In this article, you will learn
- which prerequisites are required for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Add Pole Pockets Fixup is available in the $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW application. The purpose of this Fixup is to add a Pole Pocket to the selected side of the Print Item. The backside of the Print Item is mirrored onto the front.
2. General
The Add Pole Pockets Fixup can be used to create a Pole Pocket on the frontside of a Print Item. The backside of the Print Item is mirrored onto the frontside. In addition, you can specify an overlap for the backside, which is also applied to the frontside.
For a single-sided file, the frontside is duplicated to create a backside. Depending on the settings, this backside can be retained, left empty, or deleted.
You can find this Fixup on the Data Preparation tab of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the Filter area,
- activating the option LFP in the Category area,
- activating the option Add in the Action area,
- activating the option Bleed and Hem in the Property area.
3. Description
This Fixup can be used to create a Pole Pocket on the desired side of the Print Item by mirroring the Print Item. For double-sided Print Items, the second side of the Print Item is mirrored onto the frontside. For single-sided Print Items, the frontside is used for the backside by default. However, you can also select a different approach for single-sided Print Items. If an overlap is specified, this overlap is also mirrored onto the frontside. This creates a type of "Bleed" based on the backside of the Print Item.
3.1. Functionality and Description
For the Fixup to work as intended, the following prerequisites must be met:
- The print file contains a maximum of two pages – one frontside and one backside.
- The print file can also be single-sided. In this case, the frontside of the Print Item is used for mirroring by default, unless one of the alternative options is selected.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Add Pole Pockets
To create a Pole Pocket, the following options can be selected:
- Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and therefore applied to other Articles/Print Items, used within Fixup Chains, and used in the Apply Fixups and Check Print Item and Apply Fixups operations.
- Reference Edge [2] – select the edge/side on which the Pole Pocket is to be created. All other selected options apply to the selected edges/sides.
- Hem [3] – specify the hem size for the respective side. Click the lock icon to enter the values separately for each side. For Variable Content [11], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the hem for the respective edge should be retrieved.
- Also add hem on page 2 [4] – enable this option to also create a Pole Pocket on the second side (backside). For the frontside, side 2 is used; for the backside, side 1 is used.
- Additional Overlap [5] – specify the size of the additional overlap for the respective side. The specified value is mirrored onto the frontside in addition to the hem and overlaps the hem created on the backside – useful, for instance, to prevent a "White Gap". For Variable Content [12], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the overlap value for the respective edge should be retrieved.
- Create non-printed Welding Areas at the corners [6] – if three or four edges are selected as reference edges, enabling this option leaves the corners of the created hem unprinted.
- Create Backside [7] – select from the dropdown menu how the backside of the Pole Pocket should be handled for a single-sided Print Item. The following options are available:
- Use Artwork of the Frontside on Backside – the backside is used to mirror the hem onto the frontside. The backside is retained, resulting in a two-sided file.
- Empty Backside – the second side (backside) is used to mirror the hem onto the frontside. All objects on the backside are then deleted, resulting in an empty side. The result is a two-sided file with an empty backside.
- No Backside – the second side (backside) is used to mirror the hem onto the frontside. The backside is then deleted, leaving a single-sided file.
- Variable Content [13] – select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for creating the backside should be retrieved. The selected field must contain one of the following values for the corresponding option to be executed:
Frontside_on_the_BacksideCreate_blank_BacksideCreate_without_Backside
Figure 2: Values required in the selected field for the Create Backside option
- Use Existing Bleed [8] – enable this option if the existing bleed of the Print Item should be retained when creating the Pole Pocket. For example, if the Print Item has a bleed of 3 mm, the existing 3 mm bleed is added to the specified hem. The TrimBox is then set to the size of the hem, while the BleedBox is set to the size of the hem plus bleed.
- Keep Second Page as Original [9] – enable this option to retain the second side at its original size without cropping it. When a Pole Pocket is created, it is mirrored from the backside onto the frontside. The size of the Pole Pocket is removed from the backside. If this option is enabled, the backside remains unchanged.
- Remove Technical Spot Color [10] – enable this option to remove technical colors from the print file. This can prevent potential errors when mirroring the hem.
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, you can use the sample file "Sample_Add Pole Pockets.pdf". This is a two-sided file containing a frontside and a backside.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Add Pole Pockets_End.pdf" is created. In this file, a Pole Pocket has been created along the top and bottom edges. The values shown in Figure 1 were used for this example.
Figure 3: Left: Frontside of the original file; Right: Frontside of the modified file with a Pole Pocket created along the top and bottom edges
For comparison, the file "Sample_Add Pole Pockets_End2.pdf" is available. In this file, a Pole Pocket has been created along all four edges using the values from Figure 1. In addition, the Create non-printed Welding Areas at the corners option was enabled.
Figure 4: Left: Frontside of the original file; Right: Frontside of the modified file with a Pole Pocket created along all four edges and the Create non-printed Welding Areas at the corners option enabled
Article Update: $PRODUCT_NAME_WORKFLOW 2.3.0 – 09/2026