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chris_r · #1 (**permalink**) 05-04-2006, 12:05 PM

good day...

i wasnt sure where to post this, so ill throw it out here in the general prepress topic...

my department is trying to develop a structured catalog of old preps templates that can be accessed and used over and over again. we want it o be a comprehensive listing of templates that the csrs can also reference, and indicate to us which template would apply for each job.

im curious if anyone has some sort of method of doing this that has worked out well for you, and if you would be willing to share those ideas. keep in mind that we are talking thousands of templates here, it is a real big project we are staring at.

perhaps someone uses filemaker pro to database this information? that is definitely a way we would be leaning towards.

anyway, thanks in advance for any feedback!

cr

RockLobster · #2 (**permalink**) 05-04-2006, 01:22 PM

We try to name ours intuitively, so we don't need a catalogue:

f_8.5x11_4out_wt_on19x25

means flat work, 8.5x11 trim size, 4 out work and turn on a 19x25 press sheet. Then all the permutations of this basic layout are saved as separate sigs in this template, for instance: 2 col, 4 col, 5 col so it's pretty easy to go through the templates folder and find what you're looking for.
For saddle-stitch and perfect bind we go one step further and leave out the "wt" and have "5 col wt" "5 col sw" "5 col tum" as sigs inside the template.

mc_hristel · #3 (**permalink**) 05-04-2006, 02:30 PM

We do a similar labeling as RockLobster for our standar templates, though I put the sheet size first. For custom/job specific templates we label them by job # and name(####customer) with relatively no other description. When a job is out the door, we copy the "job" templates onto a backup disk. We have folders on the backup disk labeled in incraments of 500 to reduce the searching for a specific job number in the case of reruns.

This isn't quite what you are looking for, but that is all we do...

prepress_brillance_43 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-04-2006, 04:30 PM

My templates are grouped by sheet size: here's some examples
19x25_Basic
19x25_4up-8.5x11Book_Bleeds
19x25_4up-8.5x11Book_NOBleeds
19x25_4up-8.5x11Flyer_Bleeds
19x25_8up-6x9WT
19x25_8up-5.5x8.5WT
19x25_4up-6x9_4up-5.5x8.5
19x25_7up-6x9_1up-5.5x8.5_F
19x25_7up-6x9_1up-5.5x8.5_B
17.5x22.5_Basic
17.5x22.5_12up-3.5x7.5_NOBleeds
17.5x22.5_10up-3.5x7.5_Bleeds
17.5x22.5_6up-5x8.5_NOBleeds

etc, etc...

the basic ones are nothing but center guides(vertical and horizontal) registration bullets, colorbar and tag, and can be opened, altered and built upon and "save as" to create a new template. I do almost all of my impo in Indesign though(because we do ALOT of gang running of different sizes), but thought maybe the naming convention would help... GL with the project/

DCurry · #5 (**permalink**) 05-04-2006, 04:55 PM

For everyone who uses base templates as a starting point - do what I do and Get Info on those master templates and click on Stationery Pad so you can't accidentally save over it. Works awesome!

pmkprog · #6 (**permalink**) 05-05-2006, 04:57 AM

The CSRs and our department have binders with the layouts drawn out in them and there's and index in the front. I think this goes back to the table days. Either way, they have a visual, we have a visual, and someone made Prep layouts to match the master impos. It works well.

chris_r · #7 (**permalink**) 05-05-2006, 09:39 AM

thanks a lot for the responses!

cr

macVato · #8 (**permalink**) 05-05-2006, 02:12 PM

2up7.5x8.5_12.5x19 FW
2up7.5x16_17.5x23 SS
2up7.5x10.5_12.5x19 FW
2up7.37x8.5_11X17 FW
2up6x9_12.5x19 FW
2up6x6_12.5x19 FW
2up6.93x9.84_12.5x19 FW
2up6.75x9.75_11x17 FW

i have been at this shop for about a year and a half, i have already 500+ templates. i put FW, PB or SS at the end of the file becuase its easier most of the time to grab a similiar template and modify it from the finder.

pas