Components, Templates and Workflows

If you repeat the same job by hand on every file (check first, then impose, then send to someone for approval), you can set it up as a workflow. A workflow has three layers, each built on the one before.

Layer	What
Component	A single unit of work: check, edit pages, impose, route, split, spread, review.
Template	A saved, named setting of one component. For example, "A5 saddle-stitch booklet" is an imposition template.
Workflow	A flow made of components and their exits; it uses the components' templates.

Components

Every component has named exits. Every component always has at least two exits: Unknown and Failed. Work that cannot be measured or decided leaves through the Unknown exit; it is never counted as "passed" or "blocked".

• Preflight: reads and checks the PDF; it does not change the file.
• Edit pages: applies approved page operations (such as rotating or adding page numbers).
• Impose: places pages onto the press sheet.
• Route: sends the job down different paths by rules based on measured information. It does not change the content and sends nothing to a machine.
• Split: divides the job into parts by quantity or page range. It asks for your approval on every run. On the server only the page ranges and count modes run (Running on the Server). If the split parts are connected to a step that goes straight to a machine, with no Review step in between, the run screen warns you: if running content is removed from the parts, the run stops before the machine. Adding a Review step in between prevents this.
• Spread: shares copies between machines; it runs only in the desktop app for now.
• Review: waits for a person's decision; the job is approved or rejected.
• Deliver: planned, not available yet.

Try a ready-made workflow

The workflow page has ready-made workflows, among them:

• Prepare booklet: checks the file, then imposes it as an A5 saddle-stitch booklet. Any result that is not clean is sent to review.
• Booklet by page size: looks at the finished size of the first page; imposes an A5 saddle-stitch booklet for A5 and an A4 one for A4.

The page also has Prepare perfect-bound book (A5, A4) and the ready workflows below.

Ready workflows for common jobs

The page has two lists: Ready workflows and Ready templates. They cover:

• flyers (A6, A5, A4, DL)
• postcards (A6, 10×15 cm)
• posters (A3, B2, A2, A1, B1; one page per sheet) and "Poster by size", which picks the layout from the size of page 1
• letterheads (A4)
• business cards (85×55 and 90×55 mm)
• saddle-stitched booklets (A6, B5, and A5/A4 with creep compensation)
• folded leaflets (open A3, A4 or A5)
• envelopes (DL, C5, C4)
• stickers and labels (square 50×50 and 70×70 mm, round Ø30, Ø50 and Ø75 mm, rectangular 90×50, 100×70 and 100×150 mm; all on SRA3)
• folded menus and table tents (A4 menu with open A3, DL menu, A5 table tent with open A4)

The name of each flat workflow tells you the finished size, the sheet and how many fit on it. "Poster by size" is the exception: it reads the size of page 1 (portrait, within 0.5 mm) and chooses A3 on SRA3, B2 on SRA1, A2 on 50×70 cm, A1 on 70×100 cm or B1 on SRA0; any other size, a landscape page or a size that cannot be measured goes to review.

How they behave:

• Ready workflows whose name begins "Prepare" (for example "Prepare business cards · SRA3 · 21-up") run Preflight first and impose only when the check is clean. Anything else (a warning, a block, an unknown or failed check, or an imposition that needs attention) goes to a person for review (Review). Nothing is sent to a machine.
• Ready workflows with any other kind of name have no check step: the ones named "... imposition" (including the two "Brochure imposition" workflows), "Add bleed", "Split front and back", "Business card front and back · SRA3 · 21-up", "Customer proof", "Poster by size" and the "ink limit" ones. They are meant for files you have already checked elsewhere, and each has its own refusals that send the job to review.
• The check in the browser is a basic check and cannot give Ready. Today no ready-made workflow tells you that a file is Ready for print: every result is for a person to look at, and a finished run is not a print approval.
• Flat workflows (flyers, postcards, posters, letterheads, cards, envelopes, labels, folded leaflets) place the finished page 1:1 with 3 mm bleed and crop marks. The page must be the stated finished size and the file must define a trim area and a bleed area, otherwise it goes to review. Poster by size takes the size of page 1 instead. The same holds for the two-sided, colour-bar and ink-limit flat workflows. Booklets (with or without fold marks) are laid out without bleed or crop marks; a page of another size is refused and goes to review. The "Add bleed" workflows (including the versions that also impose) are the exception: they are for files without bleed.
• Folded leaflets, menus and table tents are laid out flat by their open size, with bleed and crop marks (the same trim-area and bleed-area rule applies); no fold marks are added.
• Envelope workflows lay out the artwork of one envelope at finished size. They are not a die-cut blank, and no die line or flap is drawn. For round labels the cut contour is not drawn either.
• Booklets are padded to a multiple of 4 pages. The booklets with creep compensation (A5 and A4, with or without fold marks, and their "Prepare" versions) ask for Paper thickness (µm) each time you run them: the thickness of one sheet in microns, for example 100. If you do not know it, ask your printer.

More ready workflows for particular jobs. Each asks for your approval at every run.

• Two-sided on one plate. Business cards and flyers with both sides on one plate. The name says how the sheet is turned: "work-and-turn" turns it sideways, "work-and-tumble" turns it from the top. The file must have exactly 2 pages (front, back) of the stated size. A file with 1 page, any other page count or a page of another size is refused and goes to review. No colour bar, fold marks or watermark are added.
• Booklets with fold marks. Saddle-stitched booklets (A6, B5, and A5/A4 with creep) with a dashed fold mark in the top and bottom margin. The creep versions ask for Paper thickness (µm) on every run. Folded leaflets still get no fold marks.
• Flat imposition with colour bar. Business cards and flyers with a bar of 7 patches (C, M, Y, K and 25, 50 and 75 % K) in the bottom margin. The bar adds process colour to the sheet, so for a black-only job use the plain workflow without a colour bar.
• Customer proof. Draws the word "PROOF" or "PROVA" (one version for each) in black over every page, at 45 degrees. The text is fixed and cannot be changed. If it cannot be confirmed that the colour of the mark fits the file, that step goes to review. No colour bar, fold marks or bleed are added.
• Add bleed · 3 mm. Creates the 3 mm bleed by mirroring the edges of the page outwards. It does not check the file first and is meant for files without bleed: a file that already has bleed gets more. There are also versions that add bleed and impose in one go.
• Split front and back. Needs exactly 2 pages and makes two files, the front and the back. Any other page count goes to review and the file is not touched. The business card version, "Business card front and back · SRA3 · 21-up", lays each side 21-up on SRA3, so you get two sheets. It also needs a trim area and a bleed area in the file.
• Checked versions. For the two-sided, fold-marked and colour-bar workflows there is a twin whose name begins "Prepare": it runs Preflight first and imposes only if the check is clean. Warnings, blocks and unknown or failed checks all go to review. Because the check in the browser is basic, a twin ends in review for now. Its Run summary can show the line Ready (checked in the browser), but the run still ends in review.

Total ink limit by paper

Total ink is the sum of the colour percentages at the densest point of the file. The workflows with "ink limit" in their name check it against a limit for your paper before they impose.

• Flyers (A6, A5, A4) and saddle-stitched brochures (A5, A4) come in one version per paper: coated 330 %, uncoated 280 %, newsprint 240 %, super-calendered (SC) 270 %, or typed in.
• Postcards, menus and table tents come as coated 330 %, uncoated 280 % or typed in.
• Envelopes come only as uncoated or typed in.
• Labels come only as coated or uncoated.
• "Poster by size" comes as coated, uncoated or typed in; the ink limit is checked first, then the size of page 1 decides the layout.
• Business cards come only as coated, uncoated and typed in.
• The paper type is not guessed from the file; you set it by choosing the workflow. If you do not know your paper, choose the "typed in" version and ask your printer for the limit.
• The fixed limit is part of the template and cannot be changed during a run.
• With "typed in" the run asks for Total ink limit (%) each time, under Information needed for this job: a whole number from 100 to 400. If you do not know it, ask your printer.
• The browser measures total ink on your computer, for files of up to 100 pages. With more than 100 pages the ink is not measured. RGB, spot colour, transparency and overprint cannot be measured.
• If the file is shown to be within the limit, the job goes on to imposition. If it cannot be shown (it was not measured, or it may exceed the limit), the job goes to a person with the text "Total ink could not be shown to be within the limit: it was not measured, or it may exceed the limit. A person needs to review the file." There is no separate warning for a file that exceeds the limit.
• The measurement is an upper bound, so a file that is really under the limit may still go to a person. The total ink measurement of Preflight, by contrast, is a lower bound (see Reading a Preflight Result); the two are not interchangeable.
• After imposition, the output check can also give the note "Total ink exceeds the limit." That note follows the output check's own profile limit and does not replace the paper limit you chose for the workflow.

Work that cannot be measured goes to a person

The ready-made workflows do not guess. If the page size cannot be measured, if no rule matches, or if the imposition result is not clean, the job goes to a person. No step reaches a machine. A file with mixed colour, or one whose colour cannot be measured on every page, is routed to a person in the same way.

If your PDF contains JavaScript or embedded files, the run first makes a cleaned copy and runs the workflow on that copy. Your original PDF is unchanged and stays the file that was measured first. The cleaned copy is offered separately as a download when the workflow ends without being rejected (labelled "copy with JavaScript and embedded files removed"). A cleaned copy is never Ready and its result always goes to a person for review. If a workflow stops before the machine with the cleaned Split parts (a safety stop), those parts, which were not sent to a machine, are still offered for download. Each one is marked "needs a look first"; no job ticket or customer approval is offered for them. If the file cannot be cleaned (for example password-protected, a PDF portfolio, an XFA form, or larger than 128 MB), the workflow checks your PDF as it is and the file goes to review. The cleaning step never makes a run fail.

Run history and run summary

Under the Run a workflow section, below the result, is Run history. No account is needed.

• The browser keeps a short record of your last 20 finished runs: the workflow's name and version, the name of the PDF you chose, how each step ended and why, the names and sizes of the result files and a fingerprint (SHA-256) of each. A run that ends or stops is listed; a cancelled run is not.
• The record stays only on this computer, in this browser, and is sent nowhere. The PDF and the result files are never stored. The record is small, and the oldest run drops out when the history is full.
• Buttons: Show summary, Run again with the same workflow (it only selects the workflow; you choose the PDF again), Delete (one run) and Clear history (it asks you to confirm and cannot be undone).

The Run summary appears under a finished run and in each history entry. It lists the date, the workflow, the PDF, the result sentence, a note if the file was cleaned first, the steps with their reasons, and the result files (name, size, flags, the page range for split parts, and the first 16 characters of the fingerprint). It ends with a sentence that it is not a print-ready approval. You can Copy summary or Print it; there is no download. If the browser blocks copying, it says that the summary could not be copied.

Where are your templates and workflows kept?

• Your records are kept in this browser. They are not sent to our servers unless you save them to your account; no account is needed.
• If browser data is cleared, the records go with it. To keep them or move them to another computer, save them to a .json file with Export and restore them with Import. The file is read in your browser and sent nowhere. Save to my account / Load from account keep definitions only, never PDFs; team sharing and the organisation library are available on paid plans.
• Only when you, as a member, choose Send to the customer for approval is that file uploaded to the server so your customer can see it.
• Each record in the Organisation library has a Copy link button. Opening the link highlights that record and shows its versions for a signed-in member of the organisation on a paid plan. The link carries no key and gives nobody else access. If the record has been removed or belongs to another organisation, the page says it was not found. If you then press Add to local and the record is already in your local library, the page says so; to get the new version, delete the local copy and add it again.
• If the saved library in your browser cannot be read, a banner offers Download raw backup and Reset. Reset stays disabled until you have downloaded the backup; it deletes the local library and cannot be undone.