PrintShop Web Designer Guide
PrintShop Web Designer Guide Document version: PSW 2.1 R3250 Date: October, 2007 Objectif Lune - Contact Information Objectif Lune Inc. 2030 Pie IX, Suite 500 Montréal, QC Canada H1V 2C8 Tel.: 514-875-5863 Fax: 514-342-5294 www.objectiflune.com To find an Objectif Lune office near you and for more information on our products and services, visit: www.objectiflune.
Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 4 PrintShop Mail............................................................................................................................................. 4 Workflow......................................................................................................................................................
Introduction Welcome to PrintShop Web, the easy-to-use, powerful, and open web-to-print system. PrintShop Web is a Web-to-Print solution that allows print providers and brand owners to effectively manage promotional print flows, streamline customer interaction, and combines the benefits of Variable Information (VI) with On-Demand Printing. PrintShop Mail PrintShop Mail allows to prepare and add template documents to PrintShop Web.
PrintShop Mail user interface Here a global overview of the PrintShop Mail graphical user interface (GUI). • • • • • • • Tools toolbar: This toolbar allows you to insert (variable) text and images, rotate items and insert PDF files. Layout toolbar: This toolbar allows you to skip to the different layouts. Database toolbar: This toolbar allows you to browse the records and gives a preview of the variables used in PrintShop Mail. Layout window: Gives a preview of the current layout.
Publication settings When publishing documents to PrintShop Web, it is important to check the following: • • Windows Printer Settings PrintShop Mail Publication Settings Windows Printer Settings To print documents correctly it is important that the printer set in the PrintShop Mail document matches the printers available on the PrintShop Web server. Check the following: • • Printer name Verify the PPD version Printer name The printer name should match.
Business Cards A business card is one of the cost-effective marketing tools a business can have. With PrintShop Mail you can create business cards in a minute, print them or publish them to PrintShop Web. Publishing to PrintShop Web is a great advantage. Clients can fill in their names and order business cards anytime, anywhere.
Variable Text Text objects in PrintShop Mail can contain both static and variable text. Variables are surrounded by the @ character. Click in the Variable Pane of the Properties window and you will notice there are 3 variables: • • • Name Position Surname Variables and Data Fields When creating variables in PrintShop Mail, the variables will be shown in the Variables pane. To let customers input data in PrintShop Web a Data Field should be created.
Expressions To create a Data Field an expression so should be created for one or multiple variables. Each variable in the business card document has an expression and a result. By double clicking a variable the expression builder will appear. The expression builder Enter the name of the variable or a custom value and place this between square brackets. The expression automatically creates a Data Field. Data Field properties Select the Data Fields pane.
Crop marks and Repetition settings PrintShop Mail has the ability to print crop marks and print multiple layouts (in this case business cards) on a paper. These settings can be found in the PrintShop Mail preferences. Repetition settings in PrintShop Mail Crop marks To print crop marks around a layout, select Imposition in the Preferences dialog (Edit menu) Repetition The settings in the Repetition panel allows you to print multiple layouts on a page.
Print the job You may want to verify the output before publishing the document to PrintShop Web. Select Print in the File menu to output the document to a printer. Publish to PrintShop Web Upload the job to PrintShop Web. Before continuing be sure that you have read the instructions in the chapter How to Publish templates from PrintShop Mail in the PrintShop Mail manual.
Select Publish to Web in the File menu and follow the instructions on-screen. In the Publish to PrintShop Web dialog create a new publication type and click Next. Follow the instructions on-screen to publish the document. The online document After publishing the template document your customers can start creating jobs using the PrintShop Web web site. Open a browser, for instance Internet Explorer and enter the URL of your PrintShop Web web site.
Postcards A travel agent wants to inform existing customers that they offer short vacations. They decide to send each customer a personalized postcard, based on their vacation interest last year. The interests of the customers are divided in: • • • a family vacation a cultural vacation an active vacation A business card example The interest of the customers are stored in a database. That database is going to be used to personalize the cards, with text and an appropriate image.
Ingredients Creating a variable document is like cooking. To create an excellent meal you need the right ingredients and proper equipment. Without it, the outcome is unpredictable. First we will explain which ingredients are needed for creating this variable data example: • • a database with customers names, addresses, interests etc. a PDF file which holds all the layouts for the postcards The travel agency wants to send the customers a postcard based on their interest.
Layouts To continue you need to start PrintShop Mail version 6.0.1 or higher. Locate the Postcards folder and open the Postcards.psmd document. This document contains 4 layouts using a PDF background image.
Layout conditions To print layouts, based on the customers interest, we use a Layout Condition. Layout Condition can skip, print or leave pages blank during the printing process. In this case we have to tell each layout, based on the customer interest, if it should be printed or not (skipped). A postcard sample Select Layout 1 in the Layout pane on the right hand side of the PrintShop Mail window. The layout shows the Family image.
Setting up a condition To change the layout condition select the layout in the Layouts pane and click the Action value in the Properties pane. This will open the Expression builder showing the expression for the selected layout. The layout condition in the expression builder Below an overview of the layout conditions used in the postcard document.
Repetition on page PrintShop Mail can print multiple layouts on a paper that has a larger format than the size of a layout. The layout in this job has the size of the PDF and depending on the paper source of the printer driver you can determine how many times it should repeat on a page. The amount of repetition can be selected in the Repetition pane of the Preferences window (Edit menu). Repetition settings Changing the paper size, will also change the maximum amount of repetitions.
Publish the document Before continuing be sure that you follow the instructions in the chapter How to Publish to PrintShop Web in the PrintShop Mail manual. From PrintShop Mail select Publish to PrintShop Web in the File menu and follow the online instruction. Publish the job to the Marketing publication type. Select the Marketing publication type PrintShop Web Open a browser, for instance Internet Explorer and enter the URL of your PrintShop Web web site.
The postcard document in PrintShop Web PrintShop Web Designer Guide | 20
Newsletters Atlas Travel sends out a newsletter to their existing customers. The newsletter contains variable images based on the customer vacation preferences. The newsletter also offers a customer a 5% discount if they register on the Atlas Travel website.
Variable elements Start PrintShop Mail 6.0.1or higher and open the Newsletter.psmd file located in the Newsletter folder (Examples folder). The newsletter layout The document contains variable text elements (bold font style) and a variable image. Select the text box to get an overview of the variable text elements.
These variables also appear in the Properties panel (select Variables option). In this chapter we will explain how to create a: • • • variable date create input fields, which can be altered in PrintShop Web variable images The Variables pane showing the variables for the Newsletter document Variable date Double click on the variable Date in the Variables pane, the expression builder will be opened. The expression builder shows the Today function.
The Today functions returns the current date Input Fields In the Newsletter document we created two user input fields: • • the Name Travel Agent variable the Position Agent variable Double clicking the variable Name Travel Agent will open the expression builder. Between the brackets you will see the variable: [Name Agent] This variable does not come from a database, but was typed in. Click OK to close the expression builder window.
Variable images The Newsletter document contains a variable image. Based on the customers interest a specific photo is printed. This document makes use of four different images: • • • • Paris Barcelona Amsterdam Sydney As stated the images are printed by the holiday preferences of a customer. When a customer visited Paris, a picture of Paris will be printed. When he visited Sydney, a picture of Sydney is printed. The information comes from the database field Location.
The Image folder option in the Properties pane Print the newsletter You may want to verify the output before publishing the document to PrintShop Web. Select Print in the File menu to output the document to a printer.
Publish to PrintShop Web Choose Publish to PrintShop Web from the File menu, the Publish to PrintShop Web dialog appears. Select a Publication type and click Next. In the dialog that appears you will need to add the variable images. Select the folder containing the image in the Browse for Variable Images section and click Add. The names of the images will be added to the Add variable images section. Click Next to proceed.
PrintShop Web Open a browser, for instance Internet Explorer and enter the URL of your PrintShop Web web site. Login, navigate to the New Document section and select the Newsletter document. In this case the document requires you to enter data manually (user input) and to upload a database file. First you'll need to enter information in the user input web form. Click Next and upload the Newsletter.xsl database file. In the Database mapping page browser through the records and check the update previews.
Creating a custom Watermark With the introduction of PrinShop Mail 6.0 you can specifiy objects as non printable. These items will only be shown in the JPG previews and PDF softproofs of PrintShop Web. Non printable objects can be used to create custom watermarks and emulate preprinted paper or specific paper types. Non Printable Objects Placing a watermark on your documents will discourage people from copying them, claiming them as their own.
The preview only option in the Printing section of the Properties pane 6 To finalize the design you can change the color scheme of the watermark image. As the watermark image is a black and white bitmap image you can change the colors of its background and foreground (the black parts). Select the image and set the Convert to Two Colors option to Yes in the Two color section of the Properties pane.
The image converted to a Two Color image Now you're all set and ready to publish the document to PrintShop Web.
How to Continue Now you completed this guide you might want to learn more about PrintShop Mail and/or PrintShop Web. To serve the world wide variable data needs, we work with a global network of partners, local distributors and support departments. Check the following website for more information: • www.objectiflune.
ELECTRONIC END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PRINTSHOP WEB NOTICE TO USER: THIS IS A CONTRACT. BY INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. This Objectif Lune End User License Agreement accompanies the PrintShop Web product and related explanatory materials ("Software"). The term "Software" also shall include any upgrades, modified versions or updates of the Software licensed to you by Objectif Lune. Please read this Agreement carefully.
