"Document" Tab

"Override Settings from Document" option

If this parameter is enabled, Distiller parameters embedded in the PostScript code of the document are overridden by the current Normalizer settings. Generally, this option should be enabled to make sure that documents are processed properly.

"Add Settings as PDF Comment" option

The settings used in Normalizing are added to the PDF documents as text comments if this parameter is enabled. The comments are generated in two formats:

​•​once as a table with the Normalizing settings that were used

​•​and also in a format so that Acrobat Distiller can read the settings used. To do this, copy the content of the comments to a text file (e.g. in Windows Editor) and save the file with ".joboptions" as the extension. You can use the parameters as the Distiller default if you copy this file to the appropriate Distiller access path.

Note: The Normalizing settings are not added as a comment if a PDF file is imported to the Prinect workflow because this file was generated by an external application (e.g. Acrobat Distiller) whose settings have nothing to do with those of the Normalizer.

"ASCII Format" option

This option files the entire text content of the PostScript documents in ASCII format in the generated PDF files. You should disable this parameter as otherwise unnecessarily large PDF files will be created.

"Compatibility" list box

The "Compatibility" parameter is equivalent to the Distiller setting of the same name and only affects the generation of PDF documents from PostScript files. You can set the PDF degree of compatibility in this list box. In other words, the PDF format generated by the Normalizer is generated with the properties that correspond to the Acrobat version selected in this box. This means, for example, that transparency elements are supported only by Acrobat versions as of 5.0 (equivalent to PDF 1.4). Generally, you should leave the default ("Acrobat 4.0 (PDF 1.3)") as it is to guarantee the highest degree of reliability in processing in the Prinect workflow. You can set a different degree of compatibility in this list box only if PostScript documents are to be processed as these require special properties that are available only in more recent PDF versions.

"PDF + PDF/VT" group

Definition of terms used: PDF/VT documents are documents with multiple pages that are designed for printing variable data, e.g. for circular letters. Such documents mainly consist of a great number of pages that are divided into "data sets" or "records".

In the Prinect workflow, processing of PDF documents with large numbers of pages takes an extremely long time. In very many cases in such documents, it is about variable data where only a few components change. For that reason, the Preflighter only checks the first records in PDF/VT files.

The functions in the "PDF + PDF/VT" area let you cancel the processing of very large PDF documents or convert the PDF document to a PDF/VT document. In this case, you must specify how many pages a record has.

In the "Maximum number of pages per PDF" box, you set the page total up to which "simple" PDF files will be processed by default. "When Maximum Number is Exceeded" is applied when the set number is exceeded:

​•​Cancel with error

The job is aborted or

​•​Convert PDF to PDF/VT

The PDF file is converted to a PDF/VT. Use "Number of Pages per Record" to set the number of pages that each PDF/VT record (data set) is to have. For example, you will have 200 records if a PDF document with 1000 pages is converted to PDF/VT and the number of pages per record is '5'.

"Modify Existing PDF/VT Data" option

If you enable this option, existing PDF/VT information of the incoming documents will be changed according to the settings in the ""Maximum number of pages per PDF" and "Number of Pages per Record"" fields.

"iVDP" group

The "Barcode and VDP Editor" of the Prinect PDF Toolbox lets you among other things create text marks with variable parts (dynamic marks with placeholders). The marks are tagged as PDF layers named "Prinect VDP Marks" (Variable Data Printing). Images can also be inserted dynamically in addition to barcodes and text marks.

Definition of terms used: iVDP stands for "industrial Variable Data Printing" and refers to a special file format that like PDF/VT manages variable data records and is used in the Prinect environment, for example, for Gallus Labelfire digital presses. In contrast to PDF/VT, iVDP files do not contain all of the variable data but only links to the various sources. The variable parts are not calculated when the iVDP file is being created but only during printing. The benefits of iVDP include a higher printing speed and a smaller file size. It is suited mainly for large print runs where the variable elements consist of text or barcodes. You should continue to select the PDF/VT format for variable images. You should also do this if, for example, files with variable data records are to be exchanged between different print shops.

Note: When creating iVDP files, make sure that the CSV files with the variable data records are located in folders that the Prinect Server can access, locally or in network shares. In addition, all the fonts used must be installed on all the computers involved.

Use iVDP Template

Select the iVDP template you want with "Browse". The template must be accessible in the Prinect system environment or in the network neighborhood of the Prinect server. Filling out this box is optional; you can also leave it empty.

Use CSV table from folder

Use "Browse" to select a folder in the file system in which exactly one CSV table must be located. This folder must be accessible in the Prinect system environment or in the network neighborhood of the Prinect server. The benefit of displaying a folder with a CSV file is that the name of the CSV table is not permanently set in the sequence, but stays variable. You can enter the path to the folder and to the CSV table also as a relative path. In this case, they are interpreted relative to the job home.

Delete CSV Table after Use

When you enable this option, CSV tables are deleted as soon as they were used in the job. If this option is not enabled, the CSV tables are kept and moved to the job. You can then archive the CSV tables with the job to make them available, for example, for clarifying support queries if needed.

Generate PDF/VT from iVDP

Use this option to be able to create PDF/VT files from existing iVDP files. In this process, all data records that are referred to in the iVDP files are embedded in PDF/VT files. You need an iVDP template and the data records as a CSV (comma-separated values) table for this to be done. You can create the iVDP files with the "Barcode & VDP Editor" of the Prinect PDF Toolbox. In this process, a CSV table is also generated that contains among other things the number of data records.

Note: When generating PDF/VT from iVDP files, all available Normalizer engines are used in parallel which make a high performance for this process possible.

No. of Records

If "Generate PDF/VT from iVDP" is enabled, this is where you can enter the number of data records that are to be copied to the PDF/VT file if this number is not known through a CSV file in the system, in other words, if only counter marks are used. You can also enter a smaller number if only some of the data records are to be copied to a PDF/VT file.

Number of Records per File

If "Generate PDF/VT from iVDP" is enabled, this is where you can set the maximum number of data records the PDF/VT file generated from an iVDP file may have. A new PDF/VT file is generated when this limit is reached. This lets you generate PDF/VT files in parallel by several Normalizer engines.