Tools of the Trades
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Printools XT for QuarkXPress 7
US$119.99 | Macintosh only

Generating printer's spreads can be left to the printer, of course, but what about when you want internal control? Click here to read Ralph Eberhard's review of the most-popular XTensions, Plug-ins, and Stand-alone applications for imposition.

If you're on the tail end of production and responsible for the output of files, Printools XT provides you, the prepress professional, with a sophisticated suite of printing tools and timesaving options. One of the most requested is the ability to individually name each file as it is saved to PostScript. With Printools XT, this is as simple as defining the name and the serialization of the individual files. Add that to a batch-print option, and you can easily process dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of imaged pages with a few clicks.

Printools XT is contained within the print dialogue box of QuarkXPress. Simply choose file > print and you'll find the print options have been fed a bottle of steroids that has spawned all new panes containing dozens of options and a large, easy to proof preview.

Figure 12 Printools XT is fully contained within the expanded print dialogue box shown here. There are six panes for setting options accompanied by a large, live preview. In the following figures, we'll zoom in on the individual panes.

Let's dig through these panes in order, starting with preflight. While you may feel that these options don't compare to the robust features found in an application such as Markzware's FlightCheck Professional, they will certainly bring you a measured amount of peace before sending huge documents to output on expensive film. The options are easy to control with simple check boxes and you can save your options with the capture settings feature. The last feature in this pane enables you to set the default for preflighting before any print process.

Figure 13 In the preflight pane, you can optimize the integrity of the final output.

Much like Slugger, included in the StudioPack, Printools XT, at the time of print, will drop a slug on the page as well. The positioning is not optional, it's placed at the top of the page, but the content of the slugs are definable through this pane. As you select the options, a sample slug appears directly below the window of options. As an added bonus, you can even suppress any of the standard QuarkXPress tags.

Figure 14 In the page slug pane, you can create slugs that will print on your document pages. Use the check boxes to add the item, or remove the check to omit the item.

Print rename is probably one of the most popular features of Printools XT, and this XTensions module is the least expensive product to offer this capability. Using this, you can rename the document during the output stage, without altering the actual document name. This can be useful, for example, with certain RIPs that will not accept long document names. It will also help you to track revisions or print individual pages for manual imposition. Use the options here to specify up to three components in the new name, choosing from: project name, layout name, Project_Layout, the page range, a three-digit serial number, or any custom text.

Figure 15 In the print rename pane, you can name each document page individually. This, combined with the PostScript output, would enable you, for example, to generate a different PostScript file with a unique name on for each.

I've worked with a number of different customers with different workflows needing the option to save PostScript files individually named. You can, for instance, name the document based on the page number, or in the instance below, based on a serial number that increase by one with each page saved.

Figure 16 In the PostScript pane, set automatic naming for individually saved PostScript files.

Printools XT's batch panel enables the user to batch print up to 200 projects using the same print settings as the current project. The source-files list provides a management tool for the projects to be printed, and it includes options for printing all layouts in the projects. You may optionally include the current open project.

Figure 17 In the batch print pane, you can queue up jobs from different locations and print them all at the same time.

The extras pane is for controlling the interface options of Printools XT's dialogue box options. It also provides you a summary of the options that you have set.

Figure 18 In the extras pane, you will find controls for Printools' interface.

One of my personal favorites in this XTensions module is the large, live preview with the easy-set row of button options along the top. The preview updates dynamically as you choose settings from the button options. While QuarkXPress does have a page-representation preview, without the actual page image, it can be challenging at best to try to determine what's really going on. With all of the additional features that you are offered with Printools, it only makes sense that you'd get a better visual to go along with the high-powered printing gizmos.

Oh, and if this preview isn't quite large enough, try the full-screen preview option.

Figure 19 In addition to the panes of the dialogue box, Printools XT includes a generously sized preview window and a set of tools across the top. These tools are: rotate page, center page, spreads, manually position page, add crop marks, add color bars, flip page, and print page negative. From here you can manually tile a page by dragging the mouse over the preview area.

As a final few bonus options, you can save all current print settings as a new print style, redefine any print style using local print settings, combine rename at print, batch printing, and print to file, and show the current printer name in the print dialogue. Whew.

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