Lesson 7. Page Layout and Printing

In this lesson, you will create an advertising page for Action Photos. In the process, you will learn to use FreeHand’s text editing tools as you work with imported text and create multicolumn text blocks. You will wrap the text around a graphic, check the spelling, and create text styles. Then you will learn how to set up your page for printing.

Although not designed to be a page layout application, FreeHand excels at creating one-page graphic-intensive documents. The ability to create multiple pages, each with a different page size, is a powerful feature of FreeHand, as you will learn in this lesson.

In this lesson, you will add a page to the corp_identity.fh11 file you created in Lesson 2 and design a data sheet for Action Photos. You will import text and add the camera logo and the film canister objects you created in previous lessons.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

In this lesson, you will:

• Align objects to the page

• Import text saved as RTF and ASCII files

• Use the Text Editor

• Create multicolumn text blocks

• Check the spelling in a document

• Wrap text around graphics

• Create and edit styles for text

• Export your document as a PDF file

• Check imported images

• Prepare files for output

• Print your document

APPROXIMATE TIME

This lesson takes approximately 2 hours to complete.

LESSON FILES

Media Files:
Lesson07Mediadatasheet.rtf
Lesson07Mediaphonenumber.txt
Lesson07Mediafilm_canister.fh11
Lesson07Mediacamera.fh11
Lesson07Mediaig_air.tif

Starting Files:
Lesson07Startcorp_identity_start.fh11

Completed Projects:
Lesson07Completedcorp_identity.fh11

Aligning Text to the Page

In Lesson 2, you created a document containing a postcard, a business card, and an envelope. You placed some headline text on the postcard without regard to its placement on the page. You’ve used the Align panel to align objects to each other, but you can also use it to align objects to the page. Perhaps you noticed the Align to Page check box on the Align panel. You’ll use the Align panel to align the text on the postcard in the next task.

1) Open your corp_identity.fh11 file. Select the headline text on the postcard page.

If you no longer have your file, you can use the corp_identity_start.fh11 file in the Start folder within the Lesson07 folder and save the file as corp_identity.fh11 in your Projects folder.

2) Choose Window > Align to open the Align panel. From the Vertical Alignment pop-up menu, choose Align Center, select the Align to Page check box, and then click Apply (Windows) or Align (Mac OS).

The text block is centered on the page.

3) Select the phone number and web address on the business card and repeat step 2 to align the text blocks to each other and to the page.

4) Save your file.

Importing Text

FreeHand can import either ASCII text files or Rich Text Format (RTF) files. ASCII text files are imported as plain text with no formatting. If you save a file from Microsoft Word as text only, you are saving your file as an ASCII file. RTF files are imported with the formatting intact. RTF files are actually text-only files, but they contain text codes that describe the formatting. You can also drag text from other applications if the other application supports the drag-and-drop text feature.

In the next task, you will add a new page to the corp_identity.fh11 file and then import some text saved as an RTF file and some text saved as an ASCII file.

1) Add a new letter-size page to your document. Change the measuring units to inches and add vertical ruler guides on the page at 1 and 7.5 inches. Add horizontal ruler guides on the page at 0.5, 6.25, 9, and 10 inches.

The vertical guides will serve as the left and right margins for this page, and the horizontal guides will help you position the text blocks on the page.

The horizontal guide at 10 inches is located toward the top of the page. If that seems backwards to you, look at the zero point of the rulers on the page. The zero point is the intersection of the zero measurement of both the horizontal and vertical rulers. In FreeHand, the default location of the zero point is the lower left corner of the page.

You can move the zero point by dragging the zero-point marker located at the upper left corner of the document window. The marker is visible only when the page rulers are visible. To return the zero-point marker to its default position, double-click the zero-point marker.

Moving the zero point is handy when you want to position objects on the page relative to another object on the page rather than to the page itself. For example, if you want an object 2 inches away from another object, you can move the zero-point marker to the side of the first object and then use the Object panel to position the second object exactly 2 inches away from the first.

For this task, you want the zero point at its default position. If you experimented with moving the marker, double-click it to return it to its default position.

2) Choose File > Import. From the Media folder within the Lesson07 folder, select the datasheet.rtf file; then click Open.

When you import a file, whether it is text or a graphic, the pointer changes to the corner cursor.

3) Move the pointer to the top guide on the page and drag to draw a small rectangle about 1 inch wide and 0.5 inch high.

When you release the mouse button, a portion of the imported text appears in the text block. The Link box contains a small circle, indicating that there is more text. You will link to another text block in the next step. Resize this text block so you see only the company name (Action Photos) and the tag line (“We capture the action, one frame at a time”). In the next step, you will link this text block to a new text block.

4) Select the Text tool and drag to draw another rectangle below the first text block, using the 9-inch horizontal guide to place the top of the text block and the left and right guides to set the width of the text block. Make the height of the text block about 2 inches.

When you drag with the Text tool, FreeHand creates a non-expanding text block with the width and height you specified by dragging.

5) Hold down the Shift key and select the first text block so that both text blocks are selected. Drag from the Link box of the first text block to the empty text block you just created.

As you drag from the Link box, a blue link line emerges from the box. Release the mouse button when the link line is within the second text block.

6) Draw another text block using the 6.25-inch guide to place the top of the text block and the left and right guides to set the width of the text block. Repeat step 5 to link this third text block to the second one.

You now have three linked text blocks on the page.

7) Resize the second text block so you can see only the text in italics. Resize the third text block until you see the remainder of the text.

Make sure that you drag a corner handle to resize the text block. Remember that the bottom handle adjusts the leading.

You now should have the company name and tag line in the first text block, the introductory paragraph in the second text block, and the remaining body text in the third text block.

Now you will import an ASCII file containing the company phone number and use the bottom guide to place the text.

8) From the Media folder within the Lesson07 folder, import the phonenumber.txt file. Click to place the text at the bottom of the page.

This ASCII file contains a phone number and a web address. The original formatting of the text was lost when the file was saved as a text-only file in Microsoft Word. The text is formatted with the default FreeHand text style.

9) Change the phone number text block to Arial Black, 12 points. Use the guide at the bottom of the page to position this text block. Save your file.

You can use any font and size for this task. Arial Black is only a suggestion in this step.

Creating Multicolumn Text Blocks

For this document, you want two columns for the body of the text. You could resize the body text block and draw another text block next to it. Then you could link the text blocks by dragging the Link box to the new text block as you did in the previous task. You could also create a two-column text block within the current text block. The method you choose depends on the text and the design of the page. For example, if you want the two columns of text to be staggered vertically, you will need to create two separate text blocks so you can position the text columns independently. If you want both columns aligned at the top, then creating a multicolumn text block is the quicker and easier approach.

In this task, you will add another column to the existing text block and experiment with flowing the text.

1) Select the third text block.

This text block contains the body of the text that you want to divide into columns.

2) On the Object panel, select the Text property and then click the Rows and Columns button.

This panel displays options that let you create columns, rows, and tables.

3) In the Columns text box, type 2 and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the setting to the text block.

Your text block is divided into two columns, and the text flows to the second column. You could have just as easily created a three- or four-column text block.

The spacing between the columns (the gutter) is set to 0.25 inch. You can change that setting by entering a new number in the Spacing text box. For this example, the default setting should work fine.

4) In the Height text box, type 5 and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the setting.

Previously you adjusted the height of the text block by dragging a corner handle and viewing the results on the page. If you need a specific value, you enter it here.

Notice that the text fills the left column, and the remaining text flows to the right column; the text is not distributed equally. To balance the text columns, you could drag a corner handle of the text block until the length of the text is equal (or nearly equal) in both columns. FreeHand also has an option to balance the text columns automatically. You will select that option in the next step.

5) On the Object panel, click the Adjust Columns button. Select Balance.

The text is balanced between the two columns as closely as possible.

You can also manually control the column balance, if you prefer, as you do in the next step.

6) Deselect the Balance option. Using the Text tool, place the insertion point before the subhead “Digital or Conventional?” Choose Text > Special Characters > End of Column.

Inserting an end-of-column character at this point forces the text that follows it to move to the next linked text block or next column.

7) Make a copy of the camera logo from your postcard page in this document and paste it on this page.

Position the camera at the top right of the page and resize it as needed. You can import the camera.fh11 file from the Media folder within the Lesson07 folder if you no longer have your camera logo.

8) Save your file.

Using the Text Editor

The Text tool in FreeHand allows you to type text directly on the page and edit and format the text. Sometimes when you are entering text, you may want to see the hidden characters not normally visible. For example, you may want to see the end-of-column character you just inserted, or you may want to see the paragraph marks in the text. If you need or want to see these special characters, you can use the Text Editor.

In the previous task, you inserted the end-of-column character before the “Digital or Conventional?” subheading. Later you may decide to delete the character, or maybe you forget that you inserted it and want to determine why the text jumps to the next column. You can use the Text Editor to view the text and either delete the invisible character or verify its existence.

In this task, you will use the Text Editor to view the invisible characters in your text and delete any extra paragraph marks.

1) Select any text block with the Pointer tool.

Since all your text is linked, you can select any one of the text blocks; all of the text will appear in the editor.

2) Choose Text > Editor.

The Text Editor window opens displaying all of your text. The Text Editor displays your text in the actual font and point size, but you will not see paragraph attributes such as leading, alignment, or spacing.

3) Select Show Invisibles.

You now should see all of the paragraph marks, indicated by a backwards P, and the end-of-column character, indicated by an upward-pointing arrow.

Look for the end-of-column character in your text. It should be before the subheading “Digital or Conventional?”

4) Delete the end-of-column character, then click OK.

The end-of-column character created an awkward break in the text you don’t like.

5) Select the Balance option again to flow the text between the columns.

In a later task, you will flow this text around a graphic. Using the automatic balance option gives you better results. Check to make sure that there is not an extra return character at the end of this text.

Checking the Spelling

It’s late at night and you’ve been working all day to finish your project. Then you notice a misspelled a word on the page—or worse, all of the words on the page look misspelled to you! Here’s where FreeHand’s spell checker comes to the rescue. Although no spell checker can replace a good editor (thanks Judy and Joan), at least it can find those obvious errors.

The text you just imported contains some misspelled words, as you may have noticed when you imported the text. They were deliberately inserted so you can test the spell checker.

1) Select one of the text blocks containing the main body text.

You can use either the Text tool or the Pointer tool to select the text block.

2) Choose Text > Spelling. Click Setup and make any changes you want. When you are done, click OK.

The Preferences dialog box opens with the Spelling category selected. You can change the options here or leave them as they are. You can also pick the dictionary you want to use from the Dictionary pop-up menu.

3) Click Start to begin checking the spelling.

FreeHand highlights the first suspicious word on the page and displays alternative words to pick from. In this example, the correct spelling of the word is selected. If you want to use one of the other words in a list of alternatives, select it before proceeding with the next step.

4) Click Change to change the spelling of the word or click Ignore if the spelling is correct.

If you click Change All, all occurrences of the misspelled word are changed. If you click Ignore All, any other occurrences of the word are skipped.

5) Continue to check the remainder of the text block. Click OK to close the Finished dialog box and then close the Spelling window.

Flowing Text Around Graphics

At this point, all of the text you’ve placed on the page is contained within the rectangular boundaries of the text block. Occasionally, though, you may want to flow text around a graphic for a more interesting design. You may be familiar with this concept (sometimes called run-around) from page layout programs. Like these programs, FreeHand lets you run text around graphics, as you will see in this next task.

1) Import the film_canister.fh11 file you modified in Lesson 4 and place it on the pasteboard. Group all of the objects in the film canister.

If you no longer have your file, you can use the file in the Media folder within the Lesson04 folder. You are placing the canister on the pasteboard initially so that you can group the objects in the file if they are not grouped already.

2) Move the grouped film canister object to the middle of the two-column text block.

When you flow text around a graphic, the graphic needs to be in front of the text block. Because the film canister was imported after you placed the text on the page, it is already in front. However, you can’t flow text around a grouped object. But grouping the film canister makes it easier to manage if you need to move or resize it, so you don’t want to ungroup it, plus there is not one object in the film canister that defines the shape around the outside of the canister. To work around this problem, in the next step you will draw a shape around the film canister so you can flow the text around it.

3) Select the Pen tool or the Bezigon tool and draw a path around the film canister. Stay about a pica (1/8 inch) from the outside edge of the canister. Be sure to close the path.

The shape around the film canister will define the area around which the text will flow.

4) With the path selected, choose Text > Flow Around Selection. In the Flow Around Selection dialog box, click the flow-around icon (the right icon) and then click OK.

The text flows around the shape. Once you see how the text wraps, you may want to adjust the path. Drag a point on the path to change the shape, or click with the Pen tool to add a new point on the path.

In this example, you can change the gap between the text and the film canister by adjusting the path. Because you can adjust the gap, you did not need to enter any values in the Standoff text boxes in the Flow Around Selection dialog box. If you were using a shape that wasn’t grouped, then after you had applied Flow Around Selection to the shape, you would have to enter standoff values in the dialog box to adjust the gap.

Once you are satisfied with the text flow, you need to remove the stroke on the path. You don’t want the shape to show in the printed piece.

5) On the Object panel, select the Stroke property and then click the trash icon to remove the stroke on the path.

The flow-around path is now invisible.

Now you will add another graphic to the page and set the flow-around option on this graphic.

6) Import the big_air.tif file from the Media folder within the Lesson07 folder. Place the imported image to the left of the introductory paragraph (the second text block). Choose Text > Flow Around Selection.

Notice that you can flow text around this image without drawing another shape.

7) In the Flow Around Selection dialog box, click the flow-around icon. In the Right Standoff text box, type .25. Click OK.

The values you enter in the Standoff text boxes control the amount of spacing between the image and the text. In this example, the text appears only to the right of the image, so you need to enter standoff values only in the Right Standoff text box.

You can adjust the standoff amount and move the image around on the page to your liking. You may also need to adjust the height of the text block to display all the text in the paragraph.

Setting Raster Effects Resolution

In Lesson 6, “Adding Special Effects,” you explored some of the live raster effects you can apply to objects on a page. In this document, you just imported a photograph saved as a TIFF file. You can apply any of the raster effects to this image as well. Remember that a raster effect produces a bitmap image and will look best when rendered at the correct resolution for the intended output device. The page you are creating in this lesson is to be printed. To ensure that both the bitmap and the live effect you are going to apply are rendered properly, you need to set the resolution either for the document or for the image itself.

1) Select the big_air.tif image and add a stroke and a drop-shadow effect.

You may want to experiment with the settings for the drop shadow. For example, you can increase the shadow amount and lighten the color of the shadow. Notice that even though the image is an imported bitmap, you can still add a vector stroke to it.

2) With the image still selected, choose Raster Effects Settings from the Object panel’s Options menu. Deselect Use Document Raster Effects Resolution and then choose 300 ppi from the Resolution pop-up menu. Click OK to close the dialog box and click OK again if the warning dialog box appears.

Your resolution options are 72, 144, and 300 ppi. If you were exporting this page for use as a web page, you would choose 72 ppi. Since you are printing the document, you want a higher resolution, so you choose either 144 or 300. You can set the object’s resolution as you did here, or you can set the resolution for the document. To change the effects resolution for the document, you would choose File > Document Settings > Raster Effects Settings. Then you would enter the resolution you want for the entire document.

3) Save your file.

Working with Text Styles

When you look at the text in your document, you probably think about each paragraph as being some type of text. For example, in this document you have a headline (Action Photos), a tag line, an introductory paragraph, subheads, and body text. Each type of paragraph may have different formatting in your design.

Text styles are a means of storing the formatting attributes for each type of paragraph, making it easy to apply those attributes to other paragraphs in your document. Using text styles ensures that similar paragraphs are formatted exactly the same. You don’t have to remember whether you used 12-point text or 11-point text for the body text. You simply save the text style and then apply it to other paragraphs with a single click. You’ll appreciate text styles even more when you change your mind about your formatting. You can edit the style, and all of the text with that style applied will be reformatted automatically.

The easiest way to create a text style is to format a paragraph on the page using the Object panel. You can see the formatting as you apply it to the text and make any changes if you are not happy with the results. Then you can create a new style based on that paragraph.

In this task, you will format some text and create a style. Then you will apply the style to another paragraph on the page. In a later task, you will edit some styles to globally change the text.

1) Select the word Background in the text. Change the font and the point size. For example, change the font to Arial Black, 12 points.

This text, along with the text “Digital or Conventional?,” are subheads. You want both of them to be formatted the same.

2) Choose Window > Styles to open the Styles panel. From the Styles panel Options menu, choose Compact List View.

You could also click the Styles tab in the Assets panel group to access the Styles panel. The Compact list view and Large list view both display the name of your styles and are easier to use than the preview when working with text styles.

3) From the Styles panel Option menu, choose New.

A new style, Style-1, is added to the panel. The style contains the formatting for the selected text.

4) Double-click the Style-1 name on the panel and type subhead as the style name. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the name to the style.

It is always a good idea to rename your styles to indicate the type of paragraph each represents.

Once you have defined a text style, all you need to do is select it to apply it to other subheads in your document. In the next step, you’ll apply your new style to the other subhead.

5) Select the text Digital or Conventional?. On the Styles panel, click the subhead style.

The formatting attributes are applied to this text.

On Your Own

Format the first paragraph after the “Background” subhead. Repeat from step 3 to create a new style and name the style body. Apply that style to the other body paragraphs in the text. Create styles for the other types of paragraphs: the headline, tag line, and introductory paragraph.

You may be wondering if it is worth the time to create styles for paragraphs that occur only once. For example, this page has only one headline; should you create a style for the headline? Perhaps not in this case, but what if you decide later to add another page to your document and you want the text to look the same as on this page? If you’ve created styles for everything, with just a few quick clicks you can change the text on that page to match this page. You don’t have to jump back and forth between the pages making sure the formatting is the same.

Editing Text Styles

Once you create a style, you still can change the style’s formatting—you are not locked into the original definition. The power of styles is apparent when you make a change to a style. You need only change the style, and then all paragraphs with that style applied are automatically updated.

You can change a style either by example or by specification. In the previous task, you created a style by example. In this task, you will change the body text style by specification and then you will change the subhead style by example.

1) Using the Text tool, click within one of the body paragraphs.

The body style is selected on the Styles panel.

2) From the Styles panel Options menu, choose Style Behavior.

The Edit Style Behavior (Windows) or Edit Style (Mac OS) dialog box opens.

3) In the Edit Style dialog box, make a change to the paragraph definitions for the body style. For example, change the font size to 13 points. Make any other changes you want and then click OK.

All paragraphs with the body style are updated with your changes.

You have just changed a style by specification. Now you will change a style by example.

4) Select the word Background, which uses the subhead style, and make a formatting change.

For example, change the text to a blue color.

5) From the Styles panel Options menu, choose Redefine. Select subhead from the Redefine Style dialog box and then click OK.

FreeHand updates the style based on the character attributes you changed. All paragraphs defined with that style are updated as well.

6) Save your file.

Leave your document open; you will use this file in the next task.

Exporting as a PDF File

Adobe’s portable document format (PDF) is a popular solution for delivering cross-platform documents that preserve the design of your document. To view PDF files, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free from the Adobe web site, and it also comes on most new computer systems. Rarely these days do you find someone who hasn’t used PDF files. In fact, many service bureaus and commercial printers now accept PDF files for outputting your files. Your clients may not have FreeHand, but you can e-mail them PDF files from your FreeHand document during the approval stage instead sending them a printout; your clients can receive your design ideas in minutes rather than in days.

Note, though, that some effects won’t export to PDF files:

• Custom and PostScript fills and strokes, arrowheads, and textured fills

• Alpha channel transparency

• EPS images

• Text effects

• Overprinting. Overprinting applied to objects is turned off when you export to PDF

In this task, you will create a PDF file from your FreeHand document.

1) Choose File > Export. From the Save as Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS) pop-up menu, choose PDF. Save the file in your Projects folder and check the file name.

If you are using a Macintosh and added the file extension (.fh11) to your file name, FreeHand adds the .pdf extension to the end of the name, resulting in the name corp_identity.fh11.pdf. You probably don’t want the fh11 added to the file name, so delete it. On Windows platforms, the file extension (fh11) is replaced by the .pdf extension for you.

2) Click Setup.

The PDF Export dialog box offers these options:

Select a Color or Grayscale Image Compression option to compress images and reduce the file size. A higher compression setting yields a smaller file size but may reduce image quality. For print, choose little or no compression. For onscreen display, choose higher levels of compression to create small files that are easier to transmit and download.

Select a Convert Colors To option to maintain color consistency across applications: CMYK for standard CMYK output and color separations, RGB for use in Macromedia Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop, or CMYK and RGB for print applications with a PostScript RIP such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop 4 or later.

A PostScript raster image processor, or RIP, is a piece of software that converts vector art to pixels for display in a software application.

For Compatibility, select an Acrobat version to determine which additional options are available:

• Acrobat 4 converts gradients to PostScript 3 linear and radial gradients, and it converts envelopes as flattened vector graphics.

• Acrobat 3 and 4 support compressed text and graphics, ASCII text format, notes, URLs, and editable text format.

• Acrobat 2 supports ASCII format and editable text format.

• Acrobat 1 supports no options.

Select additional options, depending on the Acrobat version you selected:

Compress Text and Graphics compresses text and graphic elements in the PDF document (using the PostScript language imaging model). If you selected a Color or Grayscale Image Compression option in step 2, bitmap images are compressed.

ASCII Format PDF exports documents as 7-bit files, to prevent problems when PDF files are shared on older networks and e-mail systems. Deselect this option to export ASCII documents as 8-bit files.

Editable Text Format exports editable text with the PDF file. Select this option only if you plan to edit the document in FreeHand or Illustrator. FreeHand text blocks from breaking into several text blocks during export. When selected, this option produces a larger document. Deselect this option if your goal is screen and print output.

Export Notes exports as PDF comments any notes you added in the Note text block on the Navigation panel.

Export URLs exports URLs as rectangular hyperlinks.

Embed Fonts embeds TrueType and Type 1 fonts in the document.

3) Select Embed Fonts and any other desired options for your document; then click OK.

For this document, you can use the default settings in the PDF Export dialog box for the page range, image compression, and color conversion. The option to embed fonts is one you may want to select whenever you create PDFs. Although embedding fonts increases the file size of your document, it ensures that your document looks the way you designed it. If you don’t embed the fonts, your document may look drastically different to those people who don’t have the fonts you used.

4) If you want to open the PDF file immediately after it is created, select Open in External Application. Locate your copy of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader in the next dialog box. Click Save (Windows) or Export (Mac OS).

A PDF version of your document is created. If you selected Open in External Application, then Acrobat or Acrobat Reader is launched, and the PDF file is opened. Otherwise, just open the PDF file in the usual way to verify that all is as you intended.

Checking Your Links

When you import a bitmap graphic, SWF movie, or EPD file, by default the graphic or movie is linked, not embedded in your FreeHand document. FreeHand displays a low-resolution preview of the graphic within your document, but when you print the document, FreeHand uses the linked high-resolution graphic instead of the preview. FreeHand thus needs to know the exact location of the graphic file. If you change the location of a linked file, FreeHand asks you to locate the file when you open the FreeHand document.

If you prefer, you can choose to embed (or store) the graphic within your FreeHand document. The advantage to doing this is that you don’t have to keep track of the original file. If you transfer your files to a service bureau or someone else, you don’t have to worry about sending the linked files as well. The disadvantage is that your FreeHand file size increases. If you embed a high-resolution image with a large file size, you may also see a slowdown in FreeHand’s performance.

You can change your preferences to automatically embed imported images, or you can manually embed images. If you want to change your preferences, choose Edit > Preferences (Windows and Mac OS 9) or choose FreeHand MX > Preferences (Mac OS X) and click the Import tab (Windows) or select the Import category (Mac OS). Select the Embed images and EPS upon import option.

In this task, you will open the Links dialog box and manually embed the photograph you imported in your document.

1) Select the big_air.tif image. On the Object panel, click Links.

The Links dialog box opens displaying information about the linked file. You see the file name, the location of the file on your hard drive or network device, the file type (TIF, EPS, RBG, CMYK, and so on), the file size, and the page number where the file appears in your document.

You could also choose Edit > Links to display the same Links dialog box. The only difference is that when you use the Object panel, the file is selected in the dialog box.

2) Click Info and then click OK.

The Link Info dialog box opens showing you the complete path name of the file and the modification date. If you have a source file, you can click the folder icon and then locate that file. The source file is the original file. For example, if you have an imported JPEG image that you exported from Macromedia Fireworks, you would select the Fireworks PNG file as the source.

If you modify the linked image outside of FreeHand, the updated file is displayed in FreeHand when you reopen the FreeHand file. If you embed a file and then change it outside of FreeHand, you then need to click the Change button and relocate the updated image.

3) Click Embed.

The big_air.tif image is now embedded in your FreeHand file.

4) Click OK to close the Links dialog box; then save your file.

Collecting for Output

The TIFF image you imported into your document is a linked image. As mentioned earlier, this means that a low-resolution preview of the image is imported into your FreeHand document. When you print your document, FreeHand sends the high-resolution image to the printer instead of the preview image. That works fine when you print from your computer, but if you use another computer to print your file, or if you send your file to a service bureau or a commercial printer, you need to remember to also send the external, linked file.

This document has only one linked file, so including this file would not be difficult. But what if you send your document to a printer a few months after you create it. Will you remember that it must include the linked file? Or what if your document contains several linked files that are stored in different locations on your hard drive or server? Will you remember to include those as well?

FreeHand offers two solutions for managing your linked files. In the previous task, you explored the Links dialog box. In this task, you will look at the Collect for Output feature. If you are familiar with page layout programs, you may have used a similar command before.

1) Choose File > Collect for Output.

If you haven’t saved your file, FreeHand warns you and asks if you want to save the file. Click OK to save the file. You next will see an alert reminding you that fonts are copyrighted and that you should check your font license before sending copies of your fonts to service bureaus.

2) Click OK to close the font license alert dialog box.

The Document Report window appears. This is where you select the options you want to include in the report for this document. Notice that you can list all imported graphics, fonts, and colors. This information can be useful to your service bureau or commercial printer.

When you select a report category, the window displays the options available for that category.

3) In the Document Report window, leave the category set to Document and use the default Document options; then click OK (Windows) or Report (Mac OS).

A save dialog box appears asking for a location for all the files needed to output this FreeHand document. Typically, you select a disk or folder for the files.

4) Create a new folder within your Projects folder. Name the folder Output. Open that folder, type Report as the report name, and then click Save.

Collect for Output saves the report as a text file and makes a copy of your FreeHand document. Any fonts and linked graphics are copied and saved in the folder as well.

Printing Your Document

Once you complete your document, you will want to print your work. You can print from the PDF file you created, or you can print directly from FreeHand. If you are sending your PDF file for output, you should first print the PDF file yourself to make sure it prints correctly. In fact, it is a good idea to print your PDF file from another computer, if possible. That way, you can verify that you’ve included everything in the PDF file. For example, if you have unique fonts on your machine and did not embed them in the PDF file, your file may not print correctly on another machine. You can then fix the problem before sending the file to a client or service bureau.

FreeHand is designed to take advantage of PostScript printers and high-resolution output devices, but you can print to just about any printer, even if it is not a PostScript printer. Depending on your printer, the choices and look of the Print dialog box may differ.

1) Choose File > Print to display the Print dialog box. From the Printer pop-up menu, choose your printer.

If you are using a Macintosh, you will need to choose FreeHand MX from the Print Options pop-up menu.

A variety of common print options are available. For example, you can choose to print one page or a range of pages if you have a multiple-page document.

2) From the Print Setting pop-up menu, choose a print quality.

If you’re using a PostScript printer, choose Quality PS Level 2. If you don’t have a PostScript printer, choose Normal instead.

3) Click Advanced to display the Print Setup dialog box. Verify that Composite is selected.

Print Setup enables you to customize the settings for this print job. The preview window on the left shows you how your document will print with the current settings. On the right are three tabbed panels: Separations, Imaging, and Paper Setup.

The Separations panel controls the way that colors are printed in your document. With a composite image, all colors print on the same page: if you print to a color printer, the document prints as you see it on the screen, depending on the quality of your printer; if you print to a black-and-white printer, your colors appear as grayscale values. Composite is the default selection in the dialog box. If you select Separations, each ink color in your document prints on a separate page. This is the setting used by commercial printers or service bureaus to create separate plates (or film) for each ink color. Normally, a service bureau will select the options needed to print separations, so you don’t need to set these.

For this example, you will print the page with your postcard. If you don’t have a PostScript printer, you can skip the remaining steps.

4) From the Page pop-up menu in the Print Setup dialog box, choose Page 1.

This is the page that contains your postcard. That page is smaller than a letter-sized page; so that you can see its edges, you will display crop marks in the next step.

5) Click the Imaging tab; then in the Labels and Marks area, select Crop Marks. Deselect the other options in this area if they are selected.

You should see dashed lines around the image in the preview panel, indicating the edges of the postcard page.

The Imaging tab also contains an option that allows you to include hidden layers in the printed output. In this document, you don’t have any hidden layers, so it doesn’t matter whether that option is selected or not.

6) Click the Paper Setup tab. From the Paper Size pop-up menu, choose the paper size, and for Orientation, select Automatic.

Here is where you select your paper size and page orientation. If you select Automatic for the orientation, FreeHand determines the optimum orientation based on the size of the pages in your document, the printer you select, and the paper size. If you deselect Automatic, you can choose either Tall or Wide as the page orientation.

7) Click OK to close the Print Setup dialog box. If you want to print this page, in the Print Range area, select Pages, and in the Pages text box, type 1. Otherwise, click Cancel to close the dialog box.

You could also select All as the Print Range to print all of the pages in this document.

8) Save your file.

What You Have Learned

In this lesson, you have:

• Aligned objects to the page (pages 202–203)

• Imported RTF and ASCII text files and placed them on the page (pages 203–209)

• Created a multicolumn text block for a two-column layout (pages 209–212)

• Used the Text Editor to display invisible characters (pages 212–214)

• Checked the spelling in the document (pages 215–216)

• Flowed text around graphics (pages 217–220)

• Set the raster effects resolution for printing (pages 220–221)

• Created and edited text styles and applied them to paragraphs (pages 222–225)

• Exported a document as a PDF file (pages 226–228)

• Checked imported images in the Links dialog box (pages 229–231)

• Prepared files for output using Collect for Output (pages 231–232)

• Printed a document (pages 233–237)