Thank you for participating in the Quite Imposing Plus 6.0 Prerelease. Please note the following:
1. There may be errors and problems. THIS IS NOT DESIGNED AS PRODUCTION SOFTWARE. Please report all problems, but also please keep 5.0 installed so you can use it in case of issues.
2. This prerelease is TIME LIMITED and will stop working at a specific date. The date given is NOT THE RELEASE DATE. The time limit is short, so that you may see new prerelease versions as they change.
3. We do not guarantee to provide more prerelease versions, or to release at any time.
4. If we do release 6.0 it will be a chargeable upgrade.
We really welcome your feedback, especially on the things which work well for you in your workflow. Thanks again.
Quite Imposing Plus 5.0 can be installed and run at the same time. Both will show up in the Acrobat menus. But please note these cautions
· The first time you run 6.0, it will import the sequences and settings from 5.0, but after that the 6.0 settings and sequences will be separate.
· New features set up in sequences using 6.0 will not work correctly in 5.0, but will not give an error in 5.0.
Quite Hot Imposing 5.0 and 6.0 can also both be installed, and 6.0 will import the settings from 5.0. Notes
· You can only run one version of Quite Hot Imposing at a time.
· The Windows app is now 64-bit. This means you will probably see version 5 in c:\Program files (X86)\Quite while you see version 6 in c:\Program files\Quite.
· If using Enfocus Switch you will need to update the location of the Quite Hot Imposing executable in the Switch palette.
Latest changes are in blue
o There is now the option to generate bleed, when increasing the bleed area. Sometimes it is necessary to put some content into the bleed area, even if it is not perfect. QI now has three options when adding bleed
§ To do nothing, as in earlier releases (this is the default)
§ To use a mirror of the edge of the page to fill in the bleed.
§ To scale the trim box up to fill the bleed box.
o A new option “Generate bleed only” can be used with these choices to mirror or scale the trim box to fill the bleed box. This can be used when the trim box and bleed box are already correct, but you need to put information to fill this area.
o When you add bleed outside the visible edge of the page, you now have the option to make the enlarged bleed area visible. This is especially important if you are generating bleed, so you can check the results.
o Bleeds are highlighted while the Define Bleed tool is active in Quite Imposing Plus. This is now shown as a red line with white edges, so it should show up clearly on any background.
o Sometimes a page has a zero bleed area (trim box the same as bleed box) which is smaller than the page. This can cause surprises, as the page may be cut off to the bleed area, even though it is the same as the trim area. We improve handling in two ways in Quite Imposing Plus:
§ The Define Bleed tool now shows a narrow strip where there is actually a zero width strip
§ The page monitor now reports on this case specially.
· Tile Pages
o Larger limits. Can now tile up to 100 x 100 rows x columns. There is now a warning if this will create a very large number of pages.
o Undoing a booklet. Sometimes a booklet is received that a customer has already imposed, but it needs to be split up so it can be imposed again. Tile Pages now has an option for simple 2-up booklets which were intended for perfect bound or saddle stitched booklet. This cuts up the original and shuffles the pages, so the original does not need to have been made with Quite tools.
· Page monitor enhancements
o Page monitor now shows bleed margin, as well as bleed box size
o Copy page size report to clipboard
o Show page scale (UserUnit) information and scaled sizes
· User interface
o Menus (Quite Imposing Plus)
§ In 5.0 the menus were rearranged into submenus because the full menus were too long for some screens. You now have the option to turn back on the long menus if you prefer them. This option is in Preferences
o Panels (Quite Imposing Plus)
§ Control panel and custom panels can be set to show at startup
§ New master panel with a list of custom panels
o Tool buttons (Quite Imposing Plus)
§ The tool buttons can be added to Quick Tools. These have been the QI+ button, which repeats the Plug-in menu (with one click to show the menu instead of 2 clicks), and the Page Monitor button. We have added the QI+ Control Panel button, which can be used to open the Control panel with one click. (In fact it will reopen the most recently used panel of Control/Sequences/Info/Manual).
o Current page size (Quite Imposing Plus)
§ It is sometimes useful to set up a custom page size from an existing page. This can now be done by entering new page size setup and clicking Set from current page.
o Lists of files, fonts etc.
§ The list of fonts, recent files, or fields to stick on pages may become full of things that are no longer needed. The oldest items are automatically deleted, but now you can choose Manage List from these lists to clear them.
· Page scaling/User Units (set in Imposition Preferences)
o Page scaling is a PDF feature that allows pages larger than 200 inches/5040 mm. It is officially called “UserUnit”.
o Not all apps, devices or plug-ins will support this, and will see scaled pages as smaller.
o Adobe Illustrator 24.2 will use page scaling if the new “large artboards” feature is used, even if the PDF saved is a smaller design. This is starting to cause issues.
o Quite Imposing Plus now fully supports page scaling/user unit for all functions, and can use it if a page needs to go over the 200 inch/5040 mm limit. The scale needed is set automatically.
o A preference setting defines whether page scaling “just works”, gives a warning, or is forbidden. The default is a warning. This setting will be available in Quite Hot Imposing too, including via command line.
o Page scaling status can be checked with the page monitor. You can choose whether to apply the scaling, or just report it.
· Variable data merge enhancements
o Text blocks
§ Text block handling of long lines
· In 5.0, long lines are just cut off
· By default, in 6.0 long lines are scaled to fit, with a warning message if anything is reduced below 50% (half original size).
· You can set options on each text block, and override for single lines (for example, you may be happy for an address to be reduced to half size, but not a barcode font). The options:
o Scale down text. You will by default get a warning if it is scaled below 50%. You can set the percentage for warnings (for example choose 80% if you don’t want it reduced below 80% of original size).
o Cut off text as in earlier versions. You will by default get a warning
o Fail (stop with an error message) if lines are too long
o You can turn warnings off. In Quite Imposing Plus, you will get a chance to continue. In Quite Hot Imposing, it will always continue, but add a warning to the log.
· Block Preview now highlights in red any text that is either too long to fit, or in blue which has been scaled
· Block Preview now has a Find function that allows you to search for long lines.
§ Text block formatting: left/right/centre (by line)
§ Text block fields can override general block settings, to set justification, font or colour on single elements. Working with a barcode font, a barcode can be embedded in a block.
§ Preview navigator for text blocks - view different rows
· Text block navigator can search for cells containing a string
· Text block navigator can choose a row by number (eg show row 172)
§ Text blocks can now be rotated by 90/180/270 degrees on the page.
§ Text blocks can be set up containing only fixed text, for example for a “Return address” block. If there is only fixed text all copies will be the same; this is still allowed but there will be a warning message.
o Field organising / templating
§ These options are available by choosing “Show advanced options” in the Fields setup dialog.
§ Fields can be “disabled” so they are ignored in the merge.
§ This allows extra fields (including text blocks) to be defined, so you can switch between the fields/blocks needed for specific job
§ A new Duplicate button allows a field to be duplicated, so its settings can be changed. The copy is always initially disabled.
§ Fields/blocks can be given a name, to help organize them in the list
§ Fields can be moved up and down in the list to help organise them.
§ For multiple similar merges, we suggest making up a sequence with all fields and blocks. This sequence can be duplicated (using Sequences – Manage – Duplicate) and then fields/blocks enabled/disabled as needed.
o Hebrew text support (also in Stick On Text)
o Greek text support (also in Stick On Text)
o Major reduction of file size for some files, especially those heavy in vector art
o More emphasis for error messages when the source file is not usable
· N-up Pages/ Step & Repeat enhancements
o Align rows separately (option), so single rows in a layout can be centred or right justified if they are shorter than the other rows.
o Align dialog enhanced to give detailed visual example
o Crop marks now have an option to set a white background (in custom crop mark set up). This is useful when the crop marks need to contrast with an existing background. This also applies to crop marks in Manual Imposition and Create Booklet.
· Step & Repeat enhancements not in N-up Pages
o Rotating pages for better fit
§ Step & Repeat has the option (on screen 3) to rotate pages to make more pages fit on a sheet.
§ The option is not available for N-up or when pages are scaled.
o With the “allow rotation” and “row by row” options, step & repeat of identically sized pages should now back up front and back pages correctly (but without changes it is fully compatible with 5.0).
· Shuffle Pages For Imposing enhancements
o Shuffle assistant previously only worked for double sided. Now there is an option for single sided.
o Shuffle assistant up to 20 x 20 grid (maximum rows x columns = 100)
o Shuffle assistant gives feedback on the type of shuffle that will be generated.
o Advanced stacks (including in assistant).
o Recognises more layouts in Shuffle Assistant
o Improved error messages to help usability
· Stick on Text and Numbers enhancements
o Insert page labels (i, ii etc.) using Stick on Text
o Hebrew text support
o Greek and Cyrillic text support
o Option to number pages in reverse order
· Split/Merge (partials) enhancements
o Multiple duplicates of entire file. Partial sequences can delete unneeded pages. Good for choosing ranges to work on (for example work on last 10 pages, by deleting pages 1 to LAST-10; work on front and back covers by deleting pages 2 to LAST-1).
o Partials defined with List pages to split can already list pieces with range of pages such as 7..10. You can now include LAST or LAST-2 or similar in the list of pages. For example, 2..LAST-1 will cover every page except the first and last pages. To list LAST..1 will cover all pages, in reverse order.
o Since partials defined with List pages now can use LAST, the check on number of pages is optional. You can choose whether or not to check the number of pages. You can also choose whether or not a bad page number (beyond the last page number) gives an error or is ignored.
o When separate documents are produced, instead of merging, the file name patten can include <C> for the count of pages in the part, or for example <4C> for a 4 digit number of the count of pages. (This is not listed in the user interface.)
· Manual Imposition enhancements
o In Quite Imposing Plus, the target area is highlighted while the Define Bleed tool is active. This is now shown as a red line with white edges, so it should show up clearly on any background. The page has a corner mark, so rotation should be easy to see.
o Significant speed up when using Smart Crop Marks, especially on manual layouts with many complex pages.
· Hebrew language support
o Use Hebrew in variable data merge source
o Use Hebrew in stick on text
o Number pages in reverse order in Stick on text and numbers
Features will include the above, where relevant, and these Quite Hot only features:
· Filename filters
o You can set up multiple queues on the same input folder, and set a filename filter. For example one queue could handle files starting BOOK A4 and another could handle BOOK A5. The filters would just be “BOOK A4*” and “BOOK A5*”.
· Quite Hot XML editing.
o You can now edit XML files directly in Quite Hot, instead of having to Import to a sequence, edit the sequence, and export to XML again.
o There are new options File > New XML and File > Edit XML. These are especially intended for users of Enfocus Switch, who need to edit XML files without setting up queues.
o In queue setup, the option to edit an XML is given. You could duplicate a queue, then edit the XML and give it a new name, for the queue to pick up. There is also an option to choose from recently used XML files, and an option to start a new XML file.
o The right click - Change XML setup option offers these options too.
· Variables
o Variables are an advanced feature of Quite Hot Imposing, where a command sequence or XML file can be set up to use variable names instead of fixed values. For example, a Step & Repeat function could, instead of using 2 x 3 rows and columns, could set rows to NUMROWS and cols to THECOLUMNS. You choose the names.
o The variables can be passed in a number of ways, including by setting a filter on file names. For example *-< NUMROWS >-< THECOLUMNS > could take a file called ANYNAME FILE-3-2 and would set NUMROWS to 3, and THECOLUMNS to 2.
o Variables
can also be set by including a file listing the variable values. For example a file could contain
NUMROWS=3
THECOLUMNS=5
o Enfocus Switch users can arrange to set the variables directly in Enfocus Switch, particularly in scripts, using Private data.
o Expressions (calculations) can also be used like NUMROWS * 2 or LEFT(TITLE,3).
o Some commands can return information as results, which can be returned in a file, or passed back as Enfocus Switch Private Data.
o Conditions can be set, to decide which commands to execute depending on the variables or expressions, for example you could check NUMROWS = 3, or ISODD(TARGET_PAGES), or CONTAINS("M23”,JOBNAME())
· Datasets (for Enfocus Switch and Command line)
o Datasets are a feature in Enfocus Switch. They are files which are attached to a job. Quite Hot Imposing can now directly use datasets as input for
§ Page backgrounds
§ Stick on PDF pages
§ Insert PDF pages
§ Data source (CSV etc.) – a model file must be specified so the field names are known at setup time.
o Other third party workflows using Quite Hot Imposing may also find it useful to work with the dataset concept. Datasets can be defined on the command line.
· Replacement files
o This is another way to specify files at a late stage. For example to provide a file for stick on pages which is different for each job. This can be page backgrounds, files for stick on pages or insert pages, or a data source.
o Replacement files are available:
§ When working with job folders (input is folder not a single PDF), by creating a subfolder REPLACE. To replace a file, use a file with the same name (ignoring folder) in the REPLACE folder.
§ When working with the command line, replacements for individual files can be listed.
· Removal of Quite Metadata
o You use a command line option to remove Quite metadata from pages, or the stored command list in a file. You can do this before the file is processed, or after the file is finished.