PDF Layers

Custom PDF layers (also known as “Optional Content Groups”) are defined in the template definition:

<layers>
  <layer name="Barcode" />
  <layer name="Cutmarks" visibility="fulfillment" separate-file="true" />
</layers>

The only required attribute of the <layer> element is name.

The <layer> element supports these additional attributes:

• visibility: allowed values are on (default), off and fulfillment . The fulfillment value means that the layer is visible on files generated for production, but is toggled off in the design tool and on previews.

• separate-file: allowed values are false (default) and true. When set to true, the layer will be fulfilled to a separate file when generating files for production.

• filename: Ignored unless separate-file is true. When fulfilling to a separate file, the filename of the file containing the layer will by default equal “{base_name}_{layer_name}.{extension}”. For example if the main file is named pages1.pdf, and we’re using a “Cutmarks” layer as defined above, the accompanying layer file will be named pages1_Cutmarks.pdf by default. If you want to use a different file name, specify it with this attribute. If you want to fulfill multiple layers to the same PDF file, you need to give them the same filename. Standard placeholders are supported: %prod_code%, %order_code%, %barcode%.

Once the layers are defined in the template definition, you can assign elements to them using the admin design tool.

Update: Ability to fulfill PDF layer to a separate page within the same PDF file

• We’ve had support for fulfilling PDF layers to a separate file for a while now. You instruct layer to fulfill to a separate file by specifying separate-file="true" on the <layer> definition.

• Now you can set up a layer to fulfill to a separate page in the same PDF file by specifying separate-page="true".

• When using separate-page="true", the layer is fulfilled to pages that are appended to the back of the PDF file.

• For example, if you have a 3-page product that fulfills to a 3-page PDF, and you add a layer with name="Foil" and separate-page="true", the product will now fulfill to a 6-page PDF where the first three page represent the base layer, and the last 3 represent the “Foil” layer.

Update: Ability to skip pages when fulfilling a PDF layer to a separate file or page

• By default when you set up a PDF layer that fulfills to a separate file or page, every page in the product is fulfilled to the separate layer, even pages that don’t contain any elements from that layer.

• For example, if you have a 3-page product and you define a <layer name="Foil" separate-file="true"/>, the project will fulfill to two 3-page PDFs. If only the first page contains foil elements, the last two pages in the fulfilled PDF representing the foil layer will be blank.

• You can now specify the layers that should fulfill as separate pages/files on each <page> element in the template definition with separate-layers="...".

• If the page should not generate any separate layers, you can set separate-layers="".

***PRO TIP: Layers can also be used to help with creting designs. Once setup they can be used as layers like you have in Photoshop, where you can toggle layer visibility on/off. This can help greatly to access elements that are on different layers.