About Automatically Generated PDFs for Quality System Documents

Quality-based Document Control automatically generates a PDF each time a native-format file, such as a Microsoft Word document, is checked into a quality system document. This occurs until the quality system document reaches the In Approval state. PDFs are also generated for all attached native-format files each time the quality system document is promoted or demoted. The PDF's watermark, and header if there is one, specifies the current lifecycle state of the quality system document. Its footer indicates that the PDF is an uncontrolled copy of the quality system document file.

When users select the Download action for a PDF file on the quality system document's Properties page, the automatically generated PDF file is downloaded to their local computers and can be printed. When users select the Download action on the My Documents page tab, if there is more than one file attached to the quality system document, each native-format file and its PDF is added to a single ZIP file, which is downloaded to the user's local computer.

Note: The Business Administrator must enable and configure PDF rendering for automatic PDF generation to be available.
Important: This app stores personal data in some settings. To follow good personal data management practices, Business Administrators might need to edit these settings to remove personal data, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers.

This page discusses:

See Also
My Documents
Quality System Document Properties
Rerunning the Failed PDF Conversion Process

PDFs for Unapproved Quality System Documents

Unapproved quality system documents are those in the Draft, In Work, or In Approval states. Each time a file is checked in to an unapproved quality system document, a PDF file is automatically generated and checked into the quality system document. Each time that a quality system is promoted until it reaches the In Approval state, a new PDF is automatically generated for each of the files attached to it. The naming convention for the automatically generated PDF files of unapproved quality system documents is <NATIVE_FILE_NAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION>-UncontrolledCopy-<CURRENT_STATE>.pdf. For example, the automatically generated PDF of a file named MyDocument.docx attached to a quality system document in the Draft state isMyDocument-UncontrolledCopy-Draft.pdf). The new PDF overwrites any existing PDF that was previously generated for that file. The version number of the generated PDF is always 1 since it replaces the previous version.

PDFs for Approved Quality System Documents

Approved quality system documents are those in the Approved, Released, Superseded, or Obsolete states. When a quality system document is promoted to the Approved state, any previously generated PDFs of the files attached to the unapproved quality system document are deleted and replaced with new automatically generated PDF versions of the files. The naming convention for the automatically generated PDF files of approved quality system documents is <NATIVE_FILE_NAME_WITHOUT_EXTENSION>.pdf. For example, the automatically generated PDF of a file named MyDocument.docx attached to a quality system document in the Approved state isMyDocument.pdf. This process is repeated when the quality system document is promoted to the Release, Superseded, and Obsolete states.

Change Action Task Approvals Table

The last page of the PDF that is automatically generated for a file attached to an approved quality system document contains a route task approval table. The table lists the route task approval information for each change action connected to the quality system document. It is sorted by date, with the latest information at the top. The table contains the following columns and information:

ApproversResponsible RoleApproved OnTask
Name of each task approverResponsible role, if any, assigned to the taskThe date on which the task was approved.The title of the task

Failed Automatic PDF Generation

If the automatic generation of the PDF file fails, the user who was checking in the file to the quality system document, or promoting or demoting the quality system document is notified. The user can manually rerun the conversion process using the Rerun failed PDF conversion action on the quality system document's Properties page.