When you place documents into FolderMill's Hot Folder, the program processes all incoming files by default. However, you can pick certain documents and leave out the others — those which don't meet the criteria you've set. If you want certain files to be processed differently in the same Hot Folder, use Actions based on filters.
These Actions can include or exclude files from processing depending on file name or page size. Filter-based Actions should be used in combination with other Actions, such as Print Document, Convert to Image, Convert to PDF, in order to take effect.
If your work is related to design or engineering, technical documentation, CAD / CAE / CAM systems, and you print a lot, this Action may be very useful. It allows you to assign different tasks depending on a type of document with the help of pre-defined paper size filters. Send A4-sized support documentation to a regular MFP (AIO) printer, drawings and images to a large scale printer, and plot your A1 AutoCAD drawing — to a plotter. If you wish to keep a copy of your printouts on your PC, just add another Action, which would copy processed files to a specific folder or, for example, convert DWG to TIFF or to another format.
Filter by page size Action menu lets you set Action parameters according to document's page size dimensions with operators "greater", "less", "equal", and more.
This Action gives you a great variety of processing options. You can send certain documents to different printers and/or printer trays, or convert them to image or PDF, copy, rename files, add a watermark or run a script file for selected documents only.
How to use Filter by page size Action
- Create a new Hot Folder;
- Create a new Action Set;
- Select Filter by page size Action;
- Set page dimensions, e.g., <, > or = and A4 format;
- Add another Action, e.g., Convert to PDF or Print document as a primary Action;
- Click Apply changes;
- Start file processing by pressing the Start button.
Filter by page size lets you define page dimensions using operators:
| equal to (=) | equal to selected paper size or Width x Height |
| greater than (>) | greater selected paper size or than Width x Height |
| greater than or equal to (≥) | greater or equal to selected paper size or Width x Height |
| less than (<) | less than selected paper size or Width x Height |
| less than or equal to (≤) | less or equal to selected paper size or Width x Height |
You can set a custom size (Width x Height) or select a pre-defined page size like A4 or Letter.
The list of available formats includes the most popular page formats, but if you need to use a format, which is not present here, you can select Custom. Width and Height can be specified in millimetres (mm), centimetres (cm) or inches (inch).
Select filter mask
You can select:
- Process only documents —- documents will be passed on to the following Action and processed accordingly;
- Process all documents except those — documents will not be passed on to the next Action and will be sent to the Processed subfolder.
Combine two or more page size filters together
If you need to set, for example, a strict range of documents based on page size, you can simply set up a delta via two Filter by page size Actions. It may be very useful especially when it comes to printing. For instance, high-quality photographs may be sent to a compact photo printer, whereas regular A4-A3 sized documents — to an MFP (multifunction printer) or all-in-one printer, and all other larger files — to a plotter.
Below is an example of how you can set it up: add page format ranges or certain page formats to be included or excluded for processing — within a separate Action set. For example:
- documents less or equal to A4 format go to MFP Printer
- documents greater than A4 and up to A3 format go to A3 Printer
- all other documents greater than A3 go to Plotter
Don't forget to add a final Action at the end of the Action Set (e.g., Print Document Action).
You can make your own variations and combine several filters in order to find the best solution for your document flows. If you have any difficulties or questions on filtering files by mask, please don't hesitate to contact us.