Documentation

Job Management

Learn how to create, manage, and monitor your PDF fingerprinting jobs

A "job" in PDF Ghost represents a single PDF document being fingerprinted for multiple recipients. This guide covers everything you need to know about managing your jobs.

Understanding Jobs

Each job consists of:

  • Source PDF - Your original document
  • Recipients - List of people receiving fingerprinted copies
  • Artifacts - Generated fingerprinted PDFs (one per recipient)
  • Job Options - Fingerprinting settings and preferences
  • Status - Current processing state

Job ownership invariants:

  • Every job belongs to exactly one organization.
  • Every job has an owner (userId) and ownerless jobs are not allowed.

Job Access by Privacy Mode

  • USER jobs: accessible to the job owner and organization owner/admin.
  • ORGANIZATION jobs: accessible to organization members.
  • When removing a member/user, job ownership must be resolved first (delete owned jobs or reassign to another member).

Creating a Job

Step 1: Upload Your PDF

  1. Click New Job in the dashboard
  2. Upload your PDF file (size limit varies by plan)
  3. Wait for the analysis to complete

The system will analyze your PDF and provide:

  • File size and page count
  • Estimated processing time
  • Cost estimate based on your plan

Step 2: Add Recipients

You can add recipients in multiple ways:

Manual Entry:

  • Click Add Recipient
  • Enter email address or name
  • Add more recipients as needed

CSV Import:

  • Click Import CSV
  • Upload a file with recipient information
  • Map columns to required fields

Step 3: Configure Options

Invisible Fingerprints (Always Enabled):

  • Metadata fingerprinting
  • Invisible text layer marks
  • Unique identifier per recipient

Visible Watermarks (Optional):

  • Choose watermark style
  • Select position and opacity
  • Preview before creating

Step 4: Review and Create

Review all settings and click Create Job to start processing.

Job Status

Your job will progress through these states:

Queued

  • Job is waiting to be processed
  • Position in queue is shown
  • Estimated start time displayed

Processing

  • Artifacts are being generated
  • Progress bar shows completion percentage
  • Individual recipient status visible

Completed

  • All artifacts successfully generated
  • Ready for download
  • Retention period begins

Failed

  • An error occurred during processing
  • Error message explains the issue
  • You can retry or contact support

Viewing Job Details

Click on any job to see detailed information:

Job Overview

  • Original filename
  • Upload date and time
  • Number of recipients
  • Current status

Recipients List

See all recipients with:

  • Name or email
  • Artifact status
  • Download button for each artifact

Job Information

  • File size and page count
  • Fingerprinting options used
  • Cost breakdown
  • Retention period

Downloading Artifacts

Individual Downloads

  1. Go to the job details page
  2. Find the recipient in the list
  3. Click the Download button
  4. Save the fingerprinted PDF

Bulk Download

  1. Click Download All at the top of the job
  2. Wait for the ZIP file to be generated
  3. Download the ZIP containing all artifacts
  4. Extract and distribute to recipients

Files in the bulk download are named to help you identify recipients.

Managing Multiple Jobs

Jobs List

Your dashboard shows all jobs with:

  • Job name (original filename)
  • Creation date
  • Number of recipients
  • Current status
  • Quick actions

Filtering and Sorting

  • Filter by status (completed, processing, failed)
  • Sort by date, name, or recipient count
  • Search by filename or recipient

Bulk Actions

Select multiple jobs to:

  • Delete old jobs
  • Export job information
  • View combined statistics

Job Retention

Completed jobs and their fingerprinted artifacts are retained based on your plan:

  • Free: 7 days
  • Starter: 30 days
  • Pro: 90 days
  • Team: 180 days
  • Enterprise: 365 days (1 year)

After the retention period:

  • Artifacts are deleted from storage
  • Job metadata is preserved

Draft Auto-Cancellation

Draft jobs that remain unsubmitted expire according to your plan's draft retention period:

  • Free: 3 days
  • Starter: 7 days
  • Pro: 14 days
  • Team/Enterprise: 30 days

Expired drafts are automatically cancelled and the source file is removed.

Source File Removal

Original uploaded PDFs are automatically deleted from storage after successful processing. Only the generated fingerprinted copies are retained during the retention period.

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

  • Use descriptive filenames
  • Include version numbers if applicable
  • Add date for time-sensitive documents

Organization

  • Create jobs when ready to distribute
  • Download artifacts promptly
  • Keep local backups of original PDFs

Security

  • Verify recipient list before creating job
  • Use secure channels to distribute
  • Track which recipients received their copy

Troubleshooting

Job Stuck in Processing

  • Check system status page
  • Wait for automatic retry (every 15 minutes)
  • Contact support if stuck for over 1 hour

Failed Job

  • Read the error message carefully
  • Common issues:
    • PDF is corrupted or password-protected
    • Invalid recipient information
    • Insufficient plan credits — consider purchasing token packs for additional capacity
  • Try uploading again or contact support

Missing Artifacts

  • Check if job completed successfully
  • Verify retention period hasn't expired
  • Try downloading again (temporary glitch)

Next Steps

Job Management | Documentation | PDF Ghost