Queues Pane

Overview

The Queues Pane has three areas:

• Waiting Queue

• Print Queue

• Completed Queue

Waiting Queue

If the Waiting Queue Folder is located on a local drive and a disk space issue is detected, a warning icon is displayed in the header of the Waiting Queue, above the main Waiting Queue area.

Populate the Waiting Queue by:

• Copying files directly into the Waiting Queue Folder set in the Engineer Pane. (See the Waiting Queue Folder section for more details.)

• Dragging and dropping PDF or .jobs files onto the Waiting Queue area.

• Dragging and dropping TIFF files onto the Waiting Queue area; these are converted to PDF files automatically, for submission to the RIP Server(s).

• Using the job import button to load a .jobs file.

NOTE:

The drag and drop capability is enabled by default, but you can adjust it with Allow Direct Job Submission in Engineer/Settings.

NOTE:

Drag and drop may not work when Smart Print Controller is running as Administrator.

Click and drag items in the Waiting Queue to reorder them.

You can select multiple jobs by holding Ctrl and clicking on each job or you can select a range of jobs by holding shift and clicking on the last job to be included in the range.

Selected jobs can be dragged into the Print Queue or sent there by clicking the Send to Print Queue button above the selected jobs. Only valid jobs are sent to the Print Queue.

Selected jobs can be exported from the Waiting Queue or Completed Queue into a .jobs file. This can be used to archive jobs and all their state, and/or be re-imported back into the Waiting Queue as another method of job submission. Imported jobs will retain the state they had when exported (such as Job Costing results, Streamline analysis, copy counts, etc).

If Allow Job Cost Estimation is enabled in the Engineer Pane, the Smart Job Cost Estimator button is active while jobs are selected. Clicking it will open Smart Job Cost Estimator and automatically import the selected jobs into it.

NOTE:

Refer to the Smart Job Cost Estimator documentation, regarding Integrated Mode, for more information.

Each job in the Waiting Queue displays in a single row, which has the following items:

• Drag Handle - Use this to reorder items or drag them into the Print Queue.

• Thumbnail – This is a full-color rendering of page one; it does not reflect print settings.

  NOTE:

  The thumbnail is not generated while the print run is active.

  NOTE:

  The thumbnail includes an indication of whether a job has been edited in the Job Editor (using a pencil icon) and/or if the job is a LILO job (using an L icon):

  

• Filename – The filename of the job.

• Copies – Shows the number of copies to be printed. Click this to update the desired copy count of the job. (In the Evaluation version, the maximum number of copies is one million.)

• Edit – Launches the Job Editor application for modifying/previewing a job before it is printed.

NOTE:

The Edit button will be greyed out if the job does not have a valid Target Media set.

• Line Speed Estimate - This shows Red, Orange, or Green, or no color.

  • Red - the job is not expected to print at the desired line speed.

  • Amber - the job is predicted to achieve close to the desired line speed.

  • Green - the job is expected to comfortably print at the desired line speed.

  • No color - the job does not have a line speed estimate.

• Print settings – Click this to open a window showing job print settings. The window can also be opened by double clicking on the job. This icon changes depending on the job state:

  • The job is compatible with the current print settings.

  • The job has at least one warning but may still be printed.

  • The job is incompatible with the current print settings and cannot be printed. This may include the Streamline model being absent.

Along the top of the Waiting Queue is a set of controls that can be applied to all selected jobs. From left to right:

• Sends the selected jobs to the Print Queue.

• Opens the selected jobs in Integrated Smart Job Cost Estimator.

• Import a collection of jobs from a .jobs file and place them into the Waiting Queue.

  • This button can be used without any jobs selected.

• Export the selected jobs to a .jobs file for later use.

• Change the Target Media of selected jobs.

• Duplicate all selected jobs. Each duplicate will have a suffix appended to its name " - Copy".

• Send all jobs to the Pre-Press folder.

  • This button will not be visible if the Pre-Press plugin is either not installed or not activated.

• Delete all selected jobs.

• The rightmost button will select all jobs in the queue.

Print Settings

Information is in two parts:

• A thumbnail of the first page of the job.

• Data relating to the current job settings and Streamline Direct.

The button to the right of the job name allows you to rename the job. This button will only show up for jobs that are in the Waiting Queue.

There are also two buttons to manipulate Media.

• The leftmost button lets you change the Active Media to be the same as the Target Media of the job. This option will automatically Apply settings in order to action the change of Active Media.

  • You cannot change the Active Media this way if the Print Run is active.

• The rightmost button lets you change the Target Media of the job. If you change the Target Media and press Close, the job will begin preprocessing again.

  • You cannot change the Target Media of the job if it is already going through preprocessing (shown by the Send to Print Queue button on the Waiting Queue being replaced by a spinning circle).

If the job is incompatible with the current print settings and cannot be printed, a red warning triangle indicates the incompatible parameter:

Place the mouse over the warning triangle to display a description of the issue.

RIP Ahead

The RIP Ahead option becomes available when the application is running in RIP Direct mode. Triggering this option initiates the process of pre-RIPping the job, ensuring the maximum possible print speed, regardless of the complexity of the job content.

Once pre-RIPping is complete, the job will enter a "read-only" state. In this state, media cannot be modified, and the Job Editor will be accessible in a view-only mode.

Jobs are assigned a traffic light indicator to reflect the predicted print speed. For jobs with an amber, red, or empty indicator, the RIP Ahead feature can be used to upgrade the indicator to green, ensuring the job can print at the required speed.

After pre-RIPping the option will change to allow the pre-RIPping to be reverted.

Streamline Direct

When Streamline Analysis is enabled, there is an indication on if the job has had Autotuneapplied to it.

If Streamline Analysis has been performed, choose Performance Report to open a detailed breakdown of the pages that Streamline Direct has analyzed.

NOTE:

The report opens in your default PDF viewer.

Proofing Tool

The Proofing Tool icon will launch the Job Editor in a mode which shows the job as it will be printed, allowing the screening pattern to be examined.

LILO (Lead In, Lead Out)

A LILO job will print a number of copies of Lead In pages before the job and a number of copies of Lead Out pages after the job. The first page of the job will be used as the content of the Lead In pages, the second page will be used for the Lead Out pages and all following pages will be used as the job pages.

If the job has been submitted as a LILO job, a LILO tab will be visible which displays the Lead In page count and the Lead Out page count which can both be edited if the job is in the Waiting Queue. A thumbnail of the Lead In page is shown, clicking on the button above the thumbnail changes it to the Lead Out thumbnail. A larger version of the LILO thumbnail can be displayed if you click on the zoom button or the LILO thumbnail.

A LILO job can be submitted via .complete submission.

LILO jobs opened in Job Editor will have the LILO pages hidden. Page Ranges applied to these jobs will apply only to the visible pages. The LILO pages are excluded from, and will be unaffected by, the page range operation.

Waiting Queue Folder

The location of this folder is defined in the Settings tab of the Engineer Pane.

For more information about using the Waiting Queue Folder see the Hot Folder Job Submission section.

Auto-Print

Enabling the Auto-Print option ensures that all pre-processed jobs in the Waiting Queue automatically move directly to the Print Queue (unless they are identified as incompatible).

View Controls

The three dots to the right of the Waiting Queue header offer the option to maximize the Waiting Queue and filter jobs by the Active Media.

Maximized Waiting Queue

This view option provides more information about each job and allows you to set a Label directly in the queue, or set the Active Media to be the same as a job's Target Media.

Additional information shown compared to the compact Waiting Queue is as follows:

• Pages - This is the total number of pages that will be printed, taking into account page selection, duplexing and copy count.

• Dimensions - The Width and Height of the job are displayed.

• Length - This is the calculated length of media that will be consumed to print the job.

• Target Media - The media that the job must be printed with.

• Label - This free text field can be used in various ways, but can be particularly helpful when grouping jobs and then filtering when driving SPC with an OPC client.

Preprocessing and Thumbnail

The thumbnail should be updated to reflect any color changes made through a new preprocessing step, which is capable of replacing the values of spot colors in the job found in the TCB inside the SMD.

When a job has a Target Media assigned to it, and that media includes a TCB file, this should initiate a preprocessing step in the Waiting Queue. This step will replace any spot colors in the job that are specified in the TCB file within the target media's SMD.

For example, when saving an updated media in the Override Color Options view in the Engineer Pane, any jobs that have that media as their Target Media will undergo preprocessing again. This is necessary to capture any possible changes to output incurred by there being a new media.

Print Queue

To populate the Print Queue, either:

• Click the Send to Print Queue icon, at the left of the job entry in the Waiting Queue; the item appears at the bottom of the Print Queue.

• Drag jobs from the Waiting Queue into the Print Queue. (You can select/drag multiple items simultaneously.) The items appear at the bottom of the Print Queue.

  NOTE:

  When dragging items from the Waiting Queue to the Print Queue, the order of the items in the Print Queue is based on the order the items were selected

If for whatever reason a job fails to move to the Print Queue, the reason will be logged.

The Print Queue shows each job in a single row, which displays the following columns:

• Drag Handle - Use this to reorder items or drag them back into the Waiting Queue.

• Thumbnail – This is a full-color rendering of page one; it does not reflect print settings.

• Filename – The filename of the job

• Copies – The copy count of the job

• Length - The total length of media estimated to be consumed by printing this job.

• Status – Updated once the Print Queue is started.

  • Ready to Print – The job has been copied to the RIP Server(s).

  • Starting – The job is being prepared and sent to the RIP Server(s).

  • Printing – The job is currently being processed and printed by the RIP Server(s).

  • Succeeded – The job completed successfully and is moved to the completed queue.

  • Failed – The job failed to complete.

Along the top of the queue are actions that can be performed on all jobs selected in the Print Queue:

• Send the selected jobs to the Waiting Queue.

• Cancel the selected jobs.

  • This marks all jobs as Cancelled and sends them to the Completed Queue.

  • This can be done on jobs that are not printing.

• Delete the selected jobs.

• The rightmost button selects all jobs in the Print Queue.

Click and drag items in the Print Queue to reorder them. Additionally, when a job is not in the Printing state (that is, when the Delete icon is showing), you can drag it back to the Waiting Queue.

While printing, an additional option is available to cancel the current job. Selecting this icon terminates the printing job at the earliest opportunity and then continues automatically to the next job in the queue.

To see the current progress, hover the mouse over the print progress bar to see the current page being processed.

NOTE:

The page number reported should be used as a guide only; reporting the exact page at any given time is unreliable due to the speeds the system can operate at.

Completed Queue

The Completed Queue is populated by a job leaving the Print Queue.

Each job in the Completed Queue displays in a single row, which displays the following columns:

• Drag Handle - Use this to drag items into the Waiting Queue.

• Thumbnail – This is a full-color rendering of page one; it does not reflect print settings.

• Filename – The filename of the job

• Copies – The copy count of the job

• Status

  • Succeeded – The job completed without error.

  • Canceled – The operator canceled the job before it completed.

  • Failed – The job failed to complete.

• Start Time - The time the job entered the Starting state.

• Duration - The total time taken for the RIP Server to process the job.

• View - Launches the Job Editor application for viewing a job after it is printed.

• Information – Click this to open a window showing job print setting information.

NOTE:

You can move items only from the Completed Queue to the Waiting Queue.

Along the top of the Completed Queue are buttons that act on all jobs selected in the Completed Queue:

• Send the selected jobs to the Waiting Queue.

  • This creates a copy of each job in the Waiting Queue, preserving the entries in the Completed Queue.

• Export the selected jobs to a .jobs file for a later import into the Waiting Queue.

• Delete the selected jobs.

• The rightmost button selects all jobs in the Completed Queue.

Print Settings

Additional details are added to the Print Settings in a new tab called Completion Details once the job is completed whether it succeeded or not.

Print Run Controls

The buttons to the right of the Print Queue job list control the print run:

• Start - Start the print run. Any job appearing in the Print Queue is automatically sent to the RIP Server(s), ordered top to bottom.

• Stop – Stop the print run. Cancels any currently printing jobs and stops the print run. If data is detected in the output device’s print buffer, the application waits until it is emptied and a dialog is shown; to override this delay, choose Abort Printing.

• Abort - Cancel the currently printing jobs and stop the print run immediately. The currently printing jobs are canceled at the earliest opportunity and the print run is automatically stopped.

NOTE:

When a print run is active, you cannot navigate to panes where settings can be changed, such as the Setup Pane and Engineer Pane.

Auto-Stop

If enabled, once all jobs that started printing have finished, the STOP button automatically triggers.

NOTE:

If jobs remain in the Print Queue and none of them are showing as Starting or Printing, then the STOP button is still triggered.

Open TIFF Output Folder...

This button appears if a server is outputting to TIFF on the local machine. Using it will open the folder the TIFFs will be output to in Windows Explorer.