Kofax Power PDF Advanced

Now that there are PMPC Custom Apps, has anyone tried to package this as a custom app? I know it lets you add additional files.

Concur with the below comment, we need this added for Intune updates.

Please add the kofax package on the PMPC Console Intune , we have more 1000 machines need to patches and we need your help , thanks

We manage this in WSUS Package Publisher using a combination of exists, not exists, and update supersedence (to avoid the reinstallation of a lower FP), but I understand you desire to not deviate from what you normally do. Thank you for considering this.

Hm, giving this more thought. We like to use the operator of 'greater than or equal to' to determine if an update is installed, and we also like to use the operator of 'less than' to deem if an update is installable.

Detecting a static file would only enable us to detect if this particular update is installed. This would cause an issue where if a device installs a newer version, e.g. FixPack 21, the FixPack 20 would evaluate as applicable and try to install again, perhaps even rolling back the software.

I don't see this .npi file having a FileVersion property, either.

Closer, but not quite there there - I won't be able to add this.

In 3.1, each fix pack drops a unique file into C:\Program Files (x86)\Kofax\Power PDF 31, which is how I am handling detection for the custom WSUS Package Publisher updates that I create. For example, Fix Pack 14 from January dropped FixPack-3.1.0.14.0.20568.npi into this folder. I use ORCA to view/confirm the FixPack*.npi file that is included with each patch. Not sure if this is something that could be incorporated on your end or not.

Thanks

I spent quite a bit of time this morning investigating Power PDF 3.1, as the version we added to the catalogue last week was version 4.

3.1 is a no-go. It does not reliably update anywhere on the system to suggest the product's new version.

No where on registry changes after installing the fix pack, and the file versions for the binaries (.exe's or .dll's) in Program Files are not reliable to use either. Some update, some don't, there's no real telling they will consistently update at least one file's version number with each fix pack release.

In fact, the one binary the desktop shortcut calls (C:\Program Files (x86)\Kofax\Power PDF 31\bin\NuancePDF.exe) its version number goes down after updating to fix pack 20 for 3.1.

Can't wait to try this! Thanks Adam!

Is there any chance of getting PowerPDF 3.1 added to the catalog?

Adam was able to get this added to today's (2021/06/25) catalog!

That's a fair point. The update is just a single .msi which is totally do-able. OK I'll change the status here and work on that instead. Sorry for the confusion!

I don't know about everyone else, but I wasn't looking at this as being a method for distributing the full installer (I have other tools for that) but rather for applying the individual hotfix rollups, which at least in 3.x are self-contained MSIs.

Sadly this isn't going to be compatible. We can only publish single file installers today in order to maintain compatibility for customers using in-console ConfigMgr publishing and SCUP.

Kofax Power PDF Advanced MSI won't install without the Data1.cab file being present in the same working directory.

If you have a support contract with Kofax, it would be good if you could encourage them to using a single file MSI containing all the necessary files.

In the mean time, we discussed the possibility of just adding .zip support to the Publisher. As much as we all want vendors to change their installers, in my opinion the reality is we're the ones who need to be more flexible. There are several vendors who supply installers like this.

Therefore I recommend removing your votes from this and instead direct them here: https://ideas.patchmypc.com/ideas/PATCHMYPC-I-1463 - if we ever implement support for archives, we will a circle round all previously rejected requests on this basis.

That's fantastic news! Thank you Adam!!

Just to let you know we have making progress on this internally. We've purchased licenses and should be able to start testing next week.

I think I might have been able to get the screenshot added correctly this time Adam.

I didn't see your screenshot, Philip. Could you email it in?

Yes, we have a login that they provided us to download the files, but we have an MSI for the Kofax 4.0 base install and an MSI for each "FixPack" that they release. I'm attaching a screenshot.

Does Kofax Power PDF Advanced come available as an .msi installer? We can probably source the exe installer, but I contacted their support today and they couldn't tell me if they had an .msi installer option.

Any updates on this getting added to PMPC? It is the only 3rd party app that we still have to manually update each month. This would be a huge win for lots of us!