Using Batch Print™

The Batch Print™ XTension helps to streamline your printing operation by allowing groups of Quark XPress documents to be printed automatically. Documents can be output to any PostScript printer supported by QuarkXPress, and Batch Print™ even supports output to disk file as well.

Like all of our Quark XTensions, Batch Print™ is intuitive and very easy to use. To start a Batch Print™ session, select Batch Print™ from the Quark File menu. The Batch Print™ main menu dialog will be presented (see below):

 

The basic procedure for any Batch Print™ session is as follows:

1) Select the jobs you wish to print.

2) Set up your Batch Print™ options.

3) Begin the Batch Print™ session.

1) Choosing Your Print Jobs

Batch Print™ maintains a list of documents in what is called the "Print List". To add jobs to the Print List, click on the Edit Print List button. You will be presented with the following dialog:

Use the Print List job selection dialog to navigate to the documents you wish to print and add them to the Print List. Batch Print™ can process as many as 128 documents at a time. Click on the Done button when you have finished selecting documents to print. You will be returned to the Batch Print™ main menu.

2) Setting Batch Print™ Options

Batch Print™ offers many different types of printing options. Once set, most of the options will not need to be changed. Such options appear under the Batch Print™ Configuration section (described later in this chapter).

The three most common options appear as a part of the Batch Print™ main menu. These three check boxes are described below:

Log File Enabled: Check this box if you wish to activate the Batch Print™ log file option. The log file contains a summary of each Batch Print™ session, including any errors which might have occurred during the session. You can select the log file to use by accessing the Batch Print™ Configuration Options (described later in this chapter).

Display Errors: Check this box if you wish Batch Print™ to display errors during processing. An example would be a document that used fonts which were missing at the time of printing. With Display Errors checked, you will be warned that fonts are missing for the document. The Display Errors option is basically a way to debug any problems you may have with a particular file. Note that the errors which are displayed will also be written to the log file if that option is also checked. 

Unless you are having a problem with a particular document, you will probably want to leave Display Errors unchecked. Otherwise, you will have to check on the process of the Batch Print™ session from time to time and clear any error messages that might be present. 

Print Specified Page Area Only: With this option checked, Batch Print™ will print only the page area specified in the Configuration Options (described later in this chapter). Leave this option unchecked to print the entire document page.

3) Starting The Batch Print™ Session

Once you have finished selecting documents and checking your options, simply click the Start Printing button and Batch Print™ takes care of the rest. Batch Print™ will open each document in the list, establish default Page/Print Setup options (if enabled), and send each document to the selected printer.

If you have opted to copy default Page and Print Setup values, you will be presented with the following dialog at the start of the Batch Print™ session:

This dialog gives you the option of checking the default Page Setup values which will be applied to all of the documents in the Print List. Click on Verify Page Setup to verify/change any of these values, or click on Continue to go to the Print dialog.

After clicking on Continue, you will be presented with the LaserWriter Print dialog.  Fill in the options for this dialog as you normally would for any QuarkXPress document and hit Print. The Batch Print™ session is now underway.

Cancelling a Batch Print™ Session

To cancel a Batch Print™ session, hold down the Command-Period key combination as you normally would to cancel any printing operation. If you should decide to cancel a Batch Print™ session, the job that Batch Print™ was currently working on at the time of the cancellation may remain open. If it does, close this document  (without saving the changes if you are prompted to do so) and you can continue using QuarkXPress.

Printing To Disk

Batch Print™ can also be used to automate the process of printing documents to disk. To start a disk file session, simply print the first job in the list to disk file as you normally would. The output folder selected for the first job will be used to store all of the other jobs in the print list. Once the first job has been printed, Batch Print™ will write a PostScript file for each remaining job in the Print List. The print file will be given the name of its originating document, plus a user-defined extension which identifies the file as PostScript output (see Configuration Items below).

 

Batch Print™ Configuration Items

Batch Print™ provides a number of different configuration items which are accessible from the Configuration dialog. Each of the items contained in the Configuration dialog are described below:

DOCUMENT: These parameters deal with the opening, closing and updating of all documents in the Print List.

Missing Fonts:  (Two Options)

Skip Job: Causes Batch Print™ to skip a document that uses fonts which are missing.

Print Anyway: Causes Batch Print™ to print the document even if it uses fonts which are missing.

Preferences: (Two Options)

Keep Doc: Will force Batch Print™ to open the document and Keep Document Settings.

Use XPress: Will force Batch Print™ to open the document and Use XPress Preferences.

Missing Pics: (Three Options)

Skip Job: If a picture is missing, the document will not be printed.

User Locate: If a picture is missing, Batch Print™ will prompt you to find it.

Suppress Printing: If a picture is missing, Batch Print™ will suppress it from printing.

Modified Pics: (Three Options)

Skip Job: If a picture is modified, the document will not be printed.

Auto Update: If a picture is modified, Batch Print™ will automatically update it for you.

Suppress Printing: If a picture is modified, Batch Print™ will suppress it from printing.

PRINTING: These parameters relate to the actual printing of the documents in the Print List.

Copy Page & Print Setup: With this option checked, the Page Setup and LaserWriter Print Setup options selected by the user for the first job will be copied to each job in the print list. This lets you set up your Page and Print parameters one time at the start of the Batch Print™ session.

Disk File Ext: When PostScript disk files are created, Batch Print™ must determine which filename to write the PostScript data to. The filename that Batch Print™ creates consists of the title of the document plus the filename extension entered here. For instance, if the job being printed was entitled JOB1, and the Disk File Ext: was .PS, the resulting disk file would be called JOB1.PS. Note that Macintosh filenames can be no longer than 31 characters in length. Consequently, Batch Print™ will truncate the original document name as necessary to allow the filename extension to be appended.

Show LaserWriter Dialog: This option controls when the LaserWriter (Print) dialog will be displayed. Select At Start to display the dialog for the first job only, or select Before Each Job to display the dialog at the start of each job. The At Start option is designed to be used in conjunction with the Copy Page & Print Setup option. This lets you enter print parameters one time at the start of the session, and instructs Batch Print™ to make a copy of those parameters and apply them to each job in the print list.

Verify Page Setup: This option controls when you will be prompted to verify your Page Setup values. Select At Start to prompt for the first job only, or select Before Each Job to prompt at the start of each job. The At Start option is designed to be used in conjunction with the Copy Page & Print Setup option. This lets you enter default Page Setup parameters one time at the start of the session, and instructs Batch Print™ to make a copy of those parameters and apply them to each job in the print list.

Batch Print™ Optional Configuration Items

The Batch Print™ Optional configuration items contain such things as Log File and Print Area selection, as well as several other infrequently needed items. To access the optional configuration items, click on the Options button. You will be presented with the following dialog.

Each item contained in this dialog is described below:

Log File: This selection lets you change the log file that Batch Print™ is currently using. Click on the Change Log button if you wish to select/create a different log file. You can also check the Append Log box if you wish future Batch Print™ session logs to be appended to the log file. This lets you accumulate multiple sessions in the same log file. Leave this options unchecked to clear the log file at the start of each Batch Print™ session.

Print Area: This selection lets you set up a specific Page Area to print. This print area will only be in effect if you have also checked the Print Specified Page Area Only checkbox which appears on the Batch Print™ main menu. You can use the radio buttons here to choose whether the values entered are in Page or Spread coordinates. 

Doc. Close Delay: For each job in the print list, Batch Print™ does the following: Opens the document, Prints the document, Closes the document (without saving). The Close Delay is the amount of time that Batch Print™ will wait once it determines that printing is complete before it actually closes a document window. This option is provided to give other XTensions enough time to finish up any processing that may also occur at print time. Generally, a 4 second delay should be sufficient.

Install Menu Separator: The Batch Print™ option gets added to the Quark XPress File menu. With this option checked, a menu separator bar will be installed ahead of the Batch Print™ option. You may wish to disable this option if you are running other XTensions which add options to the File menu as well. Note that this option is provided for aesthetic purposes only and does not affect the operation of Batch Print™.

Save Print Lists: With this option checked, the Print Lists from previous Batch Print™ sessions will be saved. This allows you to start a session over without having to select all of the documents again. If this option is unchecked, the Print List will be cleared each time you invoke Batch Print™.

Allow Duplicate Entries: Check this option to allow duplicate filenames in the Print List. Leaving this option unchecked will cause the Print List dialog to filter out filenames which have already been added to the Print List. However, when this option is not checked, the list of available jobs is refreshed each time a job is selected. This can slow you down if you are selecting a number of jobs from within the middle of a large list.

Working With Log Files

A Batch Print™ log file is a text file which lists the document name, status, and any error messages associated with a particular Batch Print™ session. The file itself has a creator and type which are compatible with the TeachText application. To read a Batch Print™ log file, simply double-click on the file. The TeachText application will be launched, and the log file will be opened and displayed. When you are finished viewing the log file, quit the TeachText application.

A sample Batch Print™ log file appears below:

********************************************************************************
Start Job Log:        DATE: 04/20/1994     TIME: 8:53 AM
********************************************************************************
DOCUMENT NAME  :  STATUS  :  MESSAGE

Job1  :  OK   :  Printing complete.
Job2  :  ERR  :  Document contains missing fonts. Not printed.
Job3  :  ERR  :  Missing picture "Sample.EPS". Not printed.

Hint: Perhaps one of the easiest ways to utilize the log file feature is to first create the log file in a specific location (such as your QuarkXPress folder). Then, make an alias of the log file and copy the alias into the Apple Menu Items folder within your System Folder. Then, whenever you wish to view the log file, simply select it from under the Apple menu (see below):

This method produces the same result as double-clicking on the actual log file but is much more convenient to use.

Clearing The Log File

If you have checked the Append Log option, then all Batch Print™ sessions will continue to be appended to the end of the existing log file. If left unchecked, the log file can grow quite large in size. Therefore, if you will be appending to an existing log file you should occasionally clear the log file out (using TeachText), or simply delete the log file by dragging it into the trash. The log file will be re-created the next time a Batch Print™ session is run (assuming that the Log File Enabled option has been checked).

If you do not check the Append Log option, the log file will automatically be cleared at the start of each Batch Print™ session. This means that you do not have to clear the log file manually as described above.

Batch Print™ Compatibility

Batch Print™ has been tested using Macintosh operating System 7.1 in conjunction with the LaserWriter driver v7.1.2 and Quark XPress v3.2/v3.3. Certain printer-specific options may not be supported. Please report any problems or questions to Meadows Information Systems, Inc. at (708) 882-8202.