Preflight Feature

Preflight capabilities can be integrated into the TotalFlow BatchBuilder workflow using the Preflight feature.

You can enable or disable Preflight throughout the TotalFlow BatchBuilder system by clicking the Enable or Disable button.

Note: If you have the TotalFlow BatchBuilder system installed on your computer, you can launch the Preflight Editor by clicking Open Preflight Profile Editor.

Filters tab

Preflight Exclusion Filters
You can create a maximum number of 20 Preflight Exclusion Filters. When a new job is received, the TotalFlow BatchBuilder system verifies if the job matches any of the existing Preflight Exclusion Filters. If the job matches a Preflight Exclusion Filters, it skips the preflight process and the job state is set to Unbatched.
Preflight Filters
You can create a maximum number of 20 Preflight Filters. If a new job is received and it does not match any Preflight Exclusion Filters, the TotalFlow BatchBuilder system verifies if the job matches any of the existing Preflight Filters.

You can add new preflight filters or remove some of them. Click , the add button to add a new preflight filter. Click , the remove button, to delete a preflight filter from the list.

Click Edit to configure the preflight filter properties. The Preflight Filters detail dialog is displayed:

Filter Name
You can specify a filter name.
Description
You can enter a filter description.

In the Job Properties tab you can specify job attributes used to select incoming jobs.

Match
Select one of these options:
  • All Attributes ("and" logic)
  • Any Attributes ("or" logic)

If you select All Attributes ("and" logic), the filter selects the jobs matching all the attributes set in the Job Properties tab. If you select Any Attributes ("or" logic), the filter selects any job matching at least one of the specified attributes.

To configure the criteria for the filter:

  1. Select the attribute type from the first list.
  2. From the second list, select an operator.
  3. Enter a value for the selected attribute type to complete the criteria.

You can select one or more attributes to use as criteria for the filter. To add a new attribute, click , the Add Criteria button. To remove an attribute from the component criteria, click , the Remove Criteria button.

If you want to filter the jobs by a specific date and time, select the Due Date attribute from the first list. Select Is or Less than or equal as an operator from the second list.

Note: If you select Is as the operator, you can only set the day as the specified value.

To set specific values for the date and time click , the Calendar button. The Due dialog box appears.:

  1. Select one of the available options or type in to set the date and time when the job is due.

    Note: The specified value represents a specific date and does not repeat every week.
  2. Click OK.

The Preflight Folder tab is displayed only when the external Preflight is used.

PitStop Server Folder
Select a Preflight hot folder from the list. All incoming jobs that match the filter criteria are sent to the selected Preflight hot folder for the external Preflight process.

Settings tab

The following Settings are available for the internal Preflight:

Concurrent Preflight Processes

You can run multiple concurrent Preflight processes. Select the number of Preflight processes from the list.

    Important:
  1. The maximum number of concurrent preflight processes is limited to number of available CPU cores on your machine. To run multiple concurrent Preflight processes, make sure you have the recommended hardware configuration.
  2. One CPU core is reserved for the TotalFlow BatchBuilder. One CPU core is required if Ultimate Impostrip® is running on the same machine as TotalFlow BatchBuilder.

In the Profiles/Actions tab you can specify the Preflight Profiles and Actions you want to use on incoming jobs.

Apply Profile
Click Browse… and select a Preflight Profile from the list of existing profiles.
Action Lists
From the menu, select the Action Lists you want to apply to incoming jobs. Click to open the Select Action Lists window. In the Select Action Lists window you can edit an existing action list or create a new one.
Profiles and Action Lists
Click Refresh Preflight Profiles to update the list of Profiles and Actions from the Preflight Database.
    Note:
  1. The Profiles/Actions tab is available only for Preflight Filters.
  2. To run a Preflight process, you must specify a Preflight Profile and/or a Preflight Action List.

The following Settings are available for the external Preflight:

You can switch between the Preflight internal to TotalFlow BatchBuilder and an external Preflight software.

Before switching to external or internal preflight, make sure all data in the Admin section, Preflight tab is stored when changes are made.

To switch to external Preflight software:

  1. Access the Program Files ⇒ Ricoh ⇒ TotalFlow BatchBuilder ⇒ bin.
  2. Right-click script switch- preflight.bat file and select Run as Administrator. A warning message appears.
  3. If you are using the internal Preflight, type yes after the following message:Currently, the preflight feature is using INTERNAL preflight software. Do you want to switch to the EXTERNAL preflight software (yes/no)?.
    Note:
  • The Admin tab for the Preflight displays the appropriate settings based on configuration.
  • If you switch configuration, the Preflight feature becomes disabled. You must re-enable the Preflight after the switch.
  • Before switching to internal or external Preflight, all the data in the Admin setup should be stored in order to keep all the previous configurations.
  • During the Preflight switch, TotalFlow BatchBuilder is restarted.

Preflight capabilities can be integrated into TotalFlow BatchBuilder workflow using an external PitStop Server. Hot folders must first be defined in PitStop Server, shared using Windows share system and then defined in TotalFlow BatchBuilder under Admin section.

BatchBuilder-to-PitStop Server Mapping

When PitStop Server is used, mappings for hot folders are required to redirect TotalFlow BatchBuilder to look for folders remotely.

Preflight HotFolders

You can define a hot folder configuration to match each of the hot folders defined in PitStop Server.

You can add or delete Preflight hot folders. Click the button to add a new Preflight hot folder. Click button, to remove a Preflight hot folder from the list.

Click the Edit button to configure the Preflight hot folder properties. The New Preflight HotFolder detail dialog is displayed:

HotFolder Name
You can specify a hot folder name.
Input Folder
Click Browse… and select the location where TotalFlow BatchBuilder copies the files needing Preflight using this particular hot folder configuration.
REPORTS
On Success
Click Browse… and select the location where to store Preflight reports when Preflight completes without any preflight errors being found.
On Error
Click Browse… and select the location where to store Preflight reports if preflight errors are found.
PROCESSED DOCUMENTS
On Success
Click Browse… and select the location where to store the processed (preflighted) PDF if no preflight errors were identified.
On Error
Click Browse… and select the location where to store the processed (preflighted) PDF if preflight errors were identified.

To save the changes, click OK. To discard the changes, click Cancel.

    Important:
  1. When managing Preflight hot-folders, you are not allowed to delete a preflight hot folder that is referenced by a Preflight Filter or Input.
  2. Any change on the PitStop Server side must be carried over in TotalFlow BatchBuilder, otherwise the solution stops working.
  3. When changes are made in the configuration of hot folders, all previous data in the Admin setup should be stored, so that if you switch back to either internal or external Preflight, you can access the previous configuration.
  4. When configuring PitStop Server hot folders:
    1. You should not modify the default file-naming settings in the Processing section.
    2. Users should enable report generation for both PDF and XML in the Processing section.
    3. You should configure the hot folder using the Basic Setup option in the Folders section.
  5. To view information on the Enfocus PitStop Server version number:
    1. Go to the Admin section, Preflight tab, enable and properly configure the Preflight feature.
    2. In the Jobs tab, double-click a job to open job properties. In the Preflight tab, open the document under the Preflight Report field. If there is no report available, click the Run manual preflight button.
    3. In the generated preflight report, see the Enfocus PitStop Server version in the footer of every page and under the General File Information section.

    For more information on how to configure Enfocus PitStop Server, see: https://www.enfocus.com/en/support/manuals/pitstop-pro-manuals.

    Note:
  1. You can define filters that direct incoming jobs to the different PitStop Server hot folders based on filter criteria.
  2. Filters created in a specific mode, either internal or external Preflight, are visible only in the mode they were configured.
Parent topic: Features tab