Print sections

Print templates, also called Print sections, are part of the Print context. They are meant to be printed to a printer or printer stream, or to a PDF file (see Generating Print output).
The Print context can also be added to Email output as a PDF attachment; see Generating Email output. When generating output from the Print context, each of the Print sections is added to the output document, one after the other in sequence, for each record.

Pages

Unlike emails, Print sections can contain multiple pages. Pages are naturally limited by their size and margins. If the content of a section doesn't fit on one page, the overflow goes to the next page. This happens automatically, based on the section's page size and margins; see Page settings: size, margins and bleed.

Although generally the same content elements can be used in all three contexts (see Content elements), the specific characteristics of pages make it possible to use special elements, such as page numbers; see Page numbers.

See Pages for an overview of settings and elements that are specific for pages.

Using headers, footers, tear-offs and repeated elements

In Print sections, there are often elements that need to be repeated across pages, like headers, footers and logos. In addition, some elements should appear on each first page, or only on pages in between the first and the last page, or only on the last page. Examples are a different header on the first page, and a tear-off slip that should show up on the last page.

This is what Master Pages are used for. Master Pages can only be used in the Print context.

See Master Pages for an explanation of how to fill them and how to apply them to different pages.

Using stationery (Media)

When the output of a Print context is meant to be printed on paper that already has graphical and text elements on it (called stationery, or preprinted sheets), you can add a copy of this media, in the form of a PDF file, to the Media folder.

Media can be applied to pages in a Print section, to make them appear as a background to those pages. This ensures that elements added to the Print context will correspond to their correct location on the preprinted media.

See Media for a further explanation about how to add Media and how to apply them to different pages.

Note: The Media will not be printed, unless this is specifically requested through the printer settings; see Generating Print output.

Adding a Print section

The Print context can contain multiple sections: a covering letter and a policy, for example, or one section that is meant to be attached to an email as a PDF file and another one that is meant to be printed out on paper. When a Print template is created (see Creating a Print template with a Wizard and Print context), only one Print section is added to it, but you can add as many print sections as you need.

To add a section to a context:

• On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, right-click the Print context , and then click New section.

The first Master Page (see Master Page) and Media (see Media) will automatically be applied to all pages in the new section, but this can be changed, see Applying a Master Page to a page in a Print section and Applying Media to a page in a Print section.

Deleting a Print section

To delete a Print section:

• On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Print context, right-click the name of the section, and then click Delete.

Arranging Print sections

When generating output from the Print context, each of the Print sections is added to the output document, one after the other in sequence, for each record. The sections are added to the output in the order in which they appear on the Resources pane, so changing the order of the sections in the Print context changes the order in which they are outputted to the final document.

To rearrange sections in a context:

• On the Resources pane, expand the Print context and drag and drop sections to change the order they are in.
• Alternatively, on the Resources pane, right-click a section in the Print context and click Arrange. In the Arrange Sections dialog you can change the order of the sections by clicking the name of a section and moving it using the Up and Down buttons.

Styling and formatting a Print section

The contents of a Print section can be formatted directly, or styled with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). See Styling and formatting.

In order for a style sheet to be applied to a specific section, it needs to be included in that section. There are two ways to do this.

Drag & drop a style sheet

1. Click and hold the mouse button on the style sheet on the Resources pane.
2. Move the mouse cursor within the Resources pane to the section to which the style sheet should be applied.
3. Release the mouse button.

Using the Includes dialog

1. On the Resources pane, right-click the section, then click Includes.
2. Choose which CSS files should be applied to this section. You can also change the order in which the CSS files are read. This can have an effect on which CSS rule is applied in the end.

Using a PDF file as background image

In the Print context, a PDF file can be used as a section's background. It is different from the Media in that the section considers the PDF to be content, so the number of pages in the section will be the same as the number of pages taken from the PDF file.

With this feature it is possible to create a Print template from an arbitrary PDF file. Of course, the PDF file itself can't be edited in a Designer template, but when it is used as a section's background, text and other elements, such as a barcode, can be added to it.

To create a Print template based on a PDF file, use the PDF-based Print wizard; see Creating a Print template with a Wizard.

To use a PDF file as background image in an existing Print template:

1. On the Resources pane, expand the Print context, right-click the print section and click Background.
2. Click the downward pointing arrow after Image and select From PDF resource.
   

   From DataMapper input cannot be used in PrintShopMail Connect. The DataMapper is included only in PlanetPress Connect and PreS Connect 1.4.2.

3. For a PDF resource, you have to specify where it is located. Click the Select Image button.

   Click Resources, Disk or Url, depending on where the image is located.

   • Resources lists the images that are present in the Images folder on the Resources pane.
   • Disk lets you choose an image file that resides in a folder on a hard drive that is accessible from your computer. Click the Browse button to select an image.
     As an alternative it is possible to enter the path manually. The complete syntax is: file://<host>/<path>. Note: if the host is "localhost", it can be omitted, resulting in file:///<path>, for example: file:///c:/resources/images/image.jpg.
     Check the option Save with template to insert the image into the Images folder on the Resources pane.
   • Url allows you to choose an image from a specific web address. Select the protocol (http or https), and then enter the web address (for example, http://www.mysite.com/images/image.jpg).

     It is not possible to use a remotely stored PDF file as a section's background, because the number of pages in a PDF file can not be determined via the http and http protocols. Therefor, with an external image, the option Save with template is always checked.

4. Select the PDF's position:

   • Fit to page stretches the PDF to fit the page size.
   • Centered centers the PDF on the page, vertically and horizontally.
   • Absolute places the PDF at a specific location on the page. Use the Top field to specify the distance between the top side of the page and the top side of the PDF, and the Left field to specify the distance between the left side of the page and the left side of the PDF.
5. Optionally, if the PDF has more than one page, you can set the range of pages that should be used.

   The number of pages in the Print section is automatically adjusted to the number of pages in the PDF file that are being used as the section's background image.

6. Finally, click OK.

Setting the binding style for a Print section

In printing, Finishing is the binding style, or the way pages are bound together. Each Print section can have its own Finishing settings, as well as the Print context as a whole; see Setting the binding style for the Print context.

To set the binding style of a Print section:

1. On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Print context and right-click the Print section.
2. Click Finishing.
3. Choose a Binding style and, if applicable, the number of holes.

To set the binding style of the Print context, see Setting the binding style for the Print context.

Overriding binding styles in a job creation preset

A Job Creation Preset can override the binding styles set for the Print sections and for the Print context as a whole. To bind output in another way than defined in the template’s settings:

1. Create a Job Creation Preset that overrides the settings of one or more sections: select File > Presets and see Job Creation Presets for more details.
2. Select that Job Creation Preset in the Print wizard; see Generating Print output.

Enabling double-sided printing

To print a Print section on both sides of the paper, that Print section needs to have the Duplex printing option to be enabled.

To enable duplex printing:

1. On the Resources pane, expand the Print context, right-click the print section and click Sheet configuration.
2. Check Duplex to enable content to be printed on the back of each sheet.
3. When duplex printing is enabled, further options become available.
   • Check Tumble to duplex pages as in a calendar.
   • Check Facing pages to have the side margins switched alternately, so that after printing and binding the pages, they look like in a magazine or book. See Pages to find out how to set a left and right margin on a page.

   • If an odd page count is generated, the last page (which is a duplex backside) has only the master page. To suppress the master page on this last page and exclude this page from page counting, check the option Omit Master Page Back in case of an empty back page.