Exchanging Documents with Other Users

Although uCreate Print is self-contained, you may want to collaborate with other uCreate Print users or with PersonalEffect users who are using uProduce or Circle to provide print or cross-media services (for example, print service providers).

Collaborating with other uCreate Print users can be easily achieved by sharing the InDesign file (which encodes all the uCreate Print specific information), or by exporting and importing of document packages.

Collaborating with a Print Service Provider (PSP) can be accomplished in several ways, from simply sending print ready files generated by uCreate Print to exchanging campaign or document packages between the uCreate Print user and a PSP that has a uProduce/Circle server.

uCreate Print can be used to generate print-ready streams (files). These files can be delivered to a print provider for production printing. Although this is a perfectly valid and feasible workflow, it has certain limitations. First, there is very little room for last minute adjustments by the PSP. Second, the creative professional must be involved with every production detail and they must be available whenever needed for making even small last minute changes. The PSP becomes a simple print engine hosting entity, with very little room for adding value.

If your PSP has uProduce and Circle, you can interact with them via campaign packages or document packages. These Packages allow creative professionals to deliver uCreate Print jobs to a PSP and let the PSP continue working with the job, as an XMPie campaign. In such a scenario, the PSP can use the uProduce or Circle server and accompanying uPlan and uCreate Print modules to make last minute changes as needed, possibly connect to a data source other than the one used by the creative professional, or, if needed, take the uCreate Print generated campaign into cross-media.

These package-based workflow scenarios are similar to application-file based workflow scenarios that are common in (static) publishing. In such classical workflow scenarios, a creative professional and a PSP will collaborate based on exchanging InDesign files, and not just the PostScript or PDF files for the final print run. Both creative professionals and PSPs appreciate the benefits of enabling the PSP to carry out last-minute changes. These benefits, as well as others – such as connecting to a different data source, adding more sophisticated rules, adding cross-media, and much more robust production control – are the key reasons for having Package-based workflows.

Exchange documents and campaigns with uCreate users

uCreate users can collaborate in different ways and export the document to a file type that best suits their needs: a document package (DPKG), a campaign package (CPKG) etc.

This section provides recommendations concerning common collaboration scenarios.

To share your document only:

Export the document as a DPKG, which includes the document and its resources (static images common to all recipients).

A DPKG is useful when collaborating with other designers, or when you wish to add a new document to an existing campaign on uProduce.

Note that the DPKG does not include the following:

Fonts: to use the document fonts, you are required to install them manually.
Plan: if your document that is linked to a plan (as opposed to a data source) you must provide it as well.

To allow collaborators to test your document:

To allow collaborators to test your document with recipient data, you should also provide them with one of the following (in addition to the DPKG):

If your document is linked to a plan file, and the collaborators have uPlan or uCreate Print, provide collaborators with the following files:
- Your document, exported as a proof set (*.proof)
- Your assets folder
If your document is linked to a data source, provide collaborators with the following files:
- A shortened version of your data source (with a few sample records)
- Your assets folder

To share all campaign materials:

If your collaboration with other users includes all campaign materials, export your document as a CPKG.

A CPKG is useful for uploading the document as a new campaign to uProduce or Circle, to benefit from uProduce production capabilities. This file format is also recommended when exchanging files for troubleshooting purposes, for example: when you wish to send your campaign files to XMPie Support.

Exchange documents and campaigns with uProduce or Circle users

There are several collaboration scenarios between uCreate and uProduce/Circle users:

Upload a campaign package from uCreate Print to uProduce/Circle

The uCreate user packs the job (design, data, assets, and rules) in a campaign package file. This file allows the uProduce/Circle user to automatically create an XMPie campaign — including Plan, design, data, and assets connections — from the work done by the uCreate user.

Once a campaign had been created in uProduce/Circle it can be leveraged for more sophisticated data source connections or rules, last minute production-oriented design changes, or adding HTML documents for cross-media. In addition, and no less important, is the ability of the uProduce/Circle user to harness more powerful production flows, including employing concurrency in job processing. Finally, the uploaded Print campaigns can be adapted for web using the web campaign wizard.

Uploading a campaign package file to a Print Service Provider (PSP) that has uProduce/Circle is the ideal workflow for moving jobs from creative to production.

The capabilities of the rules language and database connectivity available with uProduce/Circle far exceed those provided in uCreate. As a result, the campaign package process is one way - from uCreate to uProduce/Circle. There is no way for uCreate to import a campaign package that was created in uProduce/Circle, as it will contain elements not known to uCreate Print.

Upload/download document package files between uCreate and uProduce/Circle

A document package is ideal for cases where a uCreate user does not need to upload data sources or rules, but only the design, content object list, and the association between these two.

Similarly, if a uProduce/Circle user would like a uCreate Print user to review changes to a design, a document package can be created by the uProduce/Circle user and imported by the uCreate user. If the uCreate user makes further changes to the design then a new document package can be created and uploaded to the uProduce/Circle server.

Import a proof set generated by uProduce/Circle