By Tami STodghill

The word batch caught my interest but the complete automation hooked me — BatchOutput lets you work after hours without lifting a finger.

I love surprises. Good ones, anyway. Doesn’t everyone? Well, hold on, because you're about to discover a product full of pleasant surprises: BatchOutput for InDesign® CS – CS4.

Don’t get me wrong; I knew the word batch suggested the product boasted something I desired — multi-document output — and anything that does that would be on my wish list, but when I went to bed, and woke up with BatchOutput having completed my production — error free — I knew I’d landed a winner.

BatchOutput	BatchOutput

BatchOutput, Mac only, $119.54/72 euros, was designed specifically to automate printing and exporting to PDF, PostScript, EPS, JPEG, SWF, and XFL from Adobe® InDesign; and although it is a Plug-in, trust me when I say it would be better categorized as a workflow solution that integrates fully with the finder, doesn't limit your ability to manipulate InDesign documents when open, and delivers you the muscle of a fully integrated InDesign Plug-in combined with the versatility of a stand-alone application.

As I kept working on other tasks in InDesign, BatchOutput was operating backstage, inconspicuously and without affecting the speed with which I could continue working. Since I was feeling lucky, I also launched additional programs and my luck held — BatchOutput kept processing and I was able to keep plodding through my daily projects without a hitch.

Figure 1 Unlike most Plug-ins, BatchOutput's icon is added to your dock.

When you launch BatchOutput, an icon appears in the dock, and the software actually behaves like a stand-alone application. It means you’re free to open and edit your InDesign documents and switch between them without the need to quit BatchOutput. You can also add InDesign documents to BatchOutput by dragging them onto the BatchOutput icon (or by using Open With->BatchOutput contextual menu). It couldn’t be simpler.

BatchOutput possesses a number of valuable features. The custom text column feature allows you to customize names of individual output files, and is editable. Text you enter here appears before the output file’s extension. Click and type or choose from a drop-down menu to edit this custom-text column.

Figure 2 File naming is automated using definable fields and options from the drop-down menus.

BatchOutput provides you with an array of controls. You can opt to output using an InDesign print/PDF preset and all of the current InDesign presets will appear in a pop-up menu. If chosen, all of the files in the list will be printed utilizing the preset you specify. A define in first document option, lets you define settings for the first document in the batch within the print or PDF export dialog which is presented to you when the Plug-in opens the first document. Then, the files in your list will be printed or exported with the settings you supply for this first document. Additionally, a current settings of each document option prints all files that are in your list using the current print settings of each particular document.

Figure 3 Here you can see the processing files option/check box options.

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