About rules for APA

• Page assignment and geometry assignment instructions are independent. You can use either or both in an APA file.
• In each page assignment instruction, you can use either the page set name or the page set prefix name.

• To express page names, you can either specify them explicitly or use wild cards and pattern matching. For example:

  Refined file name	Explanation
  Front.p1.pdf	Names the page explicitly
  .p2.pdf	wild card matches letters in the page name
  .p .pdf	wild card matches letters, then wild card matches numbers in the page name
  .p.pdf	wild card matches either letters or numbers. wild card matches the page number and uses it as a back reference to the page position.

• To assign a page to the same position in every page set, use a wild card for the page set name/prefix. For example:

  Refined file name	Page set name/prefix	Position	Layer
  Book.p1.pdf		1	1

• To make a back reference to the page set name page set prefix, position number, or layer number, use a pattern in the page name. For example:

  Refined file name	Page set name/prefix	Position	Layer
  .p1.pdf		1	1
  Page.p.pdf	pageset1		1

• To indicate page position, use simple addition and subtraction expressions. For example:

  Refined file name	Page set name/prefix	Position	Layer
  Cover.p.pdf	8-up	+ 25	1

• To assign one page to several positions, use the All Positions ( * ), Contiguous (..), and Noncontiguous (,) page position wild cards. You must type these wild card characters using your keyboard; no buttons are available. For example:

  Refined file name	Page set name/prefix	Position	Layer
  6x9Page.p1.pdf	OneFileToAllPgPostitions	*	1
  4x5Page.p1.pdf	OneFileToContigRange	1..5	1
  4x10Page.p1.pdf	OneFileToNonContigRange	5,10,20,30	1

• To use a geometry setting from the input file, include Mixed for that column in the Geometry Assignments view in the APA Editor. In a raw APA file, include empty square brackets [ ] for that parameter in the GEOM= statement.

  File Name	file.p1.pdf
  Offset X	-36 pt
  Offset Y	-36 pt
  Trim Size X	Mixed
  Trim Size Y	Mixed
  ScaleX	1
  ScaleY	1
  Orientation	0

• Layer number is relevant only for versioning jobs. The base layer is layer 1. For non-versioning jobs, type 1.
• Avoid using the characters *, %, #, and $ in filenames. Those are wild card characters in APA text file syntax.

Legend

  Match Letters

Match letters (a-z, A-Z) in the page filename. For example .p1.pdf matches filenames Book.p1.pdf, Front matter.p1.pdf, and JobXYZ.p1.pdf.
You can also specify the number of characters that this wild card will match.
To verify the number of characters that will be matched, move the cursor over the icon and check the length that is listed.

  Match Digits

Match numbers (0-9) in the page filename. For example .p.pdf matches filenames 12345.p1.pdf, 05282003.p2.pdf, and 01.p165.pdf. 
You can also specify the number of characters that this wild card will match.
To verify the number of characters that will be matched, move the cursor over the icon and check the length that is listed.

 Match Either

Match letters or numbers (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) in the page filename. For example .p.pdf matches filenames 12345.p1.pdf, ABCDE.p2.pdf, Book cover99.p76.pdf, Book052803.p205.pdf. 
Note: .p.pdf matches the same filenames.

You can also specify the number of characters that this wild card will match.
To verify the number of characters that will be matched, move the cursor over the icon and check the length that is listed.

 This Position

Indicates that this part of the page name is the same as the page position to which the page will be assigned. 
For example if you enter Book.p.pdf, a matching wild card  is inserted in the Position column. Book.p1.pdf is assigned to position 1, Book.p2.pdf is assigned to position 2, and so on.

 This Page Set (Page Set Assignment mode only)

Indicates that this part of the page name is the same as the name of the page set or page set prefix to which the page will be assigned. 
For example, if you enter .p1.pdf, a matching wild card  is inserted in the Page Set Name/Prefix column. Book.p1.pdf would be assigned to the Book page set.

 All Page Sets (Page Set Assignment mode only)

Assigns the page to the designated page position in all sets in the job.

 This Product (Run List Assignment mode only)

Indicates that this part of the page name is the same as the name of the product.
For example, if you enter .p.pdf, a matching wild card  is inserted in the Product Run List column. If your product is Book, page Book.p1.pdf will be assigned to position 1 in the Book run list, page Book.p2.pdf will be assigned to position 2 in the Book run list and so on.

 All Products (Run List Assignment mode only)

Assigns the page to the designated page positions in the run lists of all the products.

 This Part (Run List Assignment mode only)

Indicates that this part of the page name is the same as the name of the part.
For example, if you enter .p.pdf, a matching wild card  is inserted in the Part Run List column. If your part is Cover, page Cover.p1.pdf will be assigned to position 1 in the Cover run list, page Cover.p2.pdf will be assigned to position 2 in the Cover run list and so on.

 All Parts (Run List Assignment mode only)

Assigns the page to the designated page positions in the run lists of all the parts.