FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

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Are you a developer? See the How do I FAQ for more questions and answers.

Analytics

How do I tell DocuPub which user in my system is viewing a document?

You can specify this in your program by sending in a custom field. Most Vuzit customers provide a unique "user ID" of their choosing but you can use any identifier you like. Afterwards you can load up data on each user by using this unique identifier. [link]

Can we determine the location of the person viewing a document?

Yes. Vuzit collects the IP address of every user, which helps us determine where the user was located down to the country, state, city and sometimes, even the building. To see this information, log into the Dashboard and click on the IP address under the Viewers by Address Report in the Analytics menu. [link]

Can I load the document analytics Vuzit provides into my system?

Yes. Vuzit has an events API that exports all analytics. The data can be batch uploaded. [link]

What analytics event data does Vuzit currently track in DocuPub?

Vuzit currently tracks document views, page views, document downloads, PDF downloads, zoom in/out. We plan on adding several more analytics as well. See the Vuzit Analytics Overview for more detailed information. [link]

What analytics information do you load from each user?

Vuzit collects the type of event (page view, download, etc), remote IP address of the user, referring link, web browser, request time, page viewed, duration of the page view and any custom information you provide. [link]

What document metadata do you collect from a document?

The following document properties: title, subject, file size, number of pages, page width , page height and the page text for all pages. We have a document API that allows you to access these properties. [link]

How can I track individuals that I send a private link and if they've forwarded it to anyone?

You can add a "custom" parameter to the link you send to them. Below are some instructions on how it's used. The following is a normal Vuzit document link:
https://ssl.vuzit.com/s/1q6b?sid=JLy0ntp0bd3yrLDqrKLGJlWLFusV15Ty
If you wanted to add the user's name to it (for this example his name is "John Smith") then you can add a "c" (short for "custom") parameter to the shared URL. In this example we'll store his name as "JohnSmith" so we need to add "&c=JohnSmith" to the end of the URL. The URL would then look like below (see the bold section):
https://ssl.vuzit.com/s/1q6b?sid=JLy0ntp0bd3yrLDqrKLGJlWLFusV15Ty&c=JohnSmith
Then when someone loads the link you will see the "JohnSmith" in the results as in this screenshot [link]

Will I be able to view my analytics on Google Analytics or just your web site?

At this time Vuzit only allows you to view the analytics in the Vuzit Dashboard. We plan on providing support to integrate this data with Google Analytics in the future however. [link]

Development

Can I use the Vuzit Web Service API with my account?

You can only use the Web Wervice API for doing things like batch uploading if you have an Enterprise On-Demand account. Sign up for a free, no obligation 60 day trial. [link]

Does Vuzit support my (PHP, C#, ASP.NET, Java, Ruby) development environment?

Yes. Vuzit has support for multiple programming languages and development environments. [link]

Do I have to load a Vuzit document viewer only after the page loads (onload event)?

Yes. We have the same restrictions as a Google Map. In order to ensure that the HTML has been rendered, all CSS and Javascript has loaded you have to wait until after the page is loaded. [link]

Can I extend the document viewer with my own features?

Yes. Vuzit is created with standard web technologies so that developers can enhance the viewer with their own code. [link]

Document Protection

Can I prevent someone from downloading the original document?

Yes. Vuzit allows you to specify whether the download icon shows up on the toolbar of a document. It can be done either during upload with the web service API or via the Vuzit dashboard. [link]

Can I allow a customer to view just the pages of a document that I have specified (sometimes called a preview)?

Yes. Vuzit allows you to specify which pages a user can view. You can specify any range of pages. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

Can I allow my customers to print a document without downloading the file to their computer?

This feature is on the product roadmap and is scheduled to be released in Q3 2010. Contact Vuzit Sales for more information. [link]

How secure are documents stored in Vuzit?

Please read the Security Overview. [link]

Are documents encrypted on DocuPub?

Vuzit supports encryption when uploading and downloading files through string SSL. It does not employ encryption of the file system at this time. [link]

Can Vuzit protect against screenshots?

Security usually comes at the price of user experience. We have designed Vuzit to work on almost any web browser, so it's hard for us to claim it prevents against screenshots on every device. Most programs cannot prevent against screenshot products such as Snag-It(R). For extra protection, please use our watermarking capability to put the name of the User on your documents for additional security. [link]

Can Vuzit protect against photographs?

Not directly. For extra protection, please use our watermarking capability to put the name of the User on your documents for additional security. [link]

Document Viewer

Can I remove the Vuzit logo in the viewer or replace it with a logo or branding of my choosing?

Yes, but you must have an Enterprise account with Vuzit to do this. To make the change, request a "logo kit" from our Support organzation. (Contact information can be found when you log into the Dashboard.) You will need to move this version of the Vuzit javascript to your web server (ie. store it locally), and then swap in your own 57x20 logo into the cobrand.png file. [link]

Is there a way to internationalize (i18n) the balloons on the document viewer toolbar buttons?

Not on the Vuzit document viewer itself at this time. However, you can add localized or translated versions of the labels above the document viewer toolbar in HTML. [link]

Is there a way to add custom buttons to the toolbar?

Not at this time. [link]

Can I adjust the size of the viewer?

Yes. The viewer is created in an HTML DIV tag that you can adjust by setting the "width" and "height" attributes to your specification. See the embed document video tutorial for more explanation. [link]

Does DocuPub support bookmarks within a PDF file?

The Vuzit Document Viewer preserves the integrity of the native file. Therefore functionality within it, such as bookmarks, will not work. However, you can still help readers navigate a document using HTML indexes and tables of contents. See the Table of Contents example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Can the document viewer be customized?

Yes. You can turn on and off buttons, change zoom levels among other things. [link]

Does Vuzit support any keyboard shortcuts?

Yes. See the keyboard shortcuts list for all commands. The mouse must be located over the viewer in order for the shortcuts to work. The shortcuts are a combination of commands used by many popular programs including the vim text editor. [link]

What document types does Vuzit support?

DocuPub currently support 40 document types and will be adding many more in the near future. [link]

Can I print documents with Vuzit?

Yes, printing is achieved by downloading the original document (e.g. press the Download button) and then selecting the Print option in the native file viewer. [link]

What technology does the Vuzit viewer use?

Vuzit is built out of Ajax technology, JavaScript and CSS. That means that you can place it in any web site. It's supported by all major web browsers. [link]

Will Vuzit plug into my web site?

At the forefront of the Vuzit development process was the necessity for easy integration into other websites. Vuzit will, within minutes, plug into your website. [link]

Does Vuzit DocuPub support embedded video?

Yes. Vuzit supports embedding multiple types of content including video. See the Embed Video & Content example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Does Vuzit DocuPub support annotations or editing of the document?

Yes. You can create your own custom forms that accept comments on a page basis. See the annotations example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Does Vuzit DocuPub support table of contents or other links in a document?

Yes. ou can create your own custom forms that accept comments on a page basis. See the annotations example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Are "tabbed" documents supported?

Yes. See the Tabbed Browsing example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Does Vuzit have the ability to prevent copying of text from my documents? Can I allow copying?

Vuzit does not allow users to copy/paste text from documents at this time. [link]

Does Vuzit automatically extract the table of contents (TOC) of documents?

Not at this time. [link]

What browsers does it work with?

Vuzit works on any modern browser: Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, Chrome, Safari and even Safari Mobile and Opera Mini. [link]

Getting Started

Where do I find my public and private keys?

After logging into the Vuzit Dashboard click the "Settings" link at the top right of the navigation and click "Profile". [link]

How do I send documents into my Vuzit DocuPub Platform?

You have several options. You can either sign into your account upload them your computer or from a URL in the Vuzit Dashboard. You can also upload them from your computer with VuzitCL the command-line client for uploading documents to Vuzit or you can programmatically upload them with your programming language. [link]

Can we get help building an application with your system?

Yes. Vuzit does perform professional service engagements with its customers. [link]

Can Vuzit handle uploading multiple documents simultaneously?

Yes. The Vuzit upload web service can handle multiple simultaneous uploads. [link]

I need to load hundreds/thousands/etc of documents into Vuzit in order to get started. How do I do this?

The easiest method is to upload them with a small program that uploads all documents and stores the IDs of each one. [link]

How do I add additional domains to my account?

Sign into Vuzit, click the "Settings" link at the top right of the navigation, click the "Web Sites" tab and then type your domain into the form at the bottom and click "Add Site". [link]

Why is your pricing based upon the amount of document storage?

Vuzit uses storage as a metric to measure the amount of usage in your account. Pricing is also based on specific features at different account levels. [link]

Do you have a discount for schools or non-profit organizations?

Not at this time. [link]

How much do you charge for professional services?

If you want Vuzit to create a special feature for you that is not in the current product we can build it. There will be professional services fees at the rate of $250 USD per hour. [link]

Managing Documents

How do you reference a document once it's been uploaded to the DocuPub Platform?

Every document has a special "ID" that is associated with it. When you want to load, edit, delete, etc a document you do it by referencing the ID. Most Vuzit customers store the ID of each document so they can manipulate it in their framework. [link]

Can I load documents by URL?

Yes. Vuzit supports both loading a document by a URL or uploading the file from a computer. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

How do I delete documents?

You can delete them by either deleting them in the dashboard or by using one of the client libraries to delete them. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

How do I batch upload documents?

You can use any of the development API tools for this. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

Can I provide a separate download of the document file outside the viewer?

Yes. You can create your own link to the document via the Vuzit web service API. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

When a document is deleted is it still stored on a Vuzit server?

No. Documents are completely removed as soon as they are deleted. [link]

On-Premise

Does DocuPub On-Premise run on operating systems (OS) other than Windows Server?

Not at this time. While Vuzit has the capability to run in many different environments including Linux, many Unix varieties and the Mac OS X we do not support these versions right now. The difficulty is in supporting multiple OS which can be very expensive. If installing Vuzit on your specific platform is very important then we are open to discussing it. [link]

Is there a trial version of DocuPub that I can install on my computer?

Yes. A trial license agreement is required and Vuzit will work with you during the free 15 day trial. Contact Vuzit sales for more information. [link]

Can I show a video inside a document via the Vuzit Document Viewer?

Vuzit supports showing videos along side specific pages of a document that appears in the document viewer. The onPageChanged event feature permits this. [link]

What system requirements does Vuzit On-Premise have?

See On-Premise system requirements. [link]

Can I install the Vuzit DocuPub Platform on my server?

Yes. The Vuzit Enterprise On-Premise edition can be installed on a computer in your network. [link]

Platform

Is the Vuzit DocuPub Platform scalable?

Yes. Vuzit uses the incredibly scalable Amazon Web Services platform to deliver documents in the cloud. [link]

How many documents can be processed per day?

There is no limit to the number of documents you can process in your account in a single day. Vuzit's DocuPub system is a multi-tenant system and can handle the processing of thousands of documents per day and millions of documents per year. [link]

Can a document be edited from within the document viewer?

Not at this time. The purpose of the Vuzit document viewer is to preserve the native file and protect it from edits. Think of it as looking at a document under glass. If you want to incorporate comments or annotations, you can do this with HTML and the onPageChanged event feature feature. See the Annotations example in the Demo Gallery. [link]

Does Vuzit have revision support?

This feature is on the product roadmap and is scheduled for release in Q3 2010. [link]

Do my documents get stored on the Vuzit web site forever?

That is up to your needs. Some Vuzit customers prefer to store documents on our cloud infrastructure to handle all of their document storage needs and others delete them after a period of time. [link]

How do I request a new feature or find out if the one I am looking for is available?

If you have a request for a feature send an email to support@vuzit.com or go to the Vuzit support page. [link]

Do you provide the ability to search for documents within the repository (i.e. document search engine)?

Yes. Vuzit has a full-featured document search engine. See the "How Do I?" for more information. [link]

Can I see a thumbnail image view of a document?

Yes. You can use our Image Request API. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

How many zoom levels do I get?

Vuzit has four zoom levels by default, a thumbnail and three zoom levels on the document viewer. This is to make the conversion to a web format as quick as possible. The system can make any number more if requested but may incur additional fees. [link]

Can I delete documents from my account on a consistent basis such as every 24 hours?

Yes. Vuzit does not delete documents for you. Instead you need to write a program to delete all old documents. See our delete every 24 hours examples for methods to accomplish this. [link]

How many documents can I convert a day?

We currently have no limit, however we do throttle conversions if very many are submitted at peak times such as business hours: 9 am to 5 pm EST. [link]

Can I highlight specified words in the document when the viewer loads up?

Yes. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

Is the Vuzit document viewer lightweight?

Yes. Since Vuzit runs only on standard web technologies like Javascript, HTML and CSS it's incredibly lightweight. It loads up very quickly and takes up much less memory than alternatives like Adobe Flash and Java. [link]

Can I store documents in my Vuzit DocuPub Platform so I don't need to store them on my server?

Yes. Vuzit can store all of your electronic files so that you don't need to store them on your server. [link]

Can I upload a ZIP file of documents to Vuzit?

Not at this time. [link]

Can I download a ZIP file of documents from Vuzit?

Not at this time. [link]

Can I increase or decrease the image quality (DPI) of document pages in the viewer?

Yes. You can increase the quality of pages if you need the extra detail. It does take up more space and makes the downloads and processing slower. You can also decrease the quality if the documents should be processed very quickly or if you want to purposefully make them low quality to prevent stolen data. Since higher quality images take up more disk space there might be additional charges. [link]

Can I provide a thumbnail view of the document pages with Vuzit?

Yes. Read about the image + thumbnail API for more information. [link]

Do you provide other document storage mechanisms besides storing them in a DocuPub account?

It depends on the Vuzit system. If you choose Vuzit On-Demand then Vuzit will store all documents in our scalable cloud infrastructure. If you choose Vuzit On-Premise then you store all documents on a server of your choosing. [link]

Do you provide a dedicated server for your systems?

Yes. You can choose to select a dedicated AWS server or the On-Premise edition if you feel more comfortable with control over your hardware. [link]

Can I use my own AWS system to store the documents?

Not at this time. [link]

Do you categorize/tag/organize documents within Vuzit?

Vuzit does not categorize documents at this time. In Q2 2010 we will be adding the ability to add tags to documents. [link]

How does Vuzit handle user authentication?

Vuzit uses a method of authentication called Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) which is also used by the Amazon Web Services Platform. It allows you to give a user of your choosing access to a document for a brief period of time. The default time is 15 minutes. After the time period is over your system must re-authorize them to view the document again. The authentication is determined by your own authentication protocols so there's no integration required for Vuzit. See the "How Do I?" on authentication section for more information. [link]

Is Vuzit truly 100% AJAX?

Yes. Most vendors use plugins like Adobe Flash or Java. Vuzit is unique in that it is the only one to provide a full-featured environment without the need for any plugins. [link]

How is the Vuzit DocuPub Platform different from Flash-based or JVM-base online document viewing solutions?

Vuzit is the most lightweight method for document viewing. Flash and Java can both run 200 MB or more of memory to run which severely limits the devices that can view your documents. Also Java and Flash are not possible to use on many platforms such as the iPhone or iPad. [link]

Can the zoom level sizes be customized?

We will do a one-time modification of your zoom levels for an Enterprise On-Demand account free of charge. If you require multiple changes then we will bill this separately as professional services. [link]

How can I tell if a document was not loaded in Vuzit correctly from an error?

While loading documents Vuzit provides errors and you can check the status of the document as well. [link]

How can I tell if the processing is complete?

See the Javascript "How Do I?" note for an answer to this question. [link]

How does the Vuzit search work?

Vuzit search performs a substring search and a boolean "OR" of all the words you type. It does not support wildcards, but a wildcard is somewhat implicit since it's a substring search. Double-quotes and contiguous search are not supported. [link]

What is Linkit?

Linkit is a method for users of Vuzit to make the documents on their website/blog viewable with Vuzit. Any time a user clicks a link to the document, the Vuzit viewer will appear. [link]

What is the maximum file size I can convert?

There are no limits to document size. It should be noted that larger documents can take much longer to convert depending on the complexity of the document. [link]

Does Vuzit work with document management systems (DMS)? Does it work with Sharepoint? Documentum? Alfresco? Other web-based document DMS platforms?

Yes, Vuzit works with any web-based document management system. Vuzit viewers are web widgets, the same as a Google Map. Therefore you can embed them directly into your web site without installing or hosting any software. As a result you can integrate Vuzit into any web-based document management system such as Sharepoint, Documentum or Alfresco to name a few. [link]

What's the difference between DocuPub On-Demand and DocuPub On-Premise?

The On-Demand version is fully hosted by Vuzit. You do not need to install any software to get it up and running. The On-Premise version you can install on a computer within your network. Both systems work the same way so you need not make any edits to any application you have built with Vuzit. [link]

How much does Vuzit cost?

Please read the Pricing page for more information on pricing. [link]

Is Vuzit DocuPub a cloud-based software system?

Vuzit DocuPub is both a highly scalable cloud-based platform as well as a server system [link]

SEO

How can documents in the Vuzit document viewer get found by search engines/Google?

Vuzit has a web service that allows you to export the text of any document into a web page so that search engine crawlers can find them. See the "How Do I?" section for more information. [link]

Will documents loaded in the Vuzit document viewer be indexed by a search engine (i.e. Google or Bing)?

Yes. With Vuzit you can embed the text of the document directly in the web page so that Google's search engine will index your pages. You can even customize it to show the text of only the pages you want. [link]

Will migrating my documents to Vuzit break my existing site search traffic?

No. Vuzit can actually improve your site traffic because it provides the capability for you to add your document text directly to the page any way you like. Since people will hit your web page, rather than being sent into your PDF or Office document reader, you have a chance to earn more clicks from your surrounding navigation. [link]

Will my documents be served from Vuzit.com rather than my web site?

Each Vuzit viewer is a "widget" that you can embed on your web site, just as you can a Google Map. The viewer gets loaded from Vuzit.com but it will look like it's built directly into your web site. [link]

Troubleshooting

Why doesn't my username/password work?

Please check to make sure you are using the correct username and password. If you cannot remember your username and/or password, please contact support@vuzit.com. [link]

I need to change my password, how do I do that?

After logging in, click the "Change Password" link found on your homepage. Fill in the necessary information and submit the request. Your password will be changed instantly. If you encounter any issues, please contact support@vuzit.com. [link]

How do I report copyrighted/inappropriate material?

Please report it immediately to support@vuzit.com and please include a link to the offending document. [link]

How do I submit a bug?

Please submit issues to the Vuzit Support Forum. Please see if your question has already been answered before submitting. [link]