Advanced calculator tools

The calculator gives you a price in seconds — you saw that on day one. This guide goes a step further: the tools you reach for when the job has a cover, several PDFs, numbering, or needs a press-ready imposition sheet.

A cover with its own machine and paper

On Booklet and Perfect Bound jobs, the Cover is a separate piece of the costing: you pick a Cover machine and Cover paper independently of the body, with its own print sides and its own imposition sheets. Classic example: a 64-page body on 115gsm silk on the offset press, cover on 300gsm on the digital machine with lamination. The breakdown shows the Cover cost on its own, so you see what each part costs you.

If you've linked a multi-page PDF, the pages split automatically: the cover takes the first and last pages, the body gets everything in between. On Perfect Bound, the cover is laid out as a spread with the spine.

Gang Run in practice

Gang Run puts several different jobs on the same sheet so they share the setup. Add job opens a line per job, each with its own copies — how many times it needs to be printed. To place the PDFs, either use the picker (click the job, then click the cells it should take) or click any cell to change which job sits there — and click again for the back side on duplex work. Link a multi-page PDF and it splits into jobs automatically, one page each.

The Gang Run Summary shows copies, pages and sheets per job — and when it all doesn't fit on one sheet, the imposition spreads across multiple sheets and the export includes them all.

Cut & Stack numbering

Set the range in Numbering from – to — say 1–500 — and the quantity follows by itself. Stack order decides how the numbers run through the positions: Row, Column or Snake; below the layout you see exactly which numbers each position gets (#A1 1–250, #A2 251–500). Then switch on Numbering: prefix (e.g. "NO."), Digits, Size (pt), Rotation, font, black or red. Drag the number into place right on the canvas. What you see on the canvas — position, size, angle — is exactly what comes out in the PDF.

PDF pages — print only what you need

With a multi-page PDF linked, a PDF pages field appears: type 1-4 or 1,5 and only those pages go into the imposition. On duplex, page 1 is the front and page 2 the back.

Linked PDF — dimensions fill themselves in

Link file attaches a PDF to the item: PressCal reads dimensions, page count, bleed and trim straight from the file, and shows the actual artwork inside the imposition on the canvas. When the customer sends a new version, Reload file picks it up.

Saving into a quote — and recalculating

Save turns the costing into a quote line — a new quote or the one you're already working in. From there, Add another item or Open the quote. Reopen the item later and everything comes back the way you left it: machine, paper, imposition, every setting. Change the quantity, hit Save, and the line's price is rewritten. Back exits to the quote without saving anything.

PDF export and crop marks

On the Marks tab you choose whose crop marks print: File Crop Marks (the default) trusts the marks already in the artwork; PressCal Crop Marks is for files that arrive without marks — PressCal draws its own on the trim line. You can add a Color Bar too. Export goes to Download (Downloads) or straight into the job's PressCal Folder; for very heavy files, Export via PressKit renders them without choking the browser. The same rule applies here as well: the canvas preview is the sheet that will print.