A job is screened in the background: press Screen plates and you can close the page, open another job or start more. The Screening page and the job page follow the progress on their own.
Start a job#
A new job is Configuring: its settings are editable, and nothing is screened yet. Check the separations, the output and the checks, rename the job in its header if you like, then press Screen plates (in the New job dialog, or at the top of the job page).
Screen plates is greyed out while the job has errors ("Fix the errors first."). Pressing it checks everything once more and freezes the settings and the curve versions. From then on the job can't change: a failed or cancelled job can be edited again, and a done one re-screened.
Statuses#
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Configuring | Created and preflighted. You can change every setting; nothing is screened yet. |
| Queued | Waiting for a screening worker. The list shows how many jobs are ahead. |
| Rendering | Pages are being rendered to plates. |
| Finishing | The plates are written; the viewer tiles and the report are being finished. |
| Done | Every plate is ready to download and inspect. |
| Failed | Screening stopped with an error, shown on the job. Edit the settings and screen again. |
| Cancelled | You cancelled the job. Its partial plates are deleted. |
| Expired | The retention period ended: the files are deleted, the job and its record stay. |
The job page shows the progress while the job runs: "Queued · 2 ahead", "Page 2 of 4 · rendering", "Page 2 of 4 · finishing Cyan", then "Writing the manifest and report…", with a percentage. Rendering is the first 60 % of each page and finishing its plates the rest.
A page that combines transparency with spot colours takes a slower path, so that no spot plate comes out blank; the checks note it before you start.
Cancel#
Cancel stops a queued or running job, after you confirm. A queued job is cancelled at once; a running one stops at its next step. Plates already written are deleted, and the job becomes Cancelled.
When a job fails#
A failed job shows the reason at the top of its page. Press Edit settings to take it back to Configuring, change what the message asks for, and press Screen plates again. A cancelled job can be edited the same way, from the ⋯ menu.
If the screening worker stops answering while it renders a job (for two minutes or more), the status shows Worker stopped and the job page "The screening worker stopped answering." Press Retry to queue the job again from the start. A job that is only waiting in the queue is never marked stopped: waiting is normal.
Re-screen with changes#
Re-screen with changes in the ⋯ menu of a done, failed or cancelled job makes a new job from the same pages and the same settings, in Configuring, so you can change a screen or a curve and screen again. The original job and its plates stay as they are.
The new job keeps the same name, so its plate files get the same names, which catchers and hot folders expect; the Screening page marks it "re-screen". Curves take their current versions again (see Plate curves). A re-screen uses the pages copied into the first job, not the upload or the layout as they are now, and keeps the same version in Files: to pick up a changed file or layout, create a new job.
Delete#
Delete (on the Screening page or in a job's ⋯ menu) deletes the job with its plates and files, after you confirm. Cancel a running job first: "Cancel the job before deleting it."
How long jobs are kept#
A done job's files are kept for 30 days after it finishes; any other job (configuring, failed or cancelled) for 30 days after it was created. The Expires column of the Screening page shows the date. After that the job is Expired: its pages, plates and viewer tiles are deleted, so nothing can be downloaded, and the viewer can't open it. The job stays in the list with its record of the source and settings, and its report still lists every plate's file name, size and checksum, so you can tell what was sent to the plates. An expired job also lets go of its PDF's version in Files, so Files can delete that version once it is trashed (see Sources: PDFs, Files and imposition sheets). A job still shown as queued or screening a day after its expiry date has no worker left on it, and expires the same way.
Download the plates you need to keep before a job expires.