – Import PDF as a multi-page PDF (no conversion)
This is the recommended method of bringing PDFs into BMI.
PROS
- PDFs are imported without converting the files. This means the import process is faster and the image quality is unchanged from the original PDF.
CONS
- Barcodes in a PDF cannot be read using this method.
- You cannot split imported PDFs
How to Import the PDF
- Open BMIIndex
- Go to FILE > IMPORT
- Browse and select the file(s) you want to import
- The file(s) will now be displayed in BMIIndex as PDFs.
Method 2 – Import PDF and convert to single-page TIFs
This method is used by the majority of our users because, historically, most documents saved in BMI were scanned as TIFs. As more documents are being received as PDFs, a few users are moving to Method 1 above.
PROS
- Barcodes are read.
- Documents can be split/joined/organized.
CONS
- The conversion process is relatively quick, but on larger documents can be a little slow. This is faster than Method 3, but slower than Method 1.
How to Import the PDF
- Open BMIIndex
- Go to FILE > IMPORT
- Browse and select the file(s) you want to import
- The file(s) will now be displayed in BMIIndex as PDFs.
Method 3 – Import PDF and split into single-page PDFs
This method is not used as often.
PROS
- Barcodes are read.
- Documents can be split/joined/organized.
CONS
- The conversion to single-page PDFs is slow.
How to Import the PDF
- Open BMIIndex
- Go to FILE > IMPORT
- Browse and select the file(s) you want to import
- The file(s) will now be displayed in BMIIndex as PDFs.
NOTE – This process is exactly the same as Method 1. It requires different configuration settings on your server. Please contact a BMI support representative to discuss if this import method would be right for you. Also, there is an option to merge this into one PDF upon commiting to the database. Again, talk with BMI if you’d like to explore this option.
