Connect You question on preflight settings

[txcynna]

Managers had me download and install Connect You on the CSRs computer so I could set up a preflight connector project for our CSR. This is so she can catch art issues before they get to prepress. The majority of our client submitted "print-ready" files are not PDFx compliant. That being said...

CSR asked me a couple questions and CU is so new to me that I'm pretty much clueless but I'm thinking the answer for both questions is 'no' but you guys will tell me if I'm wrong, right?

She wants to know if it can check a PDF file to see if it is vector art or not.

She also wants to know if it will check to see if the file has bleeds. (I know that she is thinking that she can just drop a pdf in and like magic it will know what size that file is *supposed* to be and will be able to tell her if they included bleed... )

I have a feeling that what I really need to be doing is setting up a 'smart Preflight for her but I haven't learned enough about how CU works yet... I am in the process of going through the manual and have yet to come across anything that deals with either question so any help is, as always, appreciated.

 

[rich apollo]

ConnectYOU will do anything that you can put together as an Action List in PitStop Pro. For your bleed question, you might have to set up a Smart Preflight. You might also compare page boxes, specifying that the Bleed Box is a certain amount larger than the Trim Box. That doesn't ensure that there is actually anything extending into that area.

Connect can list the resolution of imagery, but am I understanding that you want to dictate that a PDF contain vector elements only? I'll have to think on that.

 

[WiseGuy]

Let me see if I can shed some light on your questions.

First of all, keep in mind, you have full control over your preflight profiles and smart preflight just like in PitStop Server or Pro. So looking into the PitStop documentation can help you with issues around preflight and using Smart Preflight.

Between normal preflight profiles, and action lists you can solve some of the basic issues with adding bleed to your PDFs. Check the "Page" preflight settings and "Bleed" for adding a generic bleed to your pages. In Connect YOU you can access the Preflight Profile editor under the 'Window" menu. Smart Preflight can help if you want the operator to predefine a page size and check against that, but you may want to start basic and move up from there.

As for the Vector art… do you need to ensure there is no images used, or just determine if the file is 100% vector and has no images? Thinking you could set a check to look for any image data and have that shown as a "Sign-off" so when the file is processed in Connect, the user is notified there are images used on the page and they can check. Let me know what your needs are here and why… that will help me come up with the best answer.

Thanks!
Michael Reiher
Connect Product Manager

 

[txcynna]

Thanks guys!

I have a lot to learn about CU as well as Pitstop. This is the first shop that I've worked at that hasn't had a dedicated pre-flight person and deals more with PDFs than native files. Up to this shop I've only had to use Pitstop for basic text editing and color changes so I've got a lot of learning to do concerning Pitstop's editing and preflight capabilities. I can honestly say that I am on shaky ground as far as most of the other actions and preflight settings go. I will make time to watch some tutorials this weekend so I can catch up and then if I still have questions I will return!

 

[WiseGuy]

Let us know if you have any questions… we're here to help!

Michael Reiher
Product manager