Category: General
Convert spool file to PDF
Posted on October 15, 2013at 12:32 pm
Selecting the best tool.
Spool File to PDF
Adobe’s PDF is now the de facto standard for exchanging documents electronically. The advantage of PDF is that it is a universal file format that can preserve fonts, formatting, colors and graphics. Adobe PDF files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed. Start your journey here to learn how to convert a spool file to pdf.
System i businesses looking to make the leap to paperless trading are faced with quite a number of products that are capable of taking a System i spool file and converting it to PDF format. However, not all of these products offer the same range of features. When selecting a tool of this kind, it is important to ask the following questions:
What kinds of spooled files can be handled?
Some tools can only handle simple *SCS spooled files. If you use more complex spooled files, make sure the tool you choose can process:
- AFP (Advanced Function Printing)
- IPDS (Intelligent Printer Data Stream)
- Line data
What spooled file content can be processed?
Some tools can only process the textual content of your spooled fie. If you want the PDF file to reproduce the appearance of your spooled file accurately, make sure the tool you select can handle:
- Multiple, mixed fonts
- Images and graphics
- Overlays and page segments
- Barcodes
What added value can the tool provide?
While converting your spooled file, some tools allow you to add value to your reports by allowing you to add such things as:
- Data compression
- Indexes and bookmarks
- Color
- Titles and control information
- Logos, watermarks, and pre-printed forms
How easy is it to integrate with my existing systems?
Think about how you will implement the tool within your current environment. Will you need to re-code your applications or change your reports to achieve what you require? Look for features such as:
- A command line interface
- The ability to split reports so that, for example, a single billing spooled file can be divided automatically into separate invoice files for different customers
- Exit program points to allow you to perform special processing on the files as they are created, e.g. pass them to an e-mail application
Please visit our website at www.CoolSpools.com to download a 30-day free trial of our tools for converting System i spool files to Adobe PDF, RTF, Excel, CSV, TIFF, HTML and other PC file formats. Start spool file to pdf conversions now!
International Power Conference 2013
Posted on August 29, 2013at 6:04 pm
Join us at stand 9 to celebrate twenty five years of System i at the International Power conference, on September 24th 2013 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Milton Keynes, UK
And as a special offer to Coolspool guests – register for the conference FREE using the code CSMR20 at the Conference website www.nccomms.com/International_Power/Home.aspx
How Spool File Converters Can Help Your Business
Posted on June 01, 2013at 12:02 pm
Is your business using AS/400 (System i) to its full potential?
Could you be making better use of your data extracts? Maybe you’re wasting time performing tasks that could be automated – and as we all know, wasted time is wasted money.
Spool file conversion software can make life much easier for you. And the most powerful AS/400 spool file converter on the market is CoolSpools, produced by well-established global System i experts Ariadne Software (www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk).
Here’s a quick look at what CoolSpools could do for you…
What is a spool file converter?
Simple! A spool file converter is a piece of software that takes your spooled System i files and coverts them from a hard-to-understand data extract into an easy-to-read document, in the format of your choice e.g. spool file to PDF.
What formats can CoolSpools export to?
With CoolSpools software, you can perform System i file conversion to a number of popular formats. Want to convert spool to Excel? Consider it done. Convert spool to PDF? Not a problem. Export your AS/400 data extract to XML? Piece of cake! CoolSpools’ reliable software makes it all so simple.
How much control do I have over the converted files?
Plenty. If you need conditional formatting and color-coding in your System i Excel files, that can be automated. Need images, text formatting and other style features in your iSeries PDFs? CoolSpools can do it. Want to split your System i PDF into multiple documents? Tell CoolSpools where to split, and it’ll split it for you. CoolSpools can also merge the System i PDF and Excel files it creates with your existing documents – even if they weren’t created in CoolSpools.
Sounds impressive. But how does a spool file converter help my business?
By creating documents direct from your AS/400 data extract, the accuracy and integrity of your data is assured. By automating the document production process, you’re saving time – and therefore you’re saving money. And the incredible levels of flexibility and customization offered by CoolSpools means that you can get the information you need, in the format you need, whenever you need it.
Output the latest sales figures to an AS/400 Excel spreadsheet. Produce an attractive AS/400 PDF to present to clients, complete with company branding. Import iSeries XML into web applications rather than manually entering data. You can do all this – and much more – with the easy-to-use CoolSpools software.
This is really just scratching the surface of how CoolSpools’ powerful information management software will boost your productivity. Find out more at www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk.
IBMi25 year anniversary
Posted on April 29, 2013at 7:53 am
We would like to congratulate IBM on their 25th anniversary
It started as a simple idea: create an application system for midsized business.” First in a series of videos to celebrate the 25th anniversary of IBM i. Features insights from IBMers Frank Soltis, AS/400 Chief Architect, and Steve Will, IBM i Chief Architect, on how integration and investment protection were the foundation for the industry’s most successful midrange system.
IBMi25 first video @ http://bit.ly/142PWuN
Is This The Most Powerful Spool File Converter Yet? Convert Your AS/400 Spooled Files With CoolSpools
Posted on April 24, 2013at 9:45 am
If you work within an AS/400 environment, wouldn’t it be great if you could take your spooled files and use them to communicate information across multiple channels? Wouldn’t you like to convert spool to PDF, or convert spool to Excel, and have the output files perfectly formatted and ready to go?
IBM experts’ Ariadne’s CoolSpools software (www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk) can provide your users with the right information, at the right time, in the right format. This powerful spool file converter can convert spool to Excel, iSeries PDF, iSeries XML and many other popular file formats. It provides a simple, reliable way to take an AS/400 data extract and turn it into end-user friendly documents whenever and however you need it.
But CoolSpools is no mere spool file converter. It offers powerful functionality that puts it way ahead of other AS/400 spool conversion tools. Here’s how it can help you transform the way you share information…
Split your spooled files into several documents
If you’re converting spool to Excel, for example for financial reports, you might want to split your System i Excel output files by date, region or product. Or perhaps you’d like to output AS/400 to PDF, but split into several System iPDF files. CoolSpools can split your AS/400 data extract into multiple documents – and each can be emailed to different recipients.
Merge and combine files
Maybe you need to merge several of your AS/400 PDF files into one document. You might want to append your converted AS/400 PDF to an existing PDF – one that wasn’t necessarily produced using CoolSpools. Or perhaps you’d like to add your newly-created AS/400 Excel file as a new worksheet in an existing Excel file. CoolSpools makes all of this simple – and as far as we’re aware, no other System i file conversion software offers you this functionality.
Format files however you like
After converting spool to Excel, you might need to format the document with color, borders, fonts or conditional formatting. CoolSpools can handle all of this, without having to reopen your Excel document to manually amend it. And after you convert spool to PDF, do you need to incorporate images such as corporate logos, watermarks or contact forms? CoolSpools has it covered.
Populate your website with AS/400 XML output
CoolSpools can do more than convert AS/400 spools for end user documentation. Its powerful iSeries XML conversion can output data that can be used to populate your website. No need to reprogram – just import the AS/400 XML direct.
So, do you need to convert spool to Excel? Convert spool to PDF? Or output XML? CoolSpools can do all of this and more – as well as formatting the output in a way that suits you.
And remember, CoolSpools software is created by Ariadne Software, well-established global experts in providing System i solutions – so you can trust it to be reliable as well as powerful.
Find out more at http://www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk.
Paperless Office with the AS/400 and CoolSpools
Posted on April 19, 2013at 8:31 am
If your business uses an IBM System i server (formerly and more commonly known as the AS/400 series), you can convert its spooled files to a wide variety of other popular document formats, which can then be easily shared and viewed electronically. However, to produce these documents, you need the right information management software.
Introducing CoolSpools, a powerful spool file converter. CoolSpools is a flexible product designed by Ariadne Software (www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk), who are a well-established, global provider of information solutions for System i environments.
CoolSpools software makes converting AS/400 spool files to Excel, PDF, XML and other document types a simple, reliable task.
Here are just some of the ways using the CoolSpools spool converter can make sharing, distributing and understanding information so much easier…
Convert spool to Excel
Outputting AS/400 Excel is perfect if you need to produce and share sales data or other financial reports. CoolSpools software offers powerful manipulation tools to make your System i Excel documents readable and understandable, such as splitting your spooled files into multiple Excel tabs or multiple Excel documents. CoolSpools even supports formatting your AS/400 Excel documents for easier reading, with colors, fonts, shadings, borders and even conditional formatting all supported.
Convert spool to PDF
CoolSpools can also output AS/400 PDF documents. But it does so much more than simply convert your spool file to PDF. You can set parameters to split your PDFs into multiple documents, using criteria such as customer number or region. You can append your System i PDF to an existing PDF, even if it wasn’t created by CoolSpools. And you can even password protect your iSeries PDF, so sensitive data will only be seen by the people you want to see it.
Output spool file as XML
You can also convert AS/400 to XML, then use your iSeries XML files to import data into web applications. By producing AS/400 XML from your spooled files, you won’t have to input or reprogram the data – saving you time and money.
Of course, all document formats converted from your iSeries spools can easily be shared and viewed digitally – so why bother with paper?
So to save time, save money and finally banish paper documents to the trashcan of history, take a look at CoolSpools’ powerful System i file conversion solutions.
Find out more at http://www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk.
CoolSpools Support
Posted on April 16, 2013at 10:23 am
Here at CoolSpools (www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk ) we have been commended by our customers for our exemplary customer service. If you take a look at our testimonials page, you’ll find that customers not only love our products but they appreciate the service we provide them in exchange for their custom. It’s this high level of praise and appreciation that makes us want to constantly improve our products and service levels. Here are a few of the ways that we keep our customers happy and our software up to such a high standard.
Our Help Desk Portal
Login to our help desk portal and you can get in touch with us about any problems you’re having, ask our staff questions about our products or search our knowledgebase for information. We do our best to make sure our Help Desk Portal is user friendly, and we communicate with our customers to ensure it’s running at its best.
Numerous Contact Methods
We aim to make ourselves as available as possible. On our contact page, you’ll find you can contact us by phone, email, post and even out of hours via our help desk portal. In comparison to other software websites, we think we’ve made ourselves pretty accessible to our customers.
FAQs for self diagnosis
If you have any specific questions about our solutions, your first port of call should be our FAQ section. We’ve written a comprehensive guide to what we think are some of the more common questions to help customers maximise the benefits of our software. However, if you do find that your problem can’t be answered via our FAQ section, don’t hesitate to contact us via any one of our other contact means.
Downloads
In the downloads section of our website you can download the latest patches and updates for our products. We call these fix packs. We’re constantly reviewing and updating our products to increase their efficiency.
Utilities page
Finally, we have added a utilities page to our website. This contains some useful tools that our customers find helpful when looking into issues, upgrading our products or researching new products you may wish to purchase.
We’re proud of how we interact with our customers and believe in giving back as much support to our customers as they support us by buying our products. We believe that it’s this support that has allowed CoolSpools to become successful.
One customer, Jim Horn of CATCO, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA says: “Your support is the best. If you ever need a reference on your product (Coolspools) or your support, I would be happy to give it. If all support was as fast and good as yours, life would be so much easier.”
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk/Contact.htm, email sales@ariadnesoftware.co.uk or call us on +44 (0)1625 547 962.
What is a Spooled File?
Posted on April 09, 2013at 10:39 am
Spool is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on-line.
Spooling is a function of your computer system that saves data for later processing or printing. The system saves this data in a spooled file.
CoolSpools (www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk) is the complete information management solution for IBM System i. With CoolSpools you can manage spooled files. Our software converts the spooled file to Excel, PDF and XML. This ultimately saves your time and money by moving your business away from paper-based documents and by distributing information via electronic formats.
CoolSpools is easy to use but immensely powerful. It helps you give your users and customers the right information, at the right time, and, just as importantly, in the right format. Our solutions address issues such as:
• sending documents to customers by email without having to change print programs
• publishing company reports on a corporate server so they can be archived and accessed easily from a PC
• producing Excel files from the System i without having to rely on users or operators to run file transfers
E-reading and the environment
Technologically, the world is moving to a place where documents are created on computers, distributed via computers and digested on computers. This trend can be seen in the lean towards tablets and e-books over paperbacks, and is quickly becoming the way we read and share our data. While there are still many of us who would rather read a printed document than looking at the same document on a computer monitor, the main benefits of CoolSpools are the money saved, the easy access you have to your spooled files and the positive impact on the environment by refraining from printing unnecessarily.
There is a direct correlation between the amount of trees that have to be cut down and the amount of money it costs you, and the initial cost for CoolSpools, is usually far surpassed by the savings in reduced paper for most businesses. Kenneth Mohn of Large US Dairy informed us that the use of CoolSpools had resulted in the company spending 20% less on paper.
Here at CoolSpools, we care about the environment, saving money and increasing efficiency. If you want to understand how our solutions can help your business, please contact us at www.ariadnesoftware.co.uk/contact, email sales@ariadnesoftware.co.uk or call us on +44 (0)1625 547 962.
Welcome to Coolspools new blog
Posted on March 13, 2013at 3:07 pm
Welcome to Coolspools news blog