Versioning Guidelines
If your job calls for many versions of the same page (such as different addresses
and phone numbers for different regions), the cheapest way to go is to have a black
switchout plate. This assumes that the images are going to remain the same for all
versions and the only changes made will be to the black plate.
This procedure is much easier if you have a program that utilizes layers, such as
InDesign (any version) or Quark 6 or higher. Although it has layers, we do not recommend
using Adobe Illustrator for page layout purposes. It's an illustration program,
and doesn't handle layout-specific tasks as well as something built for that purpose.
Any images and text that are common to all versions should go on the base layer,
and switchout text should go on separate layers, using only black. The black must
overprint.
Once the pages are built, then print out the base layer only, with all switchout
text layers turned off. This will be a four-color file, either as separated PostScript
or composite PDF.
Then, turn off the base layer and print out each switchout layer individually in
the same manner as you printed the base layer, but this time only one color will
be printed, the black of the switchout text, which can then be merged with the base
in CTP. You will now have one file for each version,
plus one file for the base. You are now done.
If you do not have a program that uses layers (e.g., Quark 4 or 5), or decided not
to purchase Xpert Layers,
you must use a workaround:
Since you aren't using layers, it will get a bit confusing to start piling text
on top of text, so one way to avoid this is to build the base on the Master Page,
then create pages using that master, one for each version, plus one page for just
the base. All of the version text should be built using black, which must overprint.
Before printing, remove the master from the version pages so that only the version
text is showing. then print out each page (don't forget to print out the base as
well).
There are many different ways to do this to accomodate different situations, so
if you have any questions about this process, please .