Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

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mclarke
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Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by mclarke »

Does anyone know of a way using the tools available with Switch/Pitstop Server to make the PDF's preflight report permanently a part of the file? I know it is available inside of the flows as external data, but I would like it to be available once the file has exited the Switch flow and is no longer associated with the internal job ticket.
freddyp
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Re: Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by freddyp »

That is what Certified PDF is about. Saving a file as Certified PDF adds information to the XMP section that can be queried for the number of errors in the file, etc. And when opening the file you can immediately open up the Navigator to see the report without (re)preflighting the file.

Both in PitStop Server and in Switch there is a Certified PDF section. In PitStop Pro it is a toggle in the preflight dialog.
mclarke
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Re: Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by mclarke »

I'll play around with it, thanks for the heads up.

How detailed is that info? I'm most interested in number of colors, color space and separation names.
mclarke
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Re: Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by mclarke »

Unless I'm doing something wrong, I don't see where the preflight results are stored in the PDF.

I want certain results embedded so I can do metadata sorting without have to run the files through Pitstop Server repeatedly.
Padawan
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Re: Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by Padawan »

If you use CertifiedPDF, then it stores some info in the XMP where it is accessible by tools who are able to read XMP. However,the complete report itself is also stored in the file, but only accessible by PitStop tools.

To create Certified PDF files with PitStop Server in Switch:
- Set the "Certified PDF" property to "Start Certified"

To extract the embedded preflight report using PiStop Pro:
- Open the PDF in Acrobat with PitStop Pro installed
- Open the "Certified PDF" category of PitStop Pro tools
- Click the "Certified PDF" button.
- This will show you the name of the Preflight Profile which was used for the preflight
- Click the "Show result" button
This will show the results of the embedded prefight report
- If you have the Enfocus Navigator enabled now, then you might need to click Actions/Show Report to open the Actual PDF report with the color information chapter.

To extract the embedded preflight report using PitStop Server in Switch:
- Create an empty Preflight profile.
This means no preflight checks and also disable all the information chapters (Fonts, Images, Color, ...) in the General category of the Preflight Profile editor.
- Use the empty Preflight Profile in the PitStop Server configurator
- Set the "Certified PDF" property to "Unchanged"
- Set "Keep original profile" To yes
- Enable keep report and setup the kind of report you want
- If you process the Certified PDF file, then it will compare the preflight profile used by the embedded preflight report in the PDF, compare it with the preflight report set in the PitStop Server configurator (which is empty), see that the embedded report is more strict, decide that it doesn't have to preflight since the embedded report is more strict and there already is an embedded report for it available, take the embedded report information and generate a new report with it.
mclarke
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Re: Permanently embed preflight xml in PDF file

Post by mclarke »

Great, I'll give it a shot. We are an envelope printing company and I want to be able to preflight incoming files and add the successful preflights to the files so I don't have to run a preflight on repeat orders (for sorting by color, size, etc...). Hopefully, this will do it.

Thanks again!
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