Earlier we discussed setting up each Product Master in SAFE for Imprint Orders in Ollie. We also said that in addition to setting up the fields for imprinting in SAFE, you will also actually need to create the Adobe PDF which acts as the container into which the fields are filled.
The PDF format is, of course, the industry standard and justly so! The PDF format provides resolution up to 2400 DPI making it suitable even for ultra-high resolution artwork. And since the PDF form-fill documents (from here on referred to as PDF Templates) can accommodate virtually any type of document you can offer your Users the ability to order virtually any type of document.
Ollie will place the end-user’s variable data (name, address, city, phone numbers, etc.) into the PDFs, using it’s fonts and colors, creating an essentially ‘finished’ piece of artwork that the user can preview onscreen and which can later be automatically forwarded to your manufacturer.

Installing PDF Templates On Your Server

In order to generate PDF Previews, you must install the PDF Templates on your Ollie server.
Remember: the template is a version of the final artwork without the variable data (name, address, street, etc.) which will be replaced for the final preview that your User will see (and that will be sent to manufacturing when you generate a SAFE purchase order.)
PDF Templates should be installed as follows:
· They must be named exactly the same as the Product ID to which they will be assigned.
For example, if the Product ID you wish to preview is called 12345BUSCARD then the name of the Preview Template file should also be 12345BUSCARD (the extension depends on which preview type you use below.)
· All Preview Template files should be stored in the PUBLIC folder of your Ollie Server, along with your thumbnail graphic files.

Creating PDF Templates

You will create your PDF Templates using any software which can generate Acrobat PDF
compatible documents and which supports form-fill fields. We recommend that you stick with
Adobe’s Acrobat for the sake of compatibility. The procedure is:
1. Using Acrobat (or other PDF creation software) create a PDF version of your form. You should set the following Document Options in your PDF:
· On Page Close: Reset All Form Fields

· Hide ToolBar and Window Options

If you do not set these options, the end user may accidentally modify your template PDF!

2. Using Acrobat, place individual fields on the form exactly where you would like the text replacement to occur. In the ‘Default Value’ for each field, use the names in the appropriate places on the PDF. Each of these names should be entered as follows
#IMPRINTLINE1#
#IMPRINTLINE2#
#IMPRINTLINE3#
…etc. And they should be entered in the order in which they are displayed on screen in
SAFE in the Product Template Browse for that Product.
3. Name your PDF MYPRODUCTID.PDF. For example, if the Product ID you wish to preview is called 12345BUSCARD, then the Preview Template file should be named
12345BUSCARD.PDF
4. Place the file in the PUBLIC folder for the customer.
AN EXAMPLE
A PDF Template might start out looking something like this:

And then, after you enter your form fields using Acrobat it looks like this:

User Esther Mater then goes into Ollie and enters the following fields into the Imprint Order screen:

And then when she presses the PDF Preview button, she sees the following preview in Ollie:

Output Files In Ollie

When the user saves their Imprint Order, Ollie generates a special file with the extension .FDF.
The file name will be:
CONTACTID+PRODUCTID.FDF.
So for example, if the Product ID you wish to preview is called 12345BUSCARD, and the
User’s Contact ID is 48023 then the generated Preview will be named:
4802312345BUSCARDANNE06.FDF.
If you recall, this file is stored in customer’s PUBLIC folder. The FDF file contains the imprint information and a link to the original PDF Template, which never leaves your server.
When users click on the PDF Preview button in Ollie, they are opening this FDF file which, through the ‘magic’ of Adobe PDF Forms displays the filled-in PDF. To your users, this looks and just as importantly, prints exactly as if the PDF had been generated just for them—because, in a way, it has!
E-MAIL OPTIONS FOR FDFs
If your E-mail is so configured, this FDF will be automatically attached to the confirming E-mail
a user receives when the order is placed.
When you generate and e-mail a purchase order to your vendor, this same FDF is attached to their P.O. which they can also open and use to print directly from.
CLEAN-UP
It is not necessary to keep old FDF files since they are re-generated for each new order.
Therefore, if disk space is at a premium it is perfectly alright to delete FDFs after their order has been processed.

Some DA’s may archive these as they act as proof of a User’s data entry in case of disputes over such things as typos.