User Interface

There are two ways you can run Imposition Wizard: as a standalone application or as Adobe Acrobat plugin. In both cases you end up with the same user interface, but the initial steps are different. We’ll start from that and then move on to the user interface itself.

Standalone Mode

This is the simplest way to run the application. On Mac you simply click its icon in the Applications folder, on Windows you run it using the Start menu. You will see the welcome screen:

Now you need to drag and drop a PDF file into the Imposition Wizard window, or use File → Open PDF… menu item to load a PDF file manually. Once done you can skip to the Main Window section below.

Acrobat Plugin Mode

In this mode Imposition Wizard is started from Adobe Acrobat. Run Acrobat and load a PDF file there. Then click Imposition v3 menu item and select Impose…. You will see Imposition Wizard starting up and loading the document you have in Acrobat, then finally the main window of the software appears.

Main Window

The main window of Imposition Wizard is shown below:

The user interface is the same for both standalone and plugin modes, the only difference is when you generate the output PDF file the standalone version will ask for a PDF file name, while the plugin version will make a new document in Acrobat.

The main part of the window is the preview area — that’s where you see the output document with the layout you configured. There is a toolbar at the top and parameters panels at the right.

Toolbar

The toolbar has 3 blocks of controls:

From left to right:

• One/Two Pages — switch between the single page and spread views;
• Zoom — the buttons in the middle control the zoom of the preview area;
• Generate PDF — lets you generate the output PDF of the configured layout.

Right Panel

The panel at the right has 4 tabs where you configure the imposition layout. It also has the Presets button at the bottom that lets you save and load such layouts:

From left to right the tabs are:

• Source — lets you customize source page scale and bleeds;
• Layout — lets you select the imposition layout and configure its parameters;
• Sheet — here you can configure the output sheet parameters;
• Marks — controls crop marks, color bars, custom texts and so on.

See other tutorials for more information about each tab.

The Presets button at the bottom shows the list of presets that is explained here.

Using Imposition Wizard

Once the document is loaded, you usually go through all the tabs from left to right and configure the parameters according to your needs. Or simply load the preset that has everything set up already.

When the layout looks as expected, you click Generate PDF and get the output document as it is displayed in the preview.

More Imposition Wizard Tutorials

Installation

• Installation — how to install Imposition Wizard;
• License Activation — how to activate Imposition Wizard with a license key;
• Acrobat Plugin Problems — what to do if the plugin doesn’t work.

Basics

• User Interface — how to run Imposition Wizard and make the first steps;
• Pages Grid — how pages are placed across the sheets in Imposition Wizard;
• Presets — how to save and re–use imposition layouts.

Layouts

• N–Up — a very simple, yet customizable layout;
• Step and Repeat — perfect layout for business cards;
• Cut Stack — flexible layout with pages flow options;
• Booklet — lots of options for fine–tuning the imposition process;
• Shuffle — manual imposition mode where you control the flow;
• Dutch Cut — save paper by printing more pages on the same sheet.

Imposition Parameters

• Source Panel — overriding trim box and bleeds, pages scaling;
• Page Gaps — configuring gaps between pages;
• Sheet Panel — output sheet size, content position and more;
• Duplex Printing — duplex printing support;
• Registration Marks — adding and configuring marks, custom texts etc;
• Flipping Rules — how to flip pages in most layouts.

Registration Marks

• Angle Mark — angle mark for image drift compensation;
• Barcode — encoding job details with barcodes;
• Bull Eye — placing bull eye marks around the pages;
• Color Bar — adding color bars to imposed files;
• Crop Marks — configuring crop marks for easier trimming;
• Custom Mark — adding ad–hoc graphics where needed;
• Custom Text — adding text elements with imposition details;
• Gap Crop Marks — adding crop marks in the middle of the page gaps;
• Folding Marks — marking the middle of booklet spreads;
• Star Target — placing star target marks around the pages;
• Trim Line — marking page boundaries to simplify trimming;

Automation

• Batch Processing — impose multiple files at once;
• Hot Folders — monitor folders and run imposition on changes.

Advanced

• Translation — translate Imposition Wizard to your language.

Command Line

• Basic Imposition — basic command line imposition example.