PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

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MrFox
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Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:19 pm

PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

Post by MrFox »

Hi all.
New to Switch. Even newer to the forums.
I have stumbled across a problem that I cannot believe exists and that Enfocus don't seem to think is a problem. Because of this I can only assume that everyone works differently and perhaps we are working incorrectly in our Pre-Press department.
I have built a pre-flight flow that automatically checks PDFs that are submitted by our customer service team. If the PDFs pass they move on to be imposed for print. If they fail or have warnings they all congregate at a single checkpoint (as 'Data with Log).
Our Pre-Press department is using Web Services to access all the 'Alert Jobs' (that have failed preflight). From there the operator can 'process' each file individually. Switch handily packs up the PDF and the report in a single file and the report is accessible from the 'process' area. The operator can open the PDF for editing from here also. Upon testing a flow it quickly became obvious that with the PitStop report open, the 'magnifying glass' next to each item on the report does not link to the problem area of the PDF. Our usual method is to use the magnifying glass to take us to the PDF, which in turn highlights the problem image/text etc, and also has the 'Action List' pop-up for quick fixes.
It is clear that between the Pre-Flight stage and the checkpoint stage the PDF is moved within Switch and the link contained within the report becomes invalid rendering all the hyperlinks in the report useless and meaning my Pre-Press team have to either go and find all the problem parts of the PDF, or run their own report to get valid links.
The suggestion from Enfocus was to generate an 'Annotated Report' instead so the operator can view the PDF with the problem areas overlaid, but then they still have to open the PDF and compare it against the annotated report to make the corrections. This, IMO, seems like a big step backwards, especially seeing as Enfocus make both PitStop and Switch.

The issue isn't just with checkpoints. If I Preflight a file within switch and send it straight to an output folder (as 2x files: Data & Log) the links within the report still do not work. This is because when the report is generated the PDF has its 'prefix' attached that it uses to travel through the flow. When the file is output the prefix is stripped and the links become dead. I could leave the prefix on which does make the links work, but then the end file is badly named.

Ultimately my hope is that someone can either, tell me how to get the report links working within the checkpoint. Or tell me how they work to efficiently handle reports and problem files using the checkpoint system.
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Padawan
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Re: PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

Post by Padawan »

If you output both report and the file in an output folder, then I believe it should work if you set "Hyperlinks include unique name prefix" to No
MrFox
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Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:19 pm

Re: PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

Post by MrFox »

Padawan wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:19 pm If you output both report and the file in an output folder, then I believe it should work if you set "Hyperlinks include unique name prefix" to No
Thanks for that. I'm annoyed I missed that option tbh. So, that solves that one, but my main issue remains a mystery.

I guess if the makers of this software think tomato is a vegetable there is little hope.
Padawan
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Re: PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

Post by Padawan »

MrFox wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:58 pm The suggestion from Enfocus was to generate an 'Annotated Report' instead so the operator can view the PDF with the problem areas overlaid, but then they still have to open the PDF and compare it against the annotated report to make the corrections.
Have you tried for the operator to make the corrections directly on the annotated report?
It seems it is not possible to remove the bookmarks on the report file using PitStop Server, so the operator will have to do that in this scenario.
nna
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:57 am

Re: PitStop Report within a checkpoint does not link to PDF

Post by nna »

I'd like to revive this thread since I'm wondering the same thing. I preflight a file and there's an outgoing connection for data and one for a PDF log. Both land in the same folder afterwards. But the little magnifying glasses aren't linked to the original file. Is this a bug or can I set something in the preferences for this to work?
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