Print Options

The Print Options page is the first page of both the Advanced Print Wizard (used for both Production and Proof printing) and the Output Preset Creation Wizard.

This first page is the most important of the Advanced Print Wizard/Output Creation Preset Wizard.
All other pages that appear throughout the Wizard are determined by the selections made on this page.

The choices can be broken down as follows:

  • Printer group:
    • Model: Use the drop-down to select the printer language / output type that will be generated.
      Connect output options cover a range of industry standard print output types.
      These include PCL, PDF and PostScript (including PPML, VIPP and VPS variants), with a range of quality settings available.

      Models for all these print output streams are included with Connect. By default, Connect initially displays just the PDF output option, to keep the interface clean. But other print output types can be added to the Printer Model drop down list at any time via the Settings button
      You can also add any customized Printer Model that Objectif Lune Inc. has prepared for you, specific to your printer.

      Or you can create your own customized PostScript Printer Model through the printer manufacturer provided PostScript Printer Definition (PPD) file. This will launch the Dynamic PPD Options page later in the Printer Wizard.

      For more information on how to add Printer Models to Connect, see Adding print output models to the Print Wizard.
  • Output Options group:
    • Output Local checkbox: Select to have the output created using the local Print Server, instead of the Connect Server (see The Connect server for an explanation).
    • Output Type choices:
      • Prompt for file name: Select to output to a local file on the hard drive. When this option is selected, no other configuration is necessary. A Save As dialog will appear to allow selection of the folder and filename.
      • Directory : Select to output to a local folder on the machine.
        Selecting this will open the Directory Options sub-group, which has these options:
        • Job Output Mask: The name of the file that will output.
          You could write the Job Output Mask directly into this edit box (for a list of available variables see Print output variables), or you could create a Mask via the Options button. This opens the custom dialog: Job Output Mask Dialog .
          The Job Output Mask may contain (dynamic) folder names, for example: ${document.metadata['Country']}\${template}. The evaluated value of the Job Output Mask is taken as a path relative to the folder specified by the Job Output Folder (the next option in this dialog). The Job Output Folder must exist, but folders specified in the Job Output Mask will get created if they don't exist.
        • Job Output Folder: The path on the disk where the file is produced. Please note that the folder must exist, or output will fail when produced through the server.
      • LPR Queue: Select to send the print job to an LPR queue. It is assumed that the print technology is supported by the system receiving the LPR job.
        • Local Printer: The IP or host name of the printer or machine where the LPD is installed and will receive
        • Queue Name: The queue name that will accept the job on the LPD. Default is generally "auto".
        • Job Owner Name: Optional entry for adding the name of the job owner.
        • Job Name: The name of the output file. You can use ${template} as a variable for the name of the Designer Template used to generate the output.
      • Windows Printer: Select to send the Print Job to a printer queue (note that this is an actual printer queue, not a Workflow Printer Queue). The job is rendered as a PDF before being printed through the Windows driver.
        • Windows Printer: Use the drop-down to select the Windows printer queue where the job will be sent.

        • Job Owner Name: Optional entry for adding the name of the job owner.

        • Job Name: The name of the output file. You can use ${template} as a variable for the name of the Designer Template used to generate the output.
      • PDF Rendering Options (PDF output only):
        • Auto-rotate and center: Check to automatically select the page orientation that best matches the content and paper.
        • Choose paper source by page size: Check to use the PDF page size to determine the output tray rather than the page setup option. This option is useful for printing PDFs that contain multiple page sizes on printers that have different-sized output trays.
        • Scale:
          • None: Select to not scale any page, whether it fits or not.
          • Expand to printable area: Select to expand any page to fit the page area. Pages larger than the paper size are not resized.
          • Shrink to printable area: Select to shrink any page to fit the page area. Pages smaller than the paper size are not resized.
  • Production Options:
    • Booklet Imposition checkbox: Check to tell the printer to generate a booklet for the print output. Booklet options are set in the Booklet Options page.
      This option is unselected by default unless selected in the Designer Print section properties.
    • Imposition checkbox: Check to enable Cut & Stack Imposition, which is set in the Imposition Options page.
    • Add Inserter marks checkbox: Check to enable inserter mark functionality, which is set in the Inserter Options page.
    • Override Finishing options checkbox (not available in Output Preset Creation): Check to configure custom Finishing Options, such as binding.
    • Print virtual stationery checkbox: Check to enable virtual stationery in the output.
    • Use grouping checkbox (not available in Output Preset Creation): Check to configure grouping of output into jobs, job segments or document sets. See Grouping Options.
    • Include meta data checkbox (not available in Output Preset Creation): Check to add meta data to the output. This can be done at Job, Job Segment, Document, Document Set and Page level. See Metadata options.
    • Separation checkbox: Check to activate the Separation options page of the wizard.
    • Add additional content checkbox: Check to activate the Additional Content page of the wizard.
  • Records group (not available in Output Preset Creation):
    • Record Range: Allows selection of a range of records or a custom selection.
      You can specify individual records separated by semi-colons (;) or ranges using dashes.
      For example: 2;4;6-10 would print pages 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
  • Copies section (not available in Output Preset Creation):
    • Copies: Enter the number of copies to print, of each record.
    • Collate: When printing multiple copies you can check this checkbox to have the record copies printed together.
      For example in a three record job the records would print out as 1-1-2-2-3-3, rather than 1-2-3-1-2-3.
  • Pure Color Thresholds group:
    This section is valid for PCL only. It applies to elements within the record that are shades of grey, rather than black or white.
    • Black Threshold Percentage: The percentage of shading at which the element will appear as full black, rather than dark grey.
    • White Threshold Percentage: The percentage at which the element will appear as full white, rather than light grey.
Advanced Print Wizard navigation options
  • Load button (not available in Output Preset Creation): Click to select a previously created Output Creation Preset. This will change the Advanced Print Options to match the entries contained within the Preset.
  • Preview button: Click to launch a Proof Preview window, which displays how the printed output would look based upon the currently chosen selections.
  • Back and Next buttons: Used to navigate back and forth through all the selected options within the Wizard. Up until the Print button is pressed, one can reverse all the way through the wizard to return to the main selection page (the Print Options page) and add or remove printing options from the print run.
  • Print button: Click to produce print output according to the current settings. This can be done at any point within the Wizard, whether or not all the options selected in the Print Options page have been completed or not.
  • Cancel button: Cancels the Print Wizard, without creating any printout.