In this article, you will learn
- which prerequisites are required for this Fixup, and
- how to apply this Fixup.
1. Introduction
The Fixup Merge Pages is available in the Workflow. The purpose of this Fixup is to merge two pages of a multipage document onto one page.
2. General
Use the Fixup Merge Pages to place a selected page of a multipage document on another page. For example, a white channel or a Dieline that is on a separate page in the multipage document can be merged with the Print Item.
You can find this Fixup on the tab Data Preparation of an Article, Order or Production Job by:
- entering the name of the Fixup in the area Filter,
- activating the option Pages in the area Category,
- activating the option Merge, Delete or Place in the area Action,
- activating the option Overlay in the area Property.
3. Description
Use this Fixup to merge a page of a multipage document with another page of the document. It is also possible to specify whether and which pages of the multipage document should be deleted after merging.
3.1. Prerequisites and Functionality
For the Fixup to perform as intended, the following requirement must be met:
- The file is a multipage document.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Merge Pages
The following options can be selected to merge pages:
- Apply to [1] – in the selection menu select the page(s) with which the page to be placed should be merged. The following options are available:
- Selected page – only the selected page is merged with the page that should be placed.
- All pages – all pages are merged with the page that should be placed.
- Page [2] – enter the number of pages of the page that should be merged with the page to be placed here. This option is only available when the option Selected Page has been chosen in the selection field Apply to.
- Page to be placed [8] – enter the number of pages of the page that should be placed here.
- Delete Page [3] – in the selection menu select which pages should be deleted after merging. The following options are available:
- Placed Page – the page that should be placed is deleted after merging.
- All Pages (excluding page 1 – all pages except page 1 – the merged page – are deleted.
- None – no page is deleted after merging.
- Position [4] – in the selection menu, select whether the content of the ImageBox or the content of the ImageBox + Bleed should be merged with the selected page. The following options are available:
- ImageBox – the ImageBox of the page that should be placed is merged with the selected page. Make sure that the ImageBox is placed on the correct PageBox. Otherwise, undesirable results may occur.
- ImageBox + Bleed – the ImageBox + Bleed of the page that should be placed is merged with the selected page. The expected Bleed is used for the Bleed in this Fixup. Therefore, the expected Bleed should match the actual Bleed of the PDF file.
- Origin [5] – select the origin from which the page to be placed is merged, in the selection menu. The following options are available:
- Center – the page that should be placed is positioned in the centre of the page.
- Top – the page that should be placed is aligned with the top-edge.
- Bottom – the pages that should be placed are aligned at the bottom-edge.
- Left – the page that should be placed is aligned to the left-edge.
- Right – the page that should be placed is aligned to the right-hand edge.
- Offset Horizontal [6] – enter the horizontal offset here. "+" values move the page to be placed to the left, "-" values to the right. For Variable Content [9], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the horizontal offset should be retrieved.
- Offset Vertical [7] – enter the vertical offset here. "+" values move the page to be placed upwards, "-" values move it downwards. For Variable Content [10], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the vertical offset should be retrieved.
Absolute Page Number
The page number specified in this Fixup refers to the absolute page number. It does not refer to the relative page number found in the pagination of a multipage document.
3.2. Before/After
To experiment with this function, refer to the sample file "Sample_Merge Page.pdf". The document consists of two pages. The first page contains the artwork, and the second page contains the corresponding Dielines including the white channel. This second page should be merged with the first page.
After applying the Fixup, the file "Sample_Merge Page_End.pdf" is created. Both pages were merged and the page that should be placed was subsequently deleted, leaving a single page document. The values from Figure 1 were used for this.
Figure 2: Left: Orginal file; Right: Edited file in which all pages have been merged
Article update: Workflow 1.20.1 – 04/2025