One job, stored as a recipe

How the tools belong together

The desk is the recipe

Later tools read the files in Assets. Page edits become one Page setup line. Prepress steps stack under that. A hot folder runs the same list.

• The job

  Assets

  Assets is the job. Every later tool reads the files loaded there.

• The pages

  Page controls

  Page controls edit highlighted pages in the loaded files. Add to recipe stores them as one Page setup line. That line applies to the files loaded when the recipe runs.

• The stack

  Applied Steps

  Applied Steps is the recipe. Resize, Crop, Bleed, Grid, Booklet, Cutter, Rotate, Color, and Mail Merge each add a line. Click a line to reopen that tool. Add appends a step. Overwrite replaces the selected one. Order: grow bleed before imposition, convert color before preflight, impose before cutter marks.

• The view

  Real-Time Monitor

  The Real-Time Monitor shows the current page, with rulers in inches, millimetres, or points. Grid, Booklet, Crop, Resize, Bleed, and Mail Merge update that view as the fields change.

• The check

  Preflight

  Preflight reads the file against a press profile. Jump from a finding into the fix tool, starting with Color. Reading the report does not need a paid license. Export to JSON or PDF, and that jump, are Pro.

• Unattended

  Automation

  Automation is the same recipe, unattended. Three hot folders each have an input, an output, and a saved recipe. Preflight can run with those jobs and sort them by the result.

• The copies

  Production destinations

  Production destinations are extra folders named on the recipe. The save path is unchanged. A copy is also written to each chosen folder.

• Pages

  Asset list

  Each page shows its size. Color pages are labeled Color, Pagemix, or Colormix. Select every page, fronts, backs, one size, or every page that matches a set of properties. Drag pages into another PDF. Undo the move. Clear the list and the recipe stays.

• Boxes

  Page boxes

  Leave MediaBox, CropBox, TrimBox, and the bleed box as they are, set the CropBox to the TrimBox so a viewer hides the bleed, or clip the page to the trim and drop the extra margin.

• Color

  Color, on the selected pages

  Color on the highlighted pages only, stored as a page-level step.

• Crop

  Crop, on the selected pages

  Step each edge in or out. The monitor follows the crop.

• Bleed

  Bleed, on the selected pages

  Bleed on the highlighted pages, stored before the imposition step.

• Resize

  Resize, on the selected pages

  Place the page from a 3 by 3 anchor, with horizontal and vertical offsets. The artwork keeps its size unless stretch is selected.

• Rotate

  Rotate, on the selected pages

  Turn a page 90, 180, or 270 degrees. A quarter turn swaps width and height. Fronts and backs can turn separately.

• Pages

  Blank and Delete

  Insert a blank page, or remove a highlighted page from the working file. Blank supplies an empty back on duplex or booklet jobs.

• Recipe

  Page setup

  One recipe line for those page edits. The next run applies that setup to the files loaded when the recipe runs.

• Order

  Arrange

  The page-order window for the loaded PDFs. Reorder, rotate, and recolor, then write that order back. Each PDF stays its own file. Join and Split live here, under output page order.

• Output

  Join

  Combine the loaded PDFs into one file. Name it from the first file, or from the date and time.

• Output

  Split

  Write each page out as its own PDF.

• Fit

  Resize

  Fit each page to a target sheet: Letter, Legal, Tabloid, A4, or a saved size. For incoming trim that is wrong, before imposition. Landscape is a checkbox, not a second preset.

• Margin

  Crop

  Take margin off the top, bottom, left, and right, in equal or unequal amounts. A step size and arrows move one edge at a time. Amounts use the current unit.

• Bleed

  Grow bleed

  For artwork with no bleed. Quick grow scales the page. Edge extend mirrors or stretches the outer edge into the new margin. The grown page keeps a TrimBox, so Grid and Booklet can pack on the finished size afterward.

• Trim

  Source trim

  For art that already includes bleed. Grid, Booklet, and the marks step by the finished trim, not the bleed box. A gutter of zero means the trims touch. Bleed hangs into the gutter. Crop marks sit on the trim. Leave the size blank and the tool uses the PDF TrimBox when it is smaller than the page.

• Impose

  Grid

  Step-and-repeat onto a press sheet. Rows and columns, or auto max-fit, which counts the same grid as a hand placement. Gutters, margins, and a 3 by 3 anchor set the white space. Printer’s marks use a gap, a line weight, and a color.

• Impose

  Booklet

  Saddle-stitch spreads. Creep is the thickness of one sheet. The cover does not shift. Each sheet inside adds that amount again. Facing pages pack on the finished trim when the art already has bleed. White space uses the same 3 by 3 anchor as Grid.

• Marks

  Cutter

  Cut marks for a collator or cutter. Target every page, fronts, or backs. Add a registration L, a cross, or round dots at the corners. Marks can be black, grey, white, or a chosen color.

• Turn

  Rotate

  The recipe version of the page rotate: 90, 180, or 270 degrees, for all pages or for fronts and backs.

• Pages

  Insert blank page

  Empty page at the start, the end, or after a page number. Used so a booklet or duplex back has a page.

• Guide

  Folds

  A visual guide, not a production step. It draws panels on the monitor for a half fold, Z fold, gate fold, roll fold, tri-fold, double parallel, double gate, French fold, or accordion. Tuck is built into the folds that need a shorter closing panel. Export is a die-line proof as PDF, PNG, or JPG, from Export Proofs.

• Color

  Color

  Process conversion: original, grayscale, black and white, sepia, CMYK, or RGB. Raster DPI: 300, 400, 600, or 1200. Sliders: brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, gamma, saturation, vibrance, hue, and color balance. CMYK adds gray-component replacement, a total-ink limit, and per-channel trim. The monitor updates with the sliders. The PDF updates when the step is added.

• Locks

  Unlock

  Clears a Print Lock or Edit Lock that LockStepPDF wrote. A PDF that will not open until someone types a password stays locked.

• Profile

  Preflight

  Checks the file against an editable profile. The built-in starting points are Standard Digital Press, Commercial Sheetfed, and Soft Proof. The checks are image resolution, embedded fonts, trim and bleed boxes, RGB color, hairline strokes, total CMYK ink, transparency, overprint, and JPEG 2000. Each check can fail the job, hold it, or be ignored.

  The report can be read without a paid license. Export to JSON or PDF, and the jump from a finding into the fix tool, are Pro.

• View

  Real-Time Monitor

  Current page, with tick rulers and a readout from the left and top edges. Shared view for crop, resize, bleed, grid, booklet, folds, and mail merge. Float or dock. Rulers: inches, millimetres, or points.

• Data

  Mail Merge

  A template PDF plus a spreadsheet: CSV, Excel, or LibreOffice ODS. Click a column tag, then click the template to place it. An address block places the whole block as one object. Long lines shrink to fit the box. The monitor shows the variable text before the step is added. A saved recipe stores the template, so a hot folder can receive only the spreadsheet.

• Pipelines

  Hot folders

  Three pipelines. Each has an input folder, an output folder, and a recipe. One watcher runs every pipeline that is filled in. A file in the input runs that recipe.

• Sort

  Preflight with automation

  Turn this on and the hot folder also runs the active preflight profile. Pass, hold, and fail can be sent to different folders.

• Scans

  OCR hot folders

  Three more watch folders, separate from the prepress pipelines. A file in one becomes a searchable PDF at the original page size. Settings: language, a filename prefix or suffix, and the post step, including email. The output is selectable text. The job is not imposed.

  LockStepOCR remains the free standalone installer.

• File

  Recipes

  The Applied Steps list, the page setup, the unit, and the production folders, saved as one file. Load it on the desk, or point a hot folder at it.

How it is sold

LockStepPDF is a subscription

The product is a subscription. Version 3.54 is the current Windows release. The installer is not posted on this page. The price is not published here.

LockStepPDF questions

Matched to the recipe.