Personalized printing works!                                                                                           

PrintShop Mail is a professional software tool that optimizes the process of merging variable database information with a design.

By simply dragging and dropping database fields onto the document layout, PrintShop Mail creates a link between the database field and your document. PrintShop Mail gives you an instant preview and provides you with a powerful resource checking option.

Fast, efficient and very easy to use.

Print Shop Mail - Product Features

• For Macintosh ® and Windows ®
• Use any PostScript RIP
• Use any PostScript printer
• Easy to use: Drag and drop
• Help text
• Report Page

• Use any design application
• Variable text
• Any font
• Linespacing & Skip empty lines
• Transparent printing
• Word wrap
• Variable images
• Change text & images properties
• Bleed & cropmarks
• Rotation
• Sizing (measurements, fit to screen preview, zoom, resizing)

• Use any database format
• Conditional Database manipulation functions
• Database filter

• Instant preview
• Verify & preflight print job
• Barcode printing
• Serialization
• Step & Repeat (Multi-up)
• Printing layout & stacking order
• Label printing
• Multi page printing
• Paper tray selection
• Duplex printing
• Page Picking
• Subset finishing
• Split job function
• Open Prepress Interface (OPI)
• Automatic Picture Replacement (APR)
• Pantone color support
• Save for re-printing or remote printing

For Macintosh ® and Windows ®
PrintShop Mail is available for the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Use any PostScript RIP
PrintShop Mail can drive ANY PostScript RIP. However, as each RIP can handle the variables differently, Atlas Software BV has build in special support for the following RIP technologies:
* Optimized PostScript
* Copypage
* Fiery FreeForm ®, FreeForm 2
* Creo VPS
* Splash VI
* Splash Diamond Merge
* AHT (ColorFlare, OneRip)
* PPML

This means, that PrintShop Mail will work with each of these specific technologies to process the job as efficiently as possible, with the goal to drive the PostScript print engine at, or near, rated speed.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Use any PostScript printer
PrintShop Mail emits PostScript output. Hence, it can drive ANY color, Black & White or highlight PostScript printer.

Easy to use: Drag and drop
PrintShop Mail is very easy to use. Once you have opened a design and a database in PrintShop Mail, you can drag and drop text fields or image fields from the database onto the design. This graphically oriented approach allows you to see exactly where you want to place the variables.

Once you’ve created a box, you can move it anywhere you like, enlarge it, or make it smaller.

Once a box is placed, you can double click on it, which allows you to go in-depth to select, manipulate, and program your desired conditional database printing.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Help text
PrintShop Mail provides help text for reference during the creation of your variable information print job.

Report Page
PrintShop Mail you can print a report page, which will specify various elements of a print job, for technical support purposes. If you run into a problem, and would like assistance from the Atlas Technical Support Help Desk, then you can print this and submit it to the Technical Support help desk.

Use any design application
You can use ANY design application, such as Quark Xpress, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator or MS Word. To be able to use it in PrintShop Mail, this design should be saved as either a PDF or EPS.

This gives you the freedom to open ANY design in PrintShop Mail, and allows you to continue using your favorite design application.

Variable text
The most basic personalization is done by dragging text fields from a database onto the design, such as a name or address, which differs per record.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Line Spacing & Skip empty lines
In PrintShop Mail you can change the leading of the variable text.

If some of the database record contain fewer fields than that are supposed to be included in the job, an empty line will appear. For example, when some persons have a title (‘General Manager’ or ‘administrator’) entered into a separate field, an empty line will appear for the persons that do not have a title entered into the database. To accommodate both, this ‘skip empty lines’ feature, allows you to print variable names and addresses with or without a title (depending on the database value) in a clean row, without leaving empty title lines.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Transparent printing
This allows you to print two objects on top of each other. For example, it allows you to print variable text over large variable images.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Word wrap
With PrintShop Mail you can insert variable text and images, and have the text wrap around the variables.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Variable images
With PrintShop Mail, you can also place variable images. Almost all image formats are supported. The images must be stored either in the same database which contains the text, or it must contain a pointer to where the image can be found.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Change text & images properties
If you double click on the text or image box, a properties box will appear. Here you can change to font to any other installed font, to any size, any color, with options such as strikethrough, etc., as long as it is available on your work station. You can also change the image properties, scale to fit, fill to scale, center image, etc.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Bleed & cropmarks
As a true production tool, you can add bleedmarks and cropmarks for easy cutting after printing with PrintShop Mail.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Rotation
With PrintShop Mail you can rotate text or images. In the Windows version of PrintShop Mail, you can rotate in any angle. In the Macintosh version you can rotate in 90-degree steps only.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Sizing
In PrintShop Mail you can adjust the standard measurement unit (e.g. points, picas, dots, ciceros, inches and mm.) in the preference.

Proportional scaling and resizing (such as scale to fit frame) of static images can be done in the info dialog screen.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Use any database
PrintShop Mail has direct support for the following database formats:

In the Windows version of PrintShop Mail there is direct support for the following database applications:
- Dbase (.dbf)
- MS FoxPro (.dbf)
- Paradox (.d)
- MS Excel (.xls)
- Ms Access (.mdb)
- Delimited ASCII (.txt, .csv)
- ODBC Support (SQL, etc.)

In the Macintosh version of PrintShop Mail there is direct support for the following database applications:
- Dbase (.dbf)
- Delimited ASCII (.txt, .csv)
- ODBC Support (SQL, etc.)

PrintShop Mail also has ODBC support. With ODBC you can open up virtually any database format. The database needs to be comma, or tab separated.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Tip: With more information included in the database, you can be more personal and effective in your printed communication.

Conditional Database manipulation functions
PrintShop Mail is as easy as dragging and dropping variable fields onto the design. But, for more in-depth conditional programming, PrintShop Mail has a so-called ‘Expression Builder’. Here, you can build your own desired database manipulation script.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Instant preview
For a quick preview go to ‘view’ and select ‘show preview’. Now you can leaf through the database and preview the variable records. This preview can help build a better variable information printing, and allows an initial visual check to verify if all appears correctly. There is also a thorough preflight check feature.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Verify & preflight print job
As a production tool, PrintShop Mail allows you to verify the conditional database programming rules, and also verifies if the variable data information fits in the allotted variable fields.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Barcode printing
PrintShop Mail can generate variable Barcodes, and supports a wide variety of Bar Code fonts. Barcodes can be used in Mailings, labels or packaging. The bar codes that are directly supported are:
- Codabar
- Code39
- Code128
- Ean8
- Ean13
- Interleaved 2 of 5(ITF)
- Postnet
- UPCA
- UPCE.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Serialization
A document can be customized without a database. This can be done using the counter function. PrintShop Mail allows you to place unique numbering on a design. This can be used to produce numbered tickets, for example.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Step & Repeat
A small design can be repeated on one page. For example, several labels or pre-addressed reply cards can be fitted on one page. With PrintShop Mail this is possible, even in duplex.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Printing layout & order
This is also called ‘crash numbering’ or ‘Print through the stack’. It refers to the printing of numbered documents in an order that make it easy to cut and stack after printing, without having to sort the printed documents.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Label printing
This is one of the most popular applications of the Step & repeat printing feature, which is described above. For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide, or see the Quick Reference Sheet on this feature.

Duplex printing
With PrintShop Mail, you can print duplex. This is useful, for example, when printing reply cards, with variables on both sides.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Multi page printing
With PrintShop Mail you can use multipage designs. Even books can be personalized!

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Paper tray selection
With PrintShop Mail, you can select on a page level from which paper tray you want to print. If you have, for example, a 5-page document, and want every fifth page to be pink, you can print page 1 through 4 from the tray containing white paper, and page 5 from the tray containing pink paper.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Page Picking
With PrintShop Mail, you can select per record which pages out of the multi page design, you want to print. This is useful, for example, if you would like to communicate one of the five different messages to each one of your entire database in one print run. You simply indicate in the database which customer must receive which message, and during the print job, the right message will be printed for that database record.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Subset finishing
PrintShop Mail is able to drive the finishing features of the printer, such as stapling or folding, on a record level, if supported by the printer.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Split job function
When producing large variable data print jobs, you may want to split the job, to allow smaller jobs to go in between. With this in mind, PrintShop Mail offers a split job feature, which allows you to break up the PrintShop Mail job in more than one part.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Open Prepress Interface (OPI)
PrintShop Mail now offers an Open Prepress Interface (OPI) for the Macintosh version. If supported by the server, the user links low resolution images in the PrintShop Mail file, but during the printing process, the OPI server will ensure the low-resolution image is replaced by the high-resolution image. This feature yields an even faster spool and print speed, even when high-resolution variable images are involved.

For more detailed instruction on this feature, go to the PrintShop Mail User Guide.

Automatic Picture Replacement (APR)
This feature is similar to OPI, as described above, but is specifically implemented for the VPS print technology.

Pantone color support
Because PrintShop Mail currently uses PDF documents, the pantone colors may be lost. To remedy this situation PrintShop Mail can work with a plug-in to support Pantone color

Save for re-printing or remote printing
Even without a dongled license of PrintShop Mail, you can always create a variable information printing job with PrintShop Mail, using your design and database, and save this PrintShop Mail job for delayed or remote printing. If you offer print production services, this means you can ask your customers to create their own PrintShop Mail jobs themselves, and giving it to you for printing.