Job folder structure and archiving
The problem
Prepress departments have a standard way of working on jobs. However, each team member may do things a little differently. This can lead to confusion when handing jobs off. Which file is latest? Where are the corrected files for print?
Switch can create a job folder structure for each new job that goes into production. A parent job folder with subfolders for customer files, production files, preflight reports, etc. After jobs are off press, Switch can archive jobs in a consistent, standardized way.
The Switch solution
With this solution, Switch packages incoming customer files, creates a copy and places them in a default folder structure for production, and lastly checks for old jobs and sends them to an archive volume:
- Jobs enter the flow through a submit point and are duplicated. One copy is zipped as original files and one used for production.
- Using a Set Hierarchy element, both the zipped originals and the production files are placed in a default folder structure. For example: Year>Month>Job number>Original files and Year>Month>Job number>Production files.
- An Inject job element is used in-line to copy a default set of empty folders to the Production files directory. For example, it could contain folders for fonts, images, print-ready PDF, etc.
- The bottom path of the flow uses an Inject job element to weekly send a dummy job which triggers a command-line to move all files older than 90 days into the flow. Those files are then routed to an archive volume using a standardized folder structure.
Benefits
- Prepress teams spend less time looking for files
- Job uniformity makes troubleshooting simpler
- Worry-free archiving of post-production jobs
Flow elements and modules used for this case
