Printing Variable Data Documents With Freeform; How Freeform Works - Toshiba GA-1040 Operator's Manual

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3-12 Special Features

Printing variable data documents with FreeForm

Variable data printing is typically used for direct-mail advertising or other targeted
mailings. It involves combining a set of master elements that are common across copies
of a document with a set of variable elements that change from copy to copy. An
example is a brochure that greets customers by name and may include other personal
information about the customer obtained from a marketing database. Background
elements, illustrations, and text blocks that do not change across copies of the brochure
comprise the master elements. The customer's name and other customer-specific
information comprise the variable elements.
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The FreeForm option must be installed on the GA-1040 to use FreeForm.
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How FreeForm works

The basic premise of FreeForm variable data printing is that the master-element data
for the job can be sent to the GA-1040 and rasterized separately from the variable-
element data. The master-element data is stored on the GA-1040 in prerasterized form
as a FreeForm Master, and can be used as often as needed with multiple sets of
variable-element data. Because the FreeForm Master job is preRIPped and stored on
the GA-1040, the only RIP time required for variable data print jobs is the time
needed to RIP the variable-element data. In fact, FreeForm Masters can be used for any
fixed-element data that you might combine with different data from day to day. For
example, a letterhead template can be stored as a FreeForm Master and used repeatedly
as the background for different letter content (the variable-element data).
FreeForm allows you to create the master-element and variable-element documents
using any application you wish. The two documents can be created using different
applications, or even different computer platforms. To create the master-elements
document, you can use a page layout or graphics application. To create the variable-
elements document, you can use a word processing application that has a mail merge
feature, a page layout application that supports scripting, or a database application.
FreeForm functions are controlled with two print options: Create Master and Use
Master. You can set these options in the printer driver when you send a job, or you can
instruct the operator to set them with job overrides from the Command WorkStation,
or Fiery WebSpooler.