Introducing File Distribute

Automation is the Holy Grail of a prepress production environment. We all wish we had a system where a file is dropped on a folder and after a few seconds the job could be processed according to the specs we had in mind. Workflow solutions are supposed to help with this. But many times we find a myriad of hot folders, each one with a distinct function. Many hot folder setups vary from others just slightly. Configuring a workflow for a company that has 2 CTP devices, 4 line screen setups, 2 proofing setups, 3 plates sizes, etc. can get complicated very quickly. You get the idea. It gets very complicated, very, very quickly.
Wouldn't it be nice if the workflow could look at the file name and know what to do? Well, Express Workflow is smart and just knows. It's that smart.

Introducing File Distribute

File distribute is a EWF module that routes jobs according to it's file name. All you have to do is add to the PDF file name what you want done to the job and EWF will take care of the rest. Best of all, you get to decide what file naming convention works for best for you. The workflow below uses the File Distribute module three times to get the job done. The first thing it does is route the file to the appropriate PitStop Server module depending if the job is for our digital press, grayscale or color. If the file is color, the next routing module will decide if the job is going on coated or uncoated paper on press. Depending on this the file will get sent to the IS Optimizer module that will apply the right dot gain and the total ink coverage the job should have depending on the paper it will be printed on. The next module routes the job to the proofing RIP or the final output RIP. If the job is set to the final output RIP modules, after the job is ripped the EWF Plate Selector module analyzes the plate size and routes the job to the appropriate input folder of our CTP device.

For example, if we want a color job, named "ABC.PDF" to go on coated paper at 175 lpi on our Komori press. All we need to do is change our job name to "ABD-C-C-175.pdf" and EWF will process this job according to to these instructions.



File Distribute is one of over 50 modules available on EWF 3. To activate File Distribute on your EWF or to learn more about it, contact Compose or your Compose dealer. If you have an earlier version of EWF, now it's the time to upgrade. Support rates for configuring your workflow will apply. Click on the image below to see it larger.