Xerox DocuColor 7000, DocuColor 8000 User Manual

Fiery

SERVER & CONTROLLER SOLUTIONS

®

EXP8000 Color Server

Variable Data Printing

© 2005 Electronics for Imaging, Inc. The information in this publication is covered
under Legal Notices for this product.

45049658
13 July 2005

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ONTENTS

ONTENTS

C

C

CONTENTS

NTRODUCTION

I

Terminology and conventions

About this document

VERVIEW

O

Overview of variable data printing

Variable data job components 8

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Fiery EXP8000 variable data printing

Compatible variable data printing languages 10

Compatible variable data applications 11

Fiery EXP8000 core features for variable data printing 12

P

RINTING

V

ARIABLE

Printing variable data documents using FreeForm

How FreeForm works 14

Creating the master document 15

Creating the variable document 16

Combining the FreeForm master with the variable document 17

Guidelines 18

Printing variable data documents with FreeForm 2

Imposing variable data jobs

Imposing FreeForm jobs with Impose 25

Imposing FreeForm 2 jobs with Impose 25

Imposing other variable data jobs with Impose 26

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D

OCUMENTS

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NDEX

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NTRODUCTION

I

Terminology and conventions

INTRODUCTION

This document provides information about variable data printing and describes the variable
data printing features supported by the Fiery EXP8000 including:

• Compatible variable data printing languages such as FreeForm and FreeForm 2

• Compatible third-party variable data applications

•Imposing FreeForm 2 jobs with Impose

This document uses the following terminology and conventions.

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Term or convention Refers to

Aero Fiery EXP8000 (in illustrations and examples)

Fiery EXP8000 Fiery EXP8000 Color Server

Mac OS Apple Mac OS X

Titles in italics

Windows Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server

Other documents in this set

2003

Topics for which additional information is available by
starting Help in the software

Tips and information

Important information

Important information about issues that can result in physical
harm to you or others

:

INTRODUCTION

About this document

This document covers the following topics:

•Basic concepts of variable data printing.

•Supported Fiery EXP8000 features and compatible variable data printing languages.

•Printing variable documents with FreeForm and FreeForm 2.

•Printing and submitting other variable data job formats, such as PPML (Personalized Print
Markup Language) and Creo VPS (Variable Print Specification).

N

OTE

For detailed information about printing variable data jobs using third-party variable

data printing applications, see the documentation that accompanies the application.

For example scenarios of popular variable data printing workflows, see Workflow Examples .

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VERVIEW

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OVERVIEW

This chapter describes variable printing technology and discusses the supported components
that allow you to create variable data print jobs.

For specific variable data printing scenarios and workflows, see Workflow Examples

Overview of variable data printing

Variable data printing is typically used for personalized mailings, such as direct-mail
advertising. It involves combining a set of master elements that are common across copies of a
document (reusable data) with a set of variable elements that change from copy to copy.
When you use variable data printing, you create personalized communications with elements
that have special appeal to your targeted audience.

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An example of variable data printing is a brochure that greets customers by name and may
include other personal information about the customer obtained from a marketing database.
Background elements, illustrations, and text blocks that do not change across copies of the
brochure are master elements. The customer’s name and other customer-specific information
are variable elements.

In its simplest form, you can use variable data printing as a basic mail merge. However, you
can also dynamically assemble four-color images, charts, text, and other objects to create
attractive, highly customized documents.

Variable data printing uses digital printing technology that customizes communication by
linking databases that contain the content for printed documents to a print device, such as the
digital press. The customized communication includes rules that specify the selection of
content from the database and the placement of that content in the document.

The following two variable data printing technology levels describe how reusable data is
specified within a variable data printing language.

Page-based technology

pages. Each page element is called a master page. Page-based languages are more suitable for
simple, predictable layouts. FreeForm is a page-based language. For more information about
FreeForm, see Printing Variable Data Documents.

describes static, reusable data (the master element) in terms of entire

OVERVIEW

Element-based technology

Element-based technology allows you to use many separate objects within a page as static
elements or variable elements individually.

Element-based variable data jobs use reusable objects for the variable elements in the job, such
as images. Because these elements are frequently accessed, they are stored on the
Fiery EXP8000 and cached as a group. A job may have multiple masters. For an example
workflow, see Workflow Examples.

PPML and Creo VPS are element-based technologies. For more information about PPML
and Creo VPS, see “Compatible variable data printing languages” on page 10.

describes static, reusable data in terms of elements or objects.

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Variable data job components

A typical variable data print job includes the following major components:

• Content

Content includes the text, images, or photographs placed in different areas of your
document. You can create static or variable content using a variety of applications,
such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Word.

•Database

A database is a table containing all the changeable or variable elements in a printed
document, such as text, graphics and photographs. You can use a database created in
popular desktop applications, such as Microsoft Excel or FileMaker, Inc. FileMaker Pro.

The data must be organized into records with fields (categories) for each record. For
example, in a database about people, a person is a record and the information about that
person, such as name, address, and phone number is a field.

•Business rules

Business rules, created in a variable data printing application, specify what variable content
to use and where to place it within your document. According to these predefined rules,
described by “if” and “then” statements, the variable data application uses particular
elements from databases to create personalized pages and documents that contain different
text and images for a specific audience. For example, you can set up a rule to print specific
content for a specific age range.

• Layout

Layout encompasses the design or page layout of your document in any desktop
publishing or word processing application. The layout must accommodate space for
variable text and images.

1 Layout
2 Database
3 Business Rules
4 Content
5Variable data application
6 Print device

OVERVIEW

•Variable data print applications

Variable data print applications combine master elements and variable information and
prepare the document for printing. For FreeForm, you do not need a dedicated variable
data print application.

•Print device

The print device is the output device that turns digital files into hardcopy documents. This
can be any printer, copier, or digital press that supports variable data printing.

The following diagram shows the variable data printing components.

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