An image search path specifies the location of a job's high-resolution images. These paths tell the system where to search for referenced images.

Image search paths apply only when:

• Images are not embedded inside input files. You do not use image search paths when images are embedded inside input files.
• The input files have OPI comments
• The input files have not yet been processed
• OPI is enabled by selecting the Search for High-Resolution Images in Image Search Paths check box in the Fonts and Images section of the refine process template

If a job uses images in multiple folders, add an image search path for each folder and then specify the order in which you want the system to search the folders.
You can copy an image search path from an existing job when you create the job or after it is created.

How Prinergy searches for images

When searching for image files, Prinergy uses the following information:

• The location of the input PostScript file
• The path and file name content of each OPI comment
• The user-specified image search path from the Image Search Paths dialog box

If you use multiple image search paths, the list of search paths in the Image Search Paths dialog box determines the order in which they are searched. In other words, the system searches the paths starting at the top of the list in the Image Search Paths dialog box. Click the Move Up and Move Down buttons in the Image Search Paths dialog box to rearrange the order of the search paths. See the example below.

To control the search, you can:

• Determine whether Prinergy searches the subfolders of image search paths by selecting or clearing the Search Subfolders check box in the Image Replacement area of the Fonts and Images section of the process template. Prinergy searches the subfolders in alphabetical order, and searches all immediate subfolders before looking deeper. See the example below.
• Ignore certain types of images by selecting the Skip Images With These Suffixes check box and specifying the file extensions that you want the search to omit.
• Determine whether the refine process continues if an image is not found by selecting or clearing the Failing on missing images check box in the Fonts and Images section in the refine process template.

Example of searching multiple folders

Given the following conditions:

• A Macintosh share (used when writing the PostScript file) named MacVolume1 at \\NT1\Share1\Folder1
• The input PostScript file is located at \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\Folder2\PostScriptFile.ps
The Macintosh computer sees this location as MacVolume1:Folder2:PostScriptFile.ps
• One of the images used in the PostScript file is located at \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\ImageFolder\Image.eps
The Macintosh computer sees this location as MacVolume1:ImageFolder\Image.eps
• The PostScript file contains the OPI comment: %ALDImageFileName: MacVolume1:ImageFolder:Image.eps
• The Image Search Paths dialog box in Workshop contains the following image search paths:
  \\NT2\Share2\Folder3\Folder4\ImageFolder2
\\NT1\Share1\Folder1

Prinergy uses the following path names, in the order indicated, to find Image.eps:

• The same directory as the input PostScript file: \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\Folder2\Image.eps
• The first image search path: \\NT2\Share2\Folder3\Folder4\ImageFolder2\Image.eps
• The second image search path: \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\Image.eps
• The same directory as the input PostScript file, with the %ALDImageFileName path: \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\Folder2\ImageFolder\Image.eps
• The first image search path, with the %ALDImageFileName path: \\NT2\Share2\Folder3\Folder4\ImageFolder2\ImageFolder\Image.eps
• The second image search path, with the %ALDImageFileName path: \\NT1\Share1\Folder1\ImageFolder\Image.eps

Example of Searching Subfolders

This diagram shows the search order if the search path was set to the images folder. The numbers indicate the order in which Prinergy encounters each file as it searches through the subfolders.

If Prinergy was looking for the fish.tif image, it would find file number 5 inside the hires folder after searching the images root folder and after searching the don folder. If Prinergy was looking for the logo.eps image, it would find file number 2 rather than number 4.
If you give different images the same name, Prinergy may discover the images in unexpected ways. The diagram contains two images named logo.eps; this ambiguity could cause undesirable results. If there is any doubt, carefully check the refined pages.
Recursive searching can take a long time if Prinergy has to search many subfolders. Performance of refine processing may be affected. Be cautious when using this feature with search paths that point to large disks.

About Macintosh characters and paths

This topic does not address the Macintosh character set or possibilities of translation from the Macintosh character set to the Windows NT file name character set. All names in these examples are very simple. This is only for clarity; it is not intended to imply restrictions on character sets.
The system parses the %ALDImageFileName: comment to remove the first portion of a Macintosh path. That portion is considered the disk name. The system always ignores the disk name, because the name may be ambiguous, or it may not exist as a folder name under the Windows NT operating system.
Because the system removes the disk name, you can specify a disk name in the Image Search Paths dialog box. To select a disk name, click the Volumes button in the Image Search Paths dialog box, and then select a volume. The system interprets the selected volume as the disk name for the job.