OpenOverlay is a lightweight, open-source textual and graphical overlay tool.

View a demo of our new OpenOverlay Admin Interface.

The Problem: Maintaining Accurate Document Data

As companies strive to meet regulatory standards, it is critical that documents are labeled with accurate information. Maintaining these varying data within the document is often tedious and inaccurate, as many companies require several fields (such as version, status, intended use, clearance, and author) on each document.  

Overlay Solutions

To address this problem, companies are pursuing overlay or watermarking solutions in which data are dynamically displayed on documents when they are viewed and/or printed.  The result is a seamless document that contains pertinent and up-to date data.  

There is demand for a straightforward product that can deliver a flexible, reliable overlay solution at a reasonable price. 

Introducing OpenOverlay

OpenOverlay is a lightweight, open-source solution designed for watermarking/overlaying.  It provides streamlined configuration settings (no coding required) and allows great flexibility in applying overlays.  It can easily be deployed in a web application, invoked from the command line, or embedded in server software such as Documentum or Alfresco.

Popular uses include…

• Apply letterhead/logo
• Display document properties
  • Status, Version, Intended use, Author/Dept., etc.
• Permissions watermarking
• Overlay form responses

How it Works: High-Level Summary

OpenOverlay's process can be summarized as follows:

1.  Gathers properties

• PDF properties (page orientation, number)
• Document metadata (dept, author, date)
• Data from invoker (user, role, application)

2.  Determines applicable overlays

3.  Applies and merges overlays

4.  Produces a seamless PDF

How it works: Under the Hood

Applying Overlays

OpenOverlay’s underlying engine drives PDF manipulation using the open-source iText library to manipulate PDF files.  Flexible XML-based configuration settings govern the overlays, by matching/excluding pages based on PDF page properties, document metadata, and application input.

Extensibility and Deployment

OpenOverlay includes “wrappers” to support EMC Documentum and Java Web Application deployment.  Built on the Spring framework, it can easily be extended to support additional libraries, iText features, or additional wrappers.  OpenOverlay can be deployed in a wide range of environments.

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