Preview printing
For example, you can use preview printing:
- To verify that the printer is set up correctly by printing the first few pages of a job
- To see what the output looks like when it is printed on the same printer using different paper
- To see what the colors or grayscales in a job look like when you use different ICC profiles or color management resources
- To see what the output looks like when it is printed on different printers
- To change other job properties and see how it affects your output
- To make sure that the processing done by an external program created acceptable results
RICOH ProcessDirector uses the PreviewPrint step template to create the collection of pages and submit them to a printer. After the pages are printed, the preview print must be accepted or rejected for processing to continue.
When you configure the step, you have two options for completing the step. You can choose to have the job wait in the step based on the PreviewPrint step template until an operator accepts or rejects it or you can choose to have the system accept the preview print automatically. If the system accepts that job automatically, the job moves to the next processing step without waiting.
When a job is processed through the workflow, the step based on the PreviewPrint step template finds the pages that you want to print and sends them to the printer requested for the preview print. If the step is configured to accept the preview print automatically, the job moves to the next step in the workflow. If the step is configured to wait for an action from an operator, the job moves to the Waiting for Acceptance state. The job stays in that state until an operator looks at the output and decides what action to take:
- If the output is acceptable, the operator accepts the preview print and it can continue processing, either in the same workflow or a different one.
- If the output is not acceptable, the operator rejects the preview print. The job goes into error state and can be processed again with different options until it is acceptable.
You can add more than one PreviewPrint step to a workflow. For example, you might always want to print sample pages on three different types of paper and compare the output before deciding which paper to use. You can create three PreviewPrint steps and automate the acceptance of the first two by setting the Accept preview print automatically property to Yes. On the third step, set the Accept preview print automatically property to No.
When a job is processed through the workflow, all three preview print steps process the job. The job moves to the Waiting For Acceptance state after the last preview print is complete. An operator can compare all of the output and choose which paper to use, then accept the preview print so the job can continue processing.