Properties and arguments

System properties

A list of system properties that users can configure to alter PDFsam behavior.

org.pdfsam.disable.ui.restore
values: true|false
default: false
description: if set to true PDFsam will not restore the stage position, dimensions and mode, it will start with default values instead (maximized).

org.pdfsam.default.locale
values: a supported locale
default: default locale
description: if no locale is set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam to use this locale.

org.pdfsam.default.checkforupdate
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should check for updates at startup.

org.pdfsam.default.checkfornews
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should check for news at startup.

org.pdfsam.default.play.sounds
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should play alter sounds.

org.pdfsam.disable.split.optimization
values: true|false
default: false
description: if set to true PDFsam will not try to optimize split tasks result files.

org.pdfsam.default.donate.notification
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should show the notification to kindly ask for a donation.

org.pdfsam.default.fetch.premium.modules
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should fetch and show premium modules description in the modules dashboard

@deprecated
org.pdfsam.settings.panel
values: true|false
default: false
description: deprecated, use org.pdfsam.disable.settings.panel
since: 4.0.0

org.pdfsam.disable.settings.panel
values: true|false
default: false
description: if set to true, PDFsam will start with no the settings panel
since: 4.0.1

org.pdfsam.default.compression
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Compress output file" checkbox
since: 4.2.0

org.pdfsam.default.output.overwrite
values: true|false
default: false
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Overwrite if already exists" checkbox
since: 4.2.0

org.pdfsam.default.discard.bookmarks
values: true|false
default: false
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Discard bookmarks" checkbox
since: 5.2.0

org.pdfsam.default.prefix
values: a prefix
default: default prefix
description: if no prefix is set in the application preferences, tells the default value for the "Prefix" field.
since: 5.2.0

org.pdfsam.default.pdf.version
values: VERSION_1_2|VERSION_1_3|VERSION_1_4|VERSION_1_5|VERSION_1_7|VERSION_2_0
default: VERSION_1_5
description: if no prefix is set in the application preferences, tells the default value for the output PDF version.
since: 5.2.9

Runtime arguments

-c
-clean
--clean
description: clears user preferences and locally stored information, starting PDFsam with default values.

-v
-verbose
--verbose
description: sets log levels to DEBUG providing a verbose output.
since: 4.0.1

--workspace="/path/to/workspace"
description: loads the given workspace. This has precedence over the application settings.

/path/to/file1.pdf /path/to/file2.pdf
description: a list of PDF files to be opened with PDFsam.

MSI properties

A list of properties that can be set during the silent installation of the PDFsam MSI package.

CHECK_FOR_UPDATES
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should check for updates at startup.

CHECK_FOR_NEWS
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should check for news at startup.
since: 3.2.5

PLAY_SOUNDS
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should play alert sounds.
since: 3.2.5

DONATE_NOTIFICATION
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should show the notification to kindly ask for a donation.
since: 3.2.1

LOCALE_CODE
values: a supported locale
default: default locale
description: if no locale is set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam to use this locale.

SKIPTHANKSPAGE
values: Yes|No
default: No
description: Tells the MSI installer to skip or not the thanks page that is usually opened once the installation completes successfully.

PREMIUM_MODULES
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells PDFsam if it should fetch and show premium modules description in the modules dashboard.
since: 3.2.5

PDF_COMPRESSION
values: true|false
default: true
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Compress output file" checkbox
since: 4.2.0

OVERWRITE_OUTPUT
values: true|false
default: false
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Overwrite if already exists" checkbox
since: 4.2.0

PREFIX
values: a string prefix
default: empty
description: if not already set in the application preferences, tells the default value of the "Prefix" field
since: 5.2.0

PDF_VERSION
values: VERSION_1_2|VERSION_1_3|VERSION_1_4|VERSION_1_5|VERSION_1_7|VERSION_2_0
default: VERSION_1_5
description: if no prefix is set in the application preferences, tells the default value for the output PDF version.
since: 5.2.9

Environment variables

An OpenJDK runtime is bundled since PDFsam Basic 4.0.0 but you can specify the path of a runtime installed on your machine using the environment variable called PDFSAM_JAVA_PATH and running PDFsam using one of the provided scripts in the bin subdirectory.