Supported Image Formats61
Windows Shortcuts61
Macintosh Shortcuts64
Working with PrintShop Mail Documents67
Create a New Document67
PrintShop Mail Templates68
Specify the Layout Size68
Specify Spot Colors70
Open a Database71
Supported Database Formats73
Delimited Text Files73
Objects in PrintShop Mail75
Text Object75
Add Static and Variable Images75
Place PDF77
Barcode Object78
DirectSmile plug-in82
Working With Variables83
Use Layout Conditioning83
Use Layout Repetition84
Select Paper Trays85
Number of copies87
Verify a Document90
Save a Document91
Developed to simplify the production of variable data printing (VDP) jobs, PrintShop Mail Design is the perfect application for
digital print operations and is a standalone application.
Pre-designed PDF or EPS files are imported into the application and variable information from a database file is overlaid by a
simple drag-and-drop operation. Business rules can be added, and the data can be formatted and sorted using an expression
wizard.
On the output side, PrintShop Mail Design caches static elements of the print job, which results in an optimized print stream
thatminimizes network congestion, decreases ripping time and allows digital printers to run near or at rated speed.
A VDP assembly technology, PrintShop Mail Design removes the need to use plug-ins to graphics design tools. Users can
simply take the provided designs and overlay the variable data and variable images.
For more information about the possibilities of PrintShop Mail, please visit http://www.printshopmail.com/
This section will get you started with the installation and setup of PrintShop Mail, as well as its activation procedure.
Installing PrintShop Mail
Before you start
If you are installing PrintShop Mail on a computer with Windows 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista, make sure you are logged in with full
administrative rights before running the installation program.
Installing in Windows
Your installation file may have been delivered digitally or downloaded through our website. In this case, "CD-Rom"
refers to the download location of the software and "Setup.exe"refers to a file that may be called "PrintShopMail
Suite 7.exe"
1. Locate the setup.exe file on the CD-ROM.
2. Double click this file to start the installation wizard.
The installer loads the setup (this may take a few minutes).
3. Select the language you want to use for the installation then click OK.
4. If your computer is missing prerequisites necessary for PrintShop Mail to be installed, a dialog appears and indicates
thatthey will be installed.
5. Click Next to download and install the required components.
6. A warning is displayed indicating that PrintShop Mail Web will be installed with a demo license, if it is installed. Click OK
to dismiss the message.
7. Click Next. The License Agreement page is shown.
8. When you have read and understood the license agreement, click on I accept the terms of the license agree-ment. Click Next.
You must accept the terms of the license agreement to continue.
9. Check the features that you want to install with PrintShop Mail. You cannotunselect PrintShop Mail itself, but can choose
not to install its optional components. If you want to install PrintShopMail Web, check that option. Click Next.
10. The Destination Folder screen displays the drive and folder where PrintShop Mail will be installed. To install the soft-
ware elsewhere, click Change... and navigate to the desired folder.
11. The Program Folder name determines the name that appears in the Start Menu. Keep the default name or change the
name as desired, then click Next.
12. Click Next to start copying the files and install the software. The Setup Wizard starts installing the files.
When the copying is complete, the final window appears.
You may check Check for Updates to check for updates after the installation has finished (recommended).
13. Click Finish to complete the installation of PrintShop Mail.
PrintShop Mail 5.4 is supported on Macintosh Operating System 10.4.11 and later (including Operating System 10.5).
1. Locate the PrintShop Mail 5.4.x.dmg file on the CD-ROM or download location.
2. Double click on this file.
3. Select the language you want to use for the installation.
4. Read the license agreement and select " Agree". (If you select " Disagree" , the installation will be canceled).
5. A window will be displayed " Opening PrintShop Mail 5.4.x.dmg".
6. You can drag the PrintShop Mail icon to the Applications folder or to any other location on your computer.
Upgrading PrintShop Mail
The hardware key contains the license information of the PrintShop Mail application.
To view the license information, select Help/Credit Information.
To use certain features in PrintShop Mail, your license must be upgraded before you are allowed to use this feature. This count
for the amount of credits, CARE, automated printing and multi user licenses.
Credits
Unlimited or Production version, allows unlimited records to be printed.
Limited or Standard version, allows 200,000 records to be printed.
CARE
The care date determines which PrintShop Mail version is licensed. Each PrintShop Mail version has an own release date,
whichis compared withyour care date. Ifyour care date is equal or newer than the releasedate, the application will run as
licensed, otherwise the application will run in demo mode.
Cross Platform
All current PrintShop Mail dongles are cross platform and any user that has a valid OLCare contract can request a voucher for
a cross platform license.
PrintShop Mail upgrade options
The Upgrade options are only enabled when the PrintShop Mail hardware key is attached to the computer where the upgrade
procedure is performed.
To upgrade your hardware key
From the Help menu, you can select from three different upgrade menu items:
l Voucher:If you have a PrintShop Mail voucher number, click on the "Voucher" option. A PrintShop Mail voucher web
page will open. Here you need to enter the voucher number and some additional information to confirm the request.
l Upgrade request:If you want to add credits, upgrade the version, add OL CARE or another option, click on the
"Upgrade" option. The PrintShop Mail Upgrade page will open. Here you select the options you want and some additional information to confirm the request.
l Activate dongle:If you have received an Authorization code back from your voucher or upgrade request (by email),
you have to copy that code into the Activate dongle screen. Then click "Activate".
Without a hardware key, also known as "Dongle", PrintShop Mail runs in Designer mode. In this mode, all PrintShop Mail functions are available, but you can only print up to 25 records per session and a watermark is printed over each layout output.
This is a picture of the USB hardware key (though your key may differ slightly in appearance).
Figure 1-0: The Hardware Key
You can use each crediton your hardware key to print one record.
To install the hardware key
Windows
Attach the hardware key to the USB port on your computer.
Though Windows should recognize your key by default and install it without intervention, in some cases it may not be
able to do so. In these cases, you will need to manually download and install the Aladdin HASP key drivers, available
online at: http://www.aladdin.com/support/hasp/enduser.aspx
To view the amount of credits available on the hardware key:
1. Start PrintShop Mail.
2. From the Help menu, select Credit Information.
Mac OS
Attach the hardware key to the USB port on your computer.
1. Start PrintShop Mail
2. From the Help menu, select Install Dongle Software...
3. Follow the instructions on the screen
To view the amount of credits available on the hardware key:
Figure 1-0: The PrintShop Mail Program Window and its components:(1) The Menu contains all of the useable menus referred
to in this documentation. (2) The "Standard Toolbar" (page 15) lets you manipulate documents as well as clipboard functions.
(3)The "Text Formatting Toolbar" (page 15) lets you set text and paragraph styles and formatting. (4) The "Objects Toolbar"
(page 16) lets you manipulate object properties. (5)The "Text Link Toolbar" (page 16) lets you set links for text objects. (6)
The "Tools Toolbar" (page 17) lets you add and manipulate objects in your document. (7)The Layout area is where your doc-
ument and its objects appear. (8)The "Dockable Panels" (page 19) display various utilities such as your layouts, variables,
data fields and more. (9)The "Warnings Panel" (page 21) displays warnings about errors in your document. (10)The "View
Toolbar" (page 18) lets you change how you see your document by zooming in and out. (11)The "Database Toolbar" (page
18) lets you navigate through the records in your database.
PrintShop Mail Toolbars
The PrintShop Mail Program Window contains multiple toolbars that can be moved and customized. This section looks at each
toolbar and its buttons.
Not only can multiple text boxes can be linked together with text flowing between them, they can also be linked
across layouts. See "Linking Text Objects" (page 37) for more details.
Tools Toolbar
Windows
The PrintShop Mail program interface
Figure 1-0: The Tools Toolbar and its button.
Click this button...
To do this...
Select the Selecttool. Click on an object to select it.
Select the Pan tool. You can then click and hold within the design area and move the mouse to pan the area in
all directions (best used when zoomed in).
Select the edit text tool. Click on an existing text object to edit it (same effect as double-clicking a text object).
Select the zoom tool left click to zoom in, right click or hold down CTRL to zoom out.
Pick a Fill, Text, or Border color based on the RGB values of any pixel on the screen.
Place a PDF file. See Place PDF.
Place a static image. See Image Object.
Select the place text tool. See Text Object.
Place a barcode object. See "Barcode Properties" (page 31).
Select the place variable image tool. See Image Object.
Rotate the selected object to any angle by dragging the mouse cursor.
Place a DirectSmile object.
Place AcceptGiro object.
Mac OS
Figure 1-0: The Tools Toolbar and its button in Mac OS.
Display the total number of records in the database.
The Total number of records edit box is read-only when a database is open.
When no database is open, you can change the total number of records, in the Database toolbar. To do this, enter the
desired number of records and press Enter.
Finding a Record
Though notpart of the Database Toolbar, a very useful feature for open databases is the Find Record feature. This feature is
available from the Database menu, or via its shortcut key (CTRL+F). It is only available when a database is open, and will be
grayed out otherwise.
The find record dialog appears with the following options:
l Find what:Enter a term (word, phrase, character)to search for.
l Look in:Click the drop-down to select the database field in which to search.
l Match whole word only:Only match if the word is separated. For example, if this is selected the word tom would
not be found in the word tomatoes. If it is not selected, words part of others will be matched.
l Match case:Click to force a match only if each letter of the word is in the same case. For example, if this is selected,
Tom will not be matched with tom or ToM. Otherwise, the search is case insensitive.
l Direction:Select whether to look forward in the records (down)or backwards in previous records (up).
l Find Next:Click to find the next occurrence of the search term.
l Cancel:Closes the dialog.
Dockable Panels
The PrintShop Mail Program makes it easy to view the correct information precisely when you need it, by dividing that information into different panels. These panels will change depending on the situation.
These panels can be undocked and moved in order to customize the interface to your liking.
Layouts Panel
The Layouts panel contains the layout(s) and their object(s). The objects are listed as a part of the layout in a tree view.
For detailed information about how to format variables, see "Variables Properties" (page 30).
Data Fields Panel
The Data Fields panel will show the field names , database name of the opened database and the number of records it contains.
The entries you will find in the Data Fields panel in PrintShop Mail, represent data fields thatoccur in the document. These
fields are either referred to in expressions (for variables or layout conditions, without the need to directly being linked to a
database), or they refer to actual database fields (when the document is already linked to a specific database).
When a data field is used in the PrintShop Mail document, it will have a check mark in the Data Fields panel.
You can browse the records in the database by clicking the browse buttons in the Database toolbar, or by making the following
selections from the Database menu:
l First Record (ALT+Up)
l Previous Record (ALT+Left)
l Next Record (ALT+Right)
l Last Record (ALT+Down)
l Record...Allows you to select a specific record.
Figure 1-0: The Data Fields panel, showing the name, value and type of each of your database fields.
Warnings Panel
While you are working, PrintShop Mail will dynamically check for any possible errors on the layout and will display any occurring errors in the Warnings panel.
Figure 1-0: The Warnings Panel, showing any warning that occurs in your document.
Fonts Panel
The Fonts panel will show the fonts used in the PrintShop Mail document and any missing font.
Figure 1-0: The Fonts Panel, showing any all the fonts used in your document.
Verification Result Panel
When you select from the Layout menu, Verify Document a progress bar will be displayed, showing the amount of records being checked. The warnings for the whole document will be listed in the Verification Result panel.
Figure 1-0: The Verification Results Panel, showing the results of the Verify Document procedure.
It is possible to save messages displayed in the Warnings panel and the Verification Results panel by right clicking on
the message and Copy/Paste the text to a text file.
Properties Panel
You can change the properties for any object in the Properties Panel.
These properties are grouped as follows:
Object Group
OptionDescription
NameThe unique name that identifies an object.
The following limitations apply to "objects name":
l No white spaces leading or trailing.
l Maximum 255 characters.
l Not editable when multiple objects are selected.
Locks the position, size and rotation attributes of this object.
Displays the dimensions of the bounding box using the location of the top left corner, and the height and width.
These values can also be entered manually.
Snaps the frame to the proportions of the content.
When this option is set to "Yes", the object’s bounding box (frame) will automatically resize to the dimensions
of the image or resize vertically to accommodate larger amounts of variable text that would otherwise not fit in
the text box. When set to "No", a verification warning will be shown, when variables do not fit in the box.
Note: When using text linking, Snap Frame to Content is only allowed for the last object in the chain.
Change the border size. You can choose from hairline width, or a pixel width (1-12px). You can also create a
Custom Size.
You can choose one of the standard colors, or create your own custom RGB, CMYK, Gray or Spot color for the
border. To learn more about PrintShop Mail Spot Colors click "Specify Spot Colors" (page 70).
Choose the border style. The following options are available:
The PrintShop Mail program interface
Border
Style
(Windows
Only)
l Solid ——————
l Square dot......
l Dash — — — — —
l Dash Dot — - — - — -
l Long Dash —— —— ——
l Long Dash Dot —— - —— -
l Long Dash Dot Dot —— - - —— - -
The fill color can be transparent, or it can be set to a solid fill color. The standard Windows palette is available,
Fill Color
but you can also create your own custom RGB, CMYK, Gray or Spot color. To learn more about PrintShop Mail
Spot colorsclick "Specify Spot Colors" (page 70).
RotationShows the current rotation applied to the item.
Master Object: Master object name to anchor to.
Anchor
Horizontal: Horizontal aspect of the master object to anchor to.
Vertical: Vertical aspect of the master object to anchor to.
Printing Group
OptionDescription
PrintSpecifies whether the object will be printed or previewed only.
Global
Scope
for
PPML
(images
only)
Specifies whether an image should get Global Scope. Images with a Global Scope can be reused on the printer
across multiple PPML or PPML/VDX jobs. When set to "Yes" images will be stored in a specified Environment and
can be reused in others print jobs. This property will be ignored for other technologies.
The Text Properties lets you change all of the properties for any text object in your document. The options available are different in the Windows and Mac OS versions of the software.
To open the text properties in Windows
1. Click on the text object of which you want to display the properties.
2. Click in the Window menu, then click Properties.
3. The Properties window appears or, if it is already present, is brought to the front and selected.
To open the text properties in Mac OS
1. Click on the text object of which you want to display the properties.
2. Click on Items, then Show Object Properties. You can also right-click on the text object and select Show Object Properties from the drop-down menu.
3. The Object Properties dialog appears.
Available Options
All objects share some properties. To see these shared properties (the "Object", "Frame"and "Printing"groups), see Prop-
Alignment horizontalHorizontal Text alignment (Left, Centered, Right, Justified).
Alignment verticalVertical text alignment (Top, Centered, Bottom)
Copy fitting is a feature that will automatically shrink text by reduc-
ing the font size when there is more text than the text box can hold.
The font size will be reduced to the font size needed to fit the text in
the text box. However, text will not be shrunk beyond the specified
minimum font size. When the text needs to be resized, all text will be
resized step by step until the text fits or the minimum font size is
reached.
Minimum font size: When Copy Fitting is enable, the minimum
Copy fitting
Remove Empty Lines
Vertical Layout
size the font can reach is 1, by default the minimum font size is 8.
Allow line breaks is a feature which automatically replaces some
of the blank spaces between words by line breaks, in a way that each
line fits in the viewable window. In PrintShop Mail "Allow line breaks"
is set to Yes by default.
When Copy Fitting is set to "Yes", individual words can be broken due
to word wrap.
When Copy Fitting is set to "No", text only fit if the individual words
are not broken. Text will break on spaces only.
Note: Copy Fitting is notallowed for linked objects.
This setting allows you to remove empty lines in a text box.
When set to "No", empty lines will be shown in the text box. This is
useful where the variable is for instance an address and some records in the database have empty fields. If you select this function the
empty lines caused by the empty field(s) will be preserved.
When set to "Yes", both empty lines which are caused by empty
fields in the database and white lines which are manually inserted will
be removed.
When set to "Only in variables", all empty lines will be removed in the
variables only, static empty lines will be preserved.
This setting is specifically designed for vertical text with Asian characters which need to be printed vertically, other characters will
simply be rotated 90°.
This feature is supported under Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista.
Mac OS Note: The "Remove Empty Lines" feature can be switched on using a checkbox in the Expression Editor
Window.
Image Properties
The Image Properties lets you change all of the properties for any image object in your document. The options available are
different in the Windows and Mac OS versions of the software.
Alignment horizontal Horizontal alignment of the images (Left, Centered, Right).
Alignment verticalVertical alignment of the images (Top, Centered, Bottom).
Here you can specify options on how the image is resized relative to
the bounding box.
Original size: The image is always shown in its original size, regardless of the size of the frame. Original size resets the image content to
Scale (Windows)
Clipping (Mac OS)
Image Filename
Image Folder
Search Subfolders
Page Number
Two Color
(Windows only)
100%.
Fit in Frame: The image will be resized to fill the frame, maintaining
the image aspect ratio, showing the actual scale percentage of the
image. Images are not clipped.
Crop to Frame: Proportionally scales the images filling the entire
frame. Images may be clipped.
Displays the image filename. The contents can only be changed
through the Expression Editor.
This points to the path where the variable images are stored. Clicking
on the icon allows you to browse to a different search folder.
Specify whether PrintShop Mail should only look for files in subfolders.
When set to "No" PrintShop Mail will only look in the current folder.
When set to "Yes" PrintShop Mail will look in subfolders as well.
The PDF page number represents the page number in the original PDF
file, ranging from one to the number of pages in the PDF. An image
object can be linked to a single PDF file. As a PDF can contain multiple
pages you can specify the page(s) to be used in your document
through an expression (TOTALPAGES),in that case you can use variable pages within that PDF file. If the page number refers to a non
existing page, a warning will be shown in the warnings panel:"Page
number X is invalid; this file contains Y pages only.
Convert to Two Colors: When set to "No" images will shown it's
original color. Setting this option to "Yes" will convert the image to two
colors.
Background Color: Convert background color to specified color.
Foreground Color: Convert foreground color to specified color.
The following limitations apply to "Two Color" option for images:
l The Two Color option does not support the image format EPS.
l Two Color option will be disabled when using the Print Technology specific options, OPI, APR and Do no send images
(VIPP).
l The Print Technology PPML support the Two Color option, when you check "Embed Images in PDF" in the Print Dialog.
PrintShop Mail for Windows preserves the color space in images format EPS, TIFF and JPEG. To learn more about
Color Management, click "Color Settings" (page 46).
PrintShop Mail for Macintosh converts the color space that is embedded in the image to the color space of the printer
driver. You can check the color space of the printer driver, selecting from the File menu, Print/ColorSync.
ferent layouts to different trays.
More information about this topic can be found in Select Paper Trays
Action
Number of
copies
The action to be performed for this layout, PRINT, BLANK or SKIP.
More information about this topic can be found in Use Layout Condition.
Number of copies to be printed for the selected layout, must be at least one.
More information about this topic can be found in Number of Copies.
Variables Properties
The Variables Properties lets you change all of the properties for any variable used in your document. This panel is only available in the Windows version of PrintShop Mail.
To open the variables properties
1. Open the Variables panel. To do this, click the Window menu, then click Variables.
2. Click on the variable of which you wantto change the properties.
3. Click in the Window menu, then click Properties.
4. The Properties window appears or, if it is already present, is brought to the front and selected.
Available Options
Variable Group:
l Name:This value can only be changed for global variables (it cannotbe changed for variables created by objects, or
typed in a text box).
l In Use:This value cannot be changed, it displays whether or not the variable is used by any text object.
Format Group:
l Category:Sets the category of the variable. Changing the category will change the rest of the available options.
Text Category:This category does not have any options. Text variables have no special formatting and are displayed as-is.
Email Category:This category does not have any options. Email variables will only accept values that correspond to a valid
email address:[identifier]@[domain].[tld]
Date Category:This category is used for dates used in your documents, and has the following options:
l Locale:Specify the locale and language used for the date.
l Date Format:Specify the exact format of the date (available options depends on the locale)
Currency Category:This category is used for amounts in your local currency, and has the following options:
l Locale:Specify the locale and language used for the currency display.
l Currency Symbol:Specify what symbol will be used for currency.
l Positive Format:Specify how positive currency amounts will be displayed.
l Negative Format:Specify how negative currency amount will be displayed.
l Decimal Symbol:Specify what character is used to separate the amount with its decimals (for example, dollars and
cents)
l Decimal Places:Specify how many decimal places to display after the decimal symbol. Note that the amount will be
rounded to the last decimal displayed.
l Digit Grouping Symbol:Specify what character is used to separate groupings (for example, a space or comma to
separate thousands, millions, billions)
l Digit Grouping:Specify how many digits to group together (for example, 3 for north-American currencies).