If you are having trouble getting the Windows Task Scheduler to work after reading this please see the FAQ at the bottom of this page.
Softinterface conversion products come with a built in scheduler that handles the majority of customer demands. However, there may be cases when you need more power or flexibility. The Windows built in Task Scheduler is ideal for those cases, as it can handle any number of conversion jobs, and sequencing demands you may have. Windows 7 is shown below, however other operating systems will be very similar.
The simplest way to do this is to set up in the program's user interface to do exactly what you want it to do, and then create a 'Conversion Job' file (*.sii) by going to the File\Save Conversion Job menu item. Once saved, you can then specify this file as part of the command line arguments within the Windows Task Scheduler.
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Start the Task Scheduler by going to the Start\Accessories\System Tools. The image below illustrates this:
Once launched you can Create Basic Task which takes you through a step by step wizard, or Create Task which provides much more power and flexibility.
Let's click on the Create Task... item for this demonstration. You'll see the following dialog box:
Give your task a name, in our case above we named it LaunchSoftinterfaceTool. Now change to the Triggers tab. This is where you specify when to launch the application.
Finally select the Actions tab. Here you specify what to do, in our case we'll tell it to launch a Softinterface application.
In this case above we specified the path to one of our most popular products 'Convert XLS'. Notice also the Add Arguments entry box. Here is where you specify the 'Conversion Job' file created earlier. Please also note the use of double quotes in both entry boxes. Once you are satisfied with all the settings Click the OK button and you'll find the newly created task in the list:
That is all there is to it.
FAQ
Q: The task is running when I do it manually but not from the Task Scheduler?
A: This could be one of several things:
1. Using files on a network? Make sure you are only using UNC (Uniform Naming Convention) paths. Mapped drives will not work when using Windows Scheduler.
2. Could be a security issue. Please see the following URL and review all it's contents:
3. Try setting the Start in (optional) to the same path as the executable. Note the use of double quotes is not used for that option, but is for the Program/script option. As shown below.
