Sheets and binding options

Prerequisites

You have created a flatplan in the flatplan editor of an Issue asset in censhare Web.

Introduction

In a censhare Web flatplan, you can define binding options and plan the placement of the printing sheets.  When you plan a document on a flatplan, it is important to decide how the finished document is bound early in the design process. The binding method that you select can influence how you arrange pages on your flatplan. For example, in a saddle-stitched booklet, the page count must be a multiple of four and evenly divided in the first and second half of the document. The type of binding that you select also affects the way that pages are arranged on printing sheets during the printing process. censhare Web provides binding and printing sheet options to help you visualize your document and optimize production.

Binding options

Binding options are located in the Sheets area of the flatplan editor. 

censhare Web does not verify if the page count or placement of pages on your flatplan is optimal for the binding type that you select. 

• None:

  Select this option to indicate that no binding preference is defined for the document.
  
  

• Saddle stitch:

  Select this option to indicate that a saddle-stitched binding is planned for the document. Saddle-stitched bindings are usually used for booklets with a smaller page count. For example, a catalog with less than 48 pages, printed on an average-weight paper. In this binding method, pages are folded, nested, and stapled together along a fold line. The distribution of pages is symmetrical on either side of the centrefold. Each folded sheet forms four pages in the finished booklet.

  The page count for a saddle-stitched document must be a multiple of four. The minimum number of pages is eight. Pages that are intentionally left blank are included in the page count.  

  

Example layout for an eight-page saddle-stitched binding.

• Perfect bind:

  Select this option to indicate that a perfect binding is planned for the document. Perfect bindings are usually used for documents with a larger page count and when a printed spine is required. For example, a catalog with 240 pages and a printed spine. In this binding method, pages are stacked sequentially and glued along one side with a strong, flexible adhesive. The cover wraps around the glued side. The cover spread is often printed separately from the interior pages. 

  

Example layout for an eight-page perfect binding.

Perfect bindings are recommended for longer documents. This diagram illustrates only how pages are arranged and stacked for a sample perfect binding.

Printing sheets 

To increase the efficiency of large print jobs, your printer can print multiple pages of your document on large printing sheets. These large sheets of paper are called printing sheets or signatures. The use of printing sheets speeds up the printing and binding process and reduces paper waste. Based on the dimensions of the pages in your document and the printing machine, one large printing sheet can hold 8, 16, or 32 pages. Once printed, each printing sheet is folded and either stacked or nested to achieve the correct page order for your document. After the document is assembled and the selected binding option is applied, the outer folds of the printing sheets are trimmed. 

The binding type that you select determines how the printer distributes the pages of your document on the printing sheets. This distribution process is called imposition. Imposition does not change the sequence of pages on your flatplan or affect your InDesign layouts. 

The pages on your flatplan always remain in the order that the reader sees. You do not need to shuffle or rotate pages on the flatplan. Your printer imposes the pages on the printing sheets as part of the print stream. 

Layout for a 16-page imposition

Add sheets

If you define printing sheets for your flatplan, the number of pages in your document must be a multiple of four. The multiple of four requirements ensures that pages can be imposed on the printing sheet to fold efficiently. The folding and assembly of your document are usually automated. When the printing sheet is folded, an uneven number of pages can cause incorrectly placed blank pages in the document. To achieve the necessary page count, add or append blank pages to your flatplan as needed.

Note: Each side of a page in your document is counted as one page on the flatplan. Blank pages are included in the page count. 

1. To define printing sheets for your flatplan, click the  icon in the planning and management tools area of the flatplan editor.

2. In the sheets area, click . The Add sheet dialog opens. 

3. In the General area of the dialog, enter a name for the printing sheet. If desired, enter a description, select a color, and assign a deadline for the sheet. 

4. In the Number of pages area, enter the number of pages that are printed on the sheet. The total number of pages must divide evenly onto the total number of sheets that you add. 

5. In the first half field, enter the number of pages on the sheet that are located in the first half of the document. If you plan to saddle stitch the document, pages must be divided equally in the first and second half. 

6. To define more sheets, click  next to the Binding field. 

As you add sheets, censhare Web verifies the number of printing sheets to the page count of the entire document. If there is a discrepancy, a warning message with page count information is displayed. When the correct number of sheets is defined, a confirmation message displays.

Note: censhare Web only verifies the number of pages in the document to the number of printing sheets that are defined. censhare does not verify if the placement of printing sheets on the flatplan is optimal. 

View sheets 

The  Sheets area of the flatplan shows information about the printing sheets that are defined for the selected flatplan. The header section of this area shows the name of the Issue asset, total number of pages in the flatplan, and number of pages that are assigned to sheets. 

Edit sheets

You can edit, move, and remove the printing sheets on your flatplan.

1. To view a list of all printing sheets, click  in the planning and management tools area of the flatplan editor. The Sheets area displays.    

2. In the Sheets area, click the desired printing sheet to display the editing tools.    

3. To edit, remove, or move the selected sheet, select the icon of the desired tool.  
   
   

Inserts can only be placed between printing sheets. Add or arrange your printing sheets as needed to achieve the desired placement for your inserts. For more information, see Flatplan - Ads, inserts, coupons, and stickers (tbd).

Result

You can define binding options and printing sheets on a flatplan.

Next steps

Select a binding option and define the printing sheets for your project on a flatplan.