Creating page groups of fixed length

You can create page groups that are of fixed length. This is useful if all page groups in the AFP file always consist of the same number of pages.

When you create fixed-length page groups, AFP Indexer can skip a certain number of pages at the beginning of the AFP file before creating the first page group.

Notes:

  1. Some AFP files are formatted so that two pages print side-by-side on the same physical sheet and are later cut into two separate stacks. You cannot use AFP Indexer to define page groups in files such as these because a single sheet can belong to only one page group.
  2. You cannot define supplemental pages for pages in a page group that is created as a fixed-length page group.

To create page groups of fixed length:
  1. In AFP Visual Environment, open a sample AFP file. Then click Mode ⇒ AFP Indexer.
  2. Click Tools ⇒ Other Page Groups ⇒ Create Fixed-Length Page Groups.
    You might see a message that says the page groups and indexes might change or be invalid and asks if you want to continue. Click Yes. You see the Create Fixed-Length Page Groups window.
  3. Select the number of pages in each page group in the Pages in each page group field.
  4. Click Header/Trailer Definition to specify which pages are header and trailer pages and then click OK.
  5. Click OK.
    In the left pane and in the bottom pane, you see the page groups that have been defined based on the number of pages you specified. You also see the pages that are included in each page group.

    If you defined header and trailer pages and decided to keep the pages in the output, you see header pages preceding the page groups in the left pane and trailer pages following the page groups. If you decided not to keep the header and trailer pages in the output, you do not see those pages in the left pane.

  6. Verify that the correct page groups have been created:
    1. Check that the number of pages is correct in each page group.
    2. Select page groups in the left pane to see the first page in a few of the page groups and verify that the correct boundaries were created.
    3. If the page groups are incorrect, either repeat the steps to recreate the fixed-length page groups, or use triggers to create page groups of variable length.
      When you create page groups using triggers, the page groups of fixed length are removed.
Parent topic: Creating page groups