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Table Of Contents
Note that all output services used by PlanetPress Watch/Server run under the same account.
Related topics:
The Nature of PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools
(Page 4)
Configurations and Processes (Page 5)
2.1.9 PlanetPress Design and PlanetPress Workflow Tools
How do I use the variable content documents I create in PlanetPress Design ?
As you know, PlanetPress Design is used to create variable-content documents, or if you will, documents
meant to be merged with variable data before being printed.
People who use PlanetPress Design on a standalone basis (without a PlanetPress Workflow Tool) can only
install and run their variable-content documents on their printers. When one of those printers receives a data
file that begins with a trigger (see Triggers (Page 0)), it starts by merging the data with a variable-content
document and then prints the resulting document.
People who use both PlanetPress Design and a PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool, on the other hand, have more
options. Like standalone PlanetPress Design users, they can let the printer do the processing and the printing,
but they can also let their PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool do the merging and then store or send the
resulting document in various ways or via various output devices or programs.
To install documents created with PlanetPress Design on a printer or to use them with PlanetPress Watch/
Server, you must use commands available from the PlanetPress Design File menu.
A) The PlanetPress Design command used to send a document to a printer. B) The PlanetPress Design command used to
send a document to a PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool.
Whether you install a document on a printer or send it to a PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool has a number of
implications:
Documents sent to printers (known as printer-resident documents) can be used for printer-based output
tasks: PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools send only the data and the appropriate trigger to the printer
where everything takes place. Since only the data and the trigger travel across the network to the
printer, this method generates less network traffic. Note that to use printer-resident documents with
PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools, you must use your PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool Configuration
program to let PlanetPress Design know which documents have been send to which printers.
Documents sent to PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools can be used for various types of output tasks.
These documents may be run using the Optimized PostScript Stream option (merged with the data
on the host itself before being sent to a printer or to a component that prints it to a file, such as
PlanetPress Image) and sent via various means, such as an Email program or a fax machine, for
example. Documents sent to a PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool installation are automatically added to
the list of documents displayed in the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool Configuration program.
Since PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools give you the choice to run PlanetPress Design documents at the
printer level or at the PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tool installation level, various output tasks include an option
to indicate just where you want the merging to take place.
Wherever you choose to run any given PlanetPress Design document, you should always make sure that
everything the document needs to run correctly, such as graphics referenced within the document, is directly
available. If the document runs at the printer level, then these resources must be available on the printer’s
hard disk. If the document runs at the computer level, the resources must be available on the computer’s
hard disk or on the network.
Understanding PlanetPress Suite Workflow Tools - Key Concepts
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