A property is a key and a value on an item, such as "Coating = Gloss UV" or "Customer = C-102". Ganging rules use properties to decide which items may share a form (see Ganging rules: what may share a form).
Kinds of property#
| Key | Label | Value |
|---|---|---|
stock |
Stock | Text, such as "100 lb Silk". Different stocks print on separate forms of the same sheet size. |
coating |
Coating | Text; suggestions none, aqueous gloss, aqueous matte, UV gloss, UV matte, soft touch, varnish. |
finishing |
Finishing | Text, such as guillotine, laminate or fold. |
customer |
Customer | Text. Items without one take the job's customer. |
order |
Order | Text: an order or batch reference. |
due |
Due | A date (YYYY-MM-DD), or a date and time. Items without one take the job's due date. |
group |
Gang group | Text. Always matched: items gang only with the same group. |
Derived keys are filled in by the app and can't be set: Sides (1 or 2), Inks (the item's inks per side), Finishes (foil, emboss, spot UV) and Product type. A rule may match on them, for example to keep colour- critical items that must share exact inks together.
Custom properties are declared by your team on the Ganging rules page, with a label and a type: text, number, date or a list of choices. An item may also carry keys nobody declared (through the API or an import); they show as "Undeclared" and can be matched once declared.
Own sheet is a switch on the item: it gets forms of its own, shared with nothing else.
Setting them#
- In the item inspector, one item at a time.
- For several items at once, with the bulk edit: set or clear one property, Own sheet, Keep together or declared inks.
- By importing a file (below).
- Through the imposition API: the item's
propertiesobject (see Imposition API).
Values and limits#
- At most 32 properties per item; keys are lowercase letters, digits and
_, up to 40 characters, starting with a letter. Keys starting withx_orsys_are kept for integrations. - Text is at most 120 characters. Numbers are compared as numbers: 1, 1.0 and 1.00 are one value. Dates are ISO. True / false isn't a value: use a choice.
- Comparisons ignore case and extra spaces; the text you entered is kept for display.
- An empty value deletes the key. A missing value counts as "not set", its own value.
Importing properties#
Import a CSV file (UTF-8, comma or semicolon separated, with a header row) or JSON rows with the same names. Each row
names its item in the artwork column, by id or by a name that is unique in the job.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
artwork |
The item: its id or its name. |
quantity |
The ordered quantity. |
stock, coating, finishing, customer, order, due, group |
The built-in properties. |
own_sheet |
yes or no. |
split |
inherit, allow or never (see Keeping items together). |
front_inks, back_inks |
Declared inks per side, such as 4+PMS 185 C or K. |
prop:<key> |
A custom property, such as prop:lamination. |
An empty cell leaves the value as it is; - clears it. Unknown columns are an error, so a typo never vanishes. When
two rows name the same item the later one wins, with a warning. An import is a dry run first: it lists every change
(item, field, from, to) and any row errors. Applying writes every row or none. At most 2,000 rows and 2 MB per file.
artwork,coating,customer,own_sheet,front_inks
Postcard A,Gloss UV,C-102,no,4+PMS 185 C
Postcard B,Matte,C-207,yes,4