A screening job starts from one of three sources: a PDF you upload, a PDF that is already in Files, or the sheets of an imposition layout. Whichever you choose, the app keeps its own copy of the pages, so the job, and any re-screen of it, never changes when the file or the layout does.
Press New job on the Screening page. The dialog has two steps: first the source, the profile and a name, then the separations and output settings the preflight found.
Upload a PDF#
- On Upload a PDF, drop a PDF on the box or choose one.
- In Pages, leave the field empty for every page, or type the pages you want, such as
1-3, 5. Pages are kept in the order you type them, each once. - Choose the Profile (the default of its press type is marked "default") and, if you like, a Job name. Without one, the job is named after the file.
- Press Create. The app reads the PDF ("Reading the PDF…") and runs the preflight.
The PDF can be up to 500 MB with up to 50 pages chosen. A password-protected PDF, or a file that isn't a PDF with pages, is refused with a message in the dialog; a page range it can't use shows its message under Pages.
Once the preflight has passed, the uploaded PDF is also saved in Files, in the team's Screening folder, and the job keeps that version (see below). A PDF the dialog refuses is never saved. If a file with the same name is already in that folder, the new one is saved next to it as "Name (2).pdf": an upload from the dialog never adds a version to an existing file. If the team's Files storage is full, Create says so and nothing is created (see Storage).
Choose a PDF from Files#
- On From Files, press Choose a PDF from Files. The Files picker opens on top of the dialog.
- Find the PDF: open folders on the left or in the grid, or search all files. Only PDFs can be picked; other files are greyed out. You can also press Upload here to add a PDF to the folder you're in and pick it straight away.
- Press Select. The dialog shows the file's name, its path in Files, its version and its number of pages, such as "Files / Customers / Postcard A.pdf · v2 · 3 pages". Press that box again to choose another file.
- Fill in Pages, the Profile and a Job name as for an upload (the job is named after the file by default), then press Create.
The job uses the file's current version at the moment you pick it. Files stores nothing new: the job reads the PDF from Files and keeps a working copy of the chosen pages only, until it expires.
The job keeps its version#
A job made from Files, or from an upload saved in Files, is tied to that exact version:
- A newer version of the file never changes the job or its re-screens. To screen the new version, create a new job from it.
- The job page and its report show where the PDF is in Files, such as "Customers / Postcard A.pdf · v2", with a link to the file. The path is recorded as it was when the job was made.
- In Files, the file's Where used lists the job, and its activity shows that Screening used it.
- While the job keeps the version, Files won't delete it: deleting that version is refused, and emptying the trash keeps the file until the job is deleted or expires (see Versions).
- When the job expires, it lets go of the version, so Files can delete it if it is in the trash. The report still shows the path and version number.
Screen imposition sheets#
- On Imposition layout, choose the Imposition job.
- Pick a layout. The list shows the saved layouts and the layouts of the job's last run, with the sheet size, method, press sheets and yield of each, so you can tell them apart.
- Under Sheets, keep All sheets or press Choose and pick sheet numbers.
- Choose the profile and a name (by default, the imposition job's name and the layout's), then Create ("Building the sheets…").
The app builds the imposed PDF of the chosen sheets, exactly as the imposition's own Imposed PDF export does, and screens that. Each page keeps the sheet's label, such as "Plate 1 · run 1,835", which the file names and plate labels can use.
Some layouts can't be picked:
- Roll layouts ("Roll layouts cannot be screened"): screening needs sheets.
- Out-of-date layouts ("Out of date: run the job again"): the job's media or artwork changed since the layout was made. Run the imposition job again first.
- A job without a run shows "This job has no sheet layouts yet: run it first."
Two things differ from an upload. Registration marks and plate labels are switched on for imposed sheets, whatever the profile says. And the spot inks the imposition uses for die lines are added to the job's technical inks, so they are never output (see Screening profiles and devices). An artwork that uses a generated bleed file adds a warning to the job's checks.
You can also start from the imposition workspace: Screen to 1-bit TIFFs… in a layout's Export menu opens this dialog with the imposition job and the layout already chosen.
The preflight#
Create runs a preflight straight away, before anything is screened. It renders every page at 50 dpi and records:
- every separation each page really uses, process and spot, with its estimated ink coverage and the CMYK look of each spot (for the swatches);
- separations a file declares but never paints ("No ink in the file"): these start unticked;
- pages with transparency, rotated pages, and which spots overlap which inks (for the spot angle check);
- fonts that aren't embedded, RGB images, and anything the PDF reader complained about.
The PDF's own halftone screens and transfer functions are removed from the copy that is screened: left in, they would override your screens and curves.
The preflight has 90 seconds per read of the file; a page with more than 10 spot plates is read twice, so it can take up to about 3 minutes. If it takes longer ("The preflight took too long. Try fewer pages."), choose fewer pages. A file the reader can't open at all fails with "The PDF could not be read".
The results feed the job's separations table and its checks. The coverage shown before the job is screened is the 50 dpi estimate ("Ink (est.)"); once the plates exist the table shows their exact coverage.
After Create#
The dialog moves on to the separations and output settings of the new job, which is saved as Configuring. From here you can:
- Screen plates to start it straight away (see Running a screening job);
- Open the job to review it on its own page first;
- Discard to delete this job and choose another source.
If you close the dialog instead, the job stays in the list as Configuring, ready for later.