News - XChange US

Enfocus QuickRun – Processing files with one click!

August 14, 2017 by Natacha De Kegel Leave a Comment

Does your daily task list include opening your PDF file and selecting one or multiple Enfocus Presets? Or continuously trying to find those presets within the different windows and folders? How would you feel about getting your work done with one click?

An Enfocus QuickRun will adjust your PDF files with one click. This preset is created within Enfocus PitStop Pro, a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional and it is compatible with Mac and Windows.PitStop Pro is the industry-standard preflight engine that can check all aspects of your PDF files and pinpoints exactly where the problems are.

Now let’s create an Enfocus QuickRun.

First step is to add a collection of Preflight Profiles and/or Action Lists and/or Global Changes and select your page range. Choosing page ranges can be handy when you have to edit only even or odd pages, for example. Click OK to save your Enfocus QuickRun.

Creating the shortcut.

Drag and drop your Enfocus QuickRun from your “Local” or “Standard” folder into the “Favorites in Tools Panel” folder.

That’s it, now you can go and process files with one click.

What is so great about this feature?

You can make as many as you like and you will save time as you no longer need to find your presets within the different panels. For example, the Enfocus QuickRun “Improve my office document” (installed by default), will make your Microsoft Office documents professional print-ready with one click.

PitStop Pro offers much more than this functionality, so if you’d like to learn more, please contact us today.

Fully automate imposition of PDF files!

July 28, 2017 by Natacha De Kegel Leave a Comment

Imposing files with different sizes will require different imposition templates. Same goes for files with different finishing types like saddle stitching or perfect binding. Wouldn’t it be great to fully automate imposition and save time and money?

The combination of Enfocus Switch and Quite Hot (Imposing and Plus) is a solution that you should look into. All applications are compatible with Mac and Windows. You will build your automation flow and imposition template in the snap of a finger as both applications have a user friendly design. Ready to get started?

Building your flow

Add the following elements to your canvas:
* Folder
* Folder to gather all files and sort them
* Different folders for your different templates – please use your existing control file names
* Folder to gather all files back
* Hot Imposing configurator
* Folders for processed files and log files

Connect the elements. Connect the folders by double clicking on one folder and then clicking on the folder that you want to connect. That’s it.

Routing the files to the correct folder?

How does your A4 job end up in the A4 folder? You use Switch’s variables to route the jobs correctly.

It is a condition that we configure as we need to look for a job variable and then set the sizes (in points) of what we will compare with. The AND operators are added to combine the selection, we want this trim box height AND this trim box width.

Now repeat these steps and configure all your other page sizes as needed.

Remembering the folder name

We will use another Switch variable. Select one of the folders with the name of the template and enable the property to “Attach hierarchy info”. Now you are ready for the last step!

Configuring the Quite Hot Imposing Configurator

The last step is to configure the control file or imposition template within the Quite Hot Imposing configurator.

We are using one folder so make sure to save all your control files into a specific folder. In my flow, I have used this folder “/DATA/Switch_work_folder/QuiteHot_training/sequences_files/” .

Add the path to the “Text with variables” field.

The variable “Job.Hierarchy” comes from the folder with the imposition template name, where we have set it to Attach hierarchy info.

The Index is 1 because in this flow, we have no other directory structure. The files did not come from a specific folder and I am not trying to save the folder to another specific folder.

Finished!

That is it, this requires some work but imagine the time and work saved once you have this flow running! You will now longer be looking for templates or checking your page sizes manually. Just active the flow, drop your files into the flow and watch the jobs being processed.

Enfocus Switch offers much more than this functionality, so if you’d like to learn more, please contact us today.

Enfocus Switch – Stop creating directory structures manually!

July 17, 2017 by Natacha De Kegel Leave a Comment

Are you spending more than 30% of your time creating folders and subfolders (directory structures) on your system? Maybe you want to add your files to a folder with today’s date? Or maybe you want to create a folder per customer?

Enfocus Switch can create directory structures for you. It is compatible with Mac and Windows and with its user friendly “workflow” builder, it will take you less than 30 minutes to create an automation flow that will save you many hours. What about using that time to focus on growing your business or take on that extra project that you were not able to take on before!

Enfocus Switch is all about adding elements and configuring them one by one. You can make it as smart and advanced as you like.

Let’s get this workflow going.

Add the following elements to your canvas:

Folder
Set hierarchy path
Folder
Archive hierarchy

Connect them by double clicking on the element to start from and you will notice an arrow showing. Go to the element you want to connect to, click on it and that is it. Connected!

Names of the folders can be adjusted. This can help you better understand what is happening but it is not required for the flow to work.

The next step is to set your properties for the “Adding folder with date” element. This element is the Set hierarchy path element which I have renamed.

This is how you configure step 3, which is your Text with variables:

Now activate your flow.

Process your files and they will end up in a folder with that day’s date.

This is just a sample of one directory structure. You can make as many folders and subfolders as you like with Enfocus Switch. For example: Using the variables within Switch to add a unique job number, the file type or if you just want a specific static name.

Easy enough?

Imagine all the time saved which would allow you to work smarter, not harder. You can focus on acquiring new customers, working more efficiently with your existing customers and being just overall more productive.

Enfocus Switch offers much more than this functionality, so if you’d like to learn more, please contact us today.

XChange Offers Free Productivity Consultation To Help Printers Stay Competitive and Increase Profits

November 1, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Free Workflow Consultation from XChange US

London, United Kingdom & Clearwater, FL – XChange US and XChange UK are currently offering conventional, digital and hybrid printers free consultancy and productivity audits based on their specific needs, demonstrating solutions that can assist them in staying competitive in the industry as well as increasing their profits.

XChange offers workflow automation solutions that allow print companies of any size to do more with their existing software. These fully customizable solutions avoid bottlenecks and streamline workflows, and can be integrated into any existing production environment. They save valuable time and resources, boost production efficiency and enable greater throughput with enhanced customer satisfaction and retention.

“Printers today all face the same challenge: How to grow in a highly competitive market with thinner margins, increased customer service demands and in many cases reduced staffing levels. Current market conditions put incredible pressure on companies to try to find a way just to stay in business, much less increase profits,” states Tami Stodghill, XChange Press Relations Manager.

“So, how do printers minimize costs, maximize profits and still deliver consistent quality? How can they affordably speed up turnaround times, increase capacity and throughput and maintain customer retention? That’s where workflow automation solutions step in.”

By offering a personalized consultation and speaking with printers about their specific needs, XChange finds most printers are amazed to find how much more they can do, enabling them to expand their customer base, offer more competitive pricing and reduce errors.

XChange also offers information regarding the Return On Investment when implementing these solutions, providing a clear picture of just how quickly printers can start saving money using their workflow investment.

In most cases, printers see a complete return on their investment within the first few months and going forward, they are much more profitable and are able to add services to their offerings. Printers who wish to take advantage of the free consultancy can contact either XChange US or XChange UK and the consultancy session can be scheduled at their convenience.

“We are really excited to be able to offer those in the print industry this opportunity to find out more about the solutions available,” adds Tami. “Automation is the answer to ensure consistent quality, faster turnaround, better prices and to offer a wider variety of services. A change in current processes allows printers to be able to meet and beat the criteria that will keep their current clients happy and allow greater job volume and diversification of their product offerings to stay relevant with market trends.”

XChange US and XChange UK are leading suppliers of PDF workflow and automation tools, creative and publishing applications and extended technology products. They source productivity enhancing software from across the world specific to the print, production, publishing and creative industries and offer them to an extensive user base via their web site. XChange also provides consulting, integration and training services for the products they recommend.

Free Workflow Consultation from XChange US

PDF2ID – Stop Rebuilding and Start Converting

June 8, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Did a client provide a PDF that requires editing or updating? Do you only have a PDF version of a successful ad you ran and want to rework it for other mediums? What if you could take that PDF and easily turn it into an InDesign file?

PDF2ID does just that! PDF2ID is continuously enhanced with every major release of InDesign for both Mac and Windows platforms. The Plug-in converts PDF and Windows XPS files into fully editable InDesign files allowing PDF and XPS file content recovery and reuse within InDesign.
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alprinta GmbH Uses ColorLogic Products for Spot Color Conversion and More

May 25, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Modern printing companies like alprinta have to handle constantly changing printing conditions. In addition, exact reproduction of spot colors is exceedingly important. alprinta serves these different requirements with specific color management and the color server ZePrA plays a central role.

The German alprinta GmbH, with its headquarters in Leverkusen, has been successful in the print and display production for 30 years. Their core business lies in the area of digital and screen printing as well as display production and UV offset printing. In the area of display marketing, alprinta is one of the market leaders in Germany. This success is mainly based on 50 motivated and knowledgeable employees handling the daily business.

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Xtags streamlines production process for hundreds of newspapers and magazines with Pre1

May 25, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Xtags for InDesign or QuarkXPress turns simple tagged text into complete, complex documents. What if you could have a software robot that obeyed a simple tagged text file format (and not some XML monstrosity) to create formatted document contents? And, what if, using this single format, you could produce either Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress documents as needed? Xtags lets you build documents with anchored and unanchored objects, size the objects to fit the frames (or vice versa), apply master pages or spreads at any point, use macros for brevity and power and translation tables for easy conversion, giving you serious layout power and much more!

In this case study, Mark Jockin, CEO of Pre1 Software in Portland, Oregon explains how Em Software’s Xtags product became a backbone of the Pre1 newspaper software sold to hundreds of publications across the Americas.
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Barnes & Noble Uses EasyCatalog for Multi-Version Catalog production

May 12, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Ever wished you could take data directly from a file or database straight into Adobe InDesign?

Ideal for time-critical publications, EasyCatalog can dramatically speed up page make-up time and ensure your documents remain error free. Trusted by thousands of users in over thirty countries across six continents, EasyCatalog has quickly established itself as one of the most powerful and flexible database publishing solutions for Adobe InDesign.

Farago Design/Barnes & Noble Uses EasyCatalog for Mult-Version Catalog production
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Connect ALL enables Danish printer to receive print-ready, preflighted PDF files

April 15, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

Strandbygaard Grafisk A/S, a leading Danish print company, invested in Enfocus Connect to streamline PDF transfers from its clients. The software enables the Danish printer to receive PDF files –already preflighted – directly from its clients. The new streamlined workflow reduces communication efforts by 25-40%, saving valuable time and resources and boosting production efficiency significantly.
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DocsFlow for InDesign is a Huge Time Saver at a Non-Profit

March 29, 2016 by Tami Stodghill Leave a Comment

David Rager, a designer/art director in Paris who works with a non-profit organization called The Ecology Center in California, has been using DocsFlow recently and is quite enthusiastic about the product. See what David had to say about DocsFlow for InDesign.

“I’ve been plugging away with DocsFlow over the last few months and found that it has been a huge time saver. What I love most is that it takes away the trouble I often run into with the conventional edit, proofread, approval, repeat system. My clients are also very happy that they get to interact with a live document and see how their text edits change the way the design looks and feels.”

“Our first “DocsFlow project” came back from press recently, 5 contributors were involved, each updating their own docs and everyone is very pleased with the results.”