Fold patterns quickly create press-run sections with pre-numbered page grids. The default or planned sheet and page size are automatically applied, and you can change these properties on the fly, or rotate or flip the grid on the press sheet. 

A fold pattern describes the sequence of folds that the folding machine will apply. A standard set of fold patterns is included in the software, and you can create and store custom fold patterns. Although you cannot change the standard JDF fold patterns, you can save them under different names to suit your operations.

Each reusable fold pattern resource defines an imposition section's lay direction on the press sheet. By default, the lower-left corner is the reference point. You can flip the fold pattern to place the section's lay corner on the opposite side of the press sheet. You can also rotate the fold pattern before or after adding it to a press run, and define trims as needed for production.

Fold patterns provide dynamic flexibility in creating jobs:

• Add a fold pattern directly to a sheetfed or web press run, and then autogenerate duplications to build the Press Runs List for the product's run list.
• Select a fold pattern for an assembly part to set the default for its sections, and then change the selection for individual sections as needed.
• To duplicate fold patterns for use in a variable sheet position, duplicate an existing section by holding the Option/Alt key and dragging the section to the required location. The section's properties will be based on the original section; however, the duplicated section has its own position controls that you can access by right-clicking the section.
• Use the Layouts search function to quickly find a fold pattern, based on criteria such as page count, binding style, and name.
• Using fold patterns reduces the need for maintaining large collections of templates.
  • Use one fold pattern instead of multiple templates that are the same except for the page and sheet sizes.
  • The search function also makes it easy to find all the templates that use the same fold sequence.
• Use custom profiles to store default page and sheet sizes for frequently repeated jobs, or set the sizes on the fly for each job.

You can also change a fold pattern's pagination in a press-run section. When you select the Page Numbering tool, highlighting indicates all suitable candidates that can be used for page 1 without changing the fold pattern.

For specific bindery requirements, experienced users can define and store a content transformation with a custom fold pattern. Instead of changing template page orientation settings, you can flip and rotate the entire grid's pages relative to the binding edge, such as for calendars and right-bound books.

Fold information is included in JDF output, for use by JDF-enabled bindery equipment.