Quick Links:
Introduction
The Online Approval Tool allows you to review any PDF, JPEG and Doc/Docx asset directly on screen. Using the tools available, you can review and annotate the document before providing a verdict. For revised assets, learn how to review the current and previous versions of the asset side-by-side for easier comparison.
How to Manually Open an Approval Task
The easiest way to open the task is by following the link in the email notifying you of the approval task. Alternatively, you can manually find any tasks assigned to you/your role within e-flow by the following steps:
1. Navigate to your Tasks page via the My Tasks widget in the home page or the Tasks button in the navigation bar.
2. Find the task in the list and click the Task Name to open the approval.
Approvals can be identified with the approval icon on the left side of the task.
3. The Online Approval Tool will then open and the asset is displayed.
A form may be displayed showing Asset information or requiring data capture however this is specific to your individual business requirements. The form can be closed and reopened where necessary.
Note: The asset will join a queue to be rendered for display on-screen so you may experience a short wait time before the asset appears.
The Toolbar
| Zoom Out: Allows you to zoom out. | |
| Zoom: Allows you to enter a zoom percentage. | |
| Zoom In: Allows you to zoom in. If you have selected the Thumbnails view in the Sidebar, the zoomed area is highlighted. | |
| Fit: Allows you to fit the complete artwork in the window. | |
| Zoom Tool: Allows you to magnify a selected area. Click to zoom in, ALT + click to zoom out. | |
| Pan: Allows you to move across the artwork while zoomed in. | |
| Rotate: Allows you to rotate the design left or right. | |
| Mirror: Allows you to mirror the design. | |
| Notes: Allows you to place annotations on the artwork. Displays additional notation tools. | |
| Densitometer: Allows you to measure separations. | |
| Measure: Tells you the distance between two points. Displays additional measurement tools. | |
| Detect Barcodes: Allows you to recognize and read barcodes by drawing a rectangle over them. | |
| Pixel Count: Allows you to measure distance in pixels for accurate size and spacing verification. | |
| Font Properties: Allows you to view font type and size used in the document. | |
| Braille Detection: Allows you to identify and inspect Braille elements for accuracy and compliance. | |
| 3 Dots Menu (More Options):Provides access to additional tools like download, notes report, sidebar controls, search, and preferences. |
Nebula Sidebar
A new customisable sidebar that includes multiple palettes such as Thumbnails, Notes, and Layers. Allows you to access and discover the latest features, with panels that can be selected, docked, moved, or collapsed for easier navigation and review.
Pallets
- Palettes largely correspond with the Classic sidebar’s view modes and provide the same functionality. They are optional, selectable, dockable, movable, and collapsible.
- If not already displayed, palettes can be selected from the dock panel, which displays all available palettes along with their descriptions.
- Palettes are sorted alphabetically, but the order can be modified and will be maintained while the dock remains open. Resorting can be done by reopening the dock or using the sort option.
- The dock panel also includes a search function to quickly find palettes. The search checks both palette names and descriptions and highlights matching results as you type.
The following palettes are available:
- General Information
- Thumbnails
- Separations
- Layers
- View Options
- Notes
- Find
- Font Properties
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Braille Detection
Display Palettes
To display palettes, proceed as follows:
- Click a plus icon
. The Palettes window is displayed. you can select this from either of Left or Right side bar
- Select the required Palette and drag it to the required position, either the left or right sidebar.
- The palette will dock to the top of the sidebar, or the bottom of an already placed palette, as the case may be.
- Repeat this step for each required palette
- If necessary, select a palette and drag it over another palette to move it to a new position.
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When finished, close the Palettes window.
Control Palette visibility
- To limit a palette’s view, click its collapse icon
.The palette is folded but still present in the sidebar. To display a palette, click it's expand icon 
. The palette is unfolded.
- To remove a palette, click its
icon. The palette is removed from the sidebar and returned to the Palettes dock panel.
Pallets: General Information
Displays key details about the artwork, including page size, distortion, page boxes, and metadata. Allows you to quickly review important information related to the asset.
| Page Info: Allows you to view information about the page size of the design. | |
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What is distortion?
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Page Boxes
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| Metadata: Displays a detailed view of the asset’s metadata, including page boxes, fonts, separations, layers, references, and XMP. Select 'Metadata' from Page boxes to view this |
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Pallets: Thumbnails
This view gives you an overview of all pages in the file.
The thumbnail will also show you which portion of the artwork has been zoomed into. You can click and drag this box to affect the view in the large display.
Pallets: Separation
The image below shows the separations without the colour yellow. As you can see the image has changed colour.
Edit Separations:
Select 'Edit...' to activate the editing mode. When editing mode is active, a pencil is displayed in the separation colour box. You can perform the following actions:
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Change the separation name:
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Change the spot colours:
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Change the opacity of the spot colours:
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Single separation as black: Displays the selected colour separation in black, making it easier to review details and contrast. Invert separation order: Reverses the display order of separations, allowing you to view them in the opposite sequence. |
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Changing the colour of the separation:
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Pallets: Layers
Shows the layers of the asset. The user can turn these on/off by selecting/deselecting the tick box next to the layer.
Pallets: View Options
Allows you to control how the artwork is displayed. Displays various settings to adjust visibility, layout, and viewing preferences for better review and navigation.
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Rulers & Guides: Allows you to display rulers and add guides to the artwork for accurate alignment and positioning. It provides measurement references to support precise layout and review. This feature includes a toggle button that lets you turn it on or off as needed. |
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Seamless: Displays the artwork in a repeated pattern based on your selected settings, helping to replicate how it will appear in the print process. Direction options:
Repeat Box options:
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| Misregistration: Simulates print misregistration on press, allowing you to preview how slight colour shifts may appear. You can define the ink registration offset by specifying the width in millimetres. | |
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Show inspection overlay: A red overlay layer will highlight areas in the artwork when specified characteristics are met.
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Multi Channel View: Allows you to view multiple colour channels together for better analysis of separations.
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Pallets: Notes (Annotations)
The Note tool allows you to add notes to artwork; there are several types of notes.
| Note will create an annotation on the location where you click | |
| Rectangle allows you to draw a rectangle around the area of the design you want to draw attention to. | |
| Oval allows you to draw an oval around the area of the design you want to draw attention to. | |
| Freehand allows you to draw free form around the area of the design you want to draw attention to. | |
| Note from Text allows you to draw a rectangle around existing live text in the design. The selected text will then be copied to the text box. |
Adding a Note
In order to add a note please click on this button from the Toolbar this will then give you a range of different comment options which are in the table above.
Adding a Standard Note: Click on the dropdown and select Notes. This will allow you to add a note anywhere on the artwork. Once selected, the cursor will change to a “+” symbol. Click on the desired area within the artwork to open a note and add your annotations. After adding the note, make sure to click Save Note.
Similar to a standard note, you can select Rectangle, Oval, or Freehand to draw on the artwork where you want to add a note. Once added, make sure to save the note.
Note: Once a note is saved, it cannot be removed. However, it can be edited.
As you can see a timestamp will appear and if the user has added the note they will be able to edit the note by clicking on the pencil on the right-hand side.
Pallets: Find
Allows you to search for specific text or elements within the artwork.
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Search Field:
Enter the text you want to locate. -
Match Case:
When enabled, the search will only return results that match the exact letter casing
Palettes: Font Properties
This tool allows you to analyse the fonts used in live artwork with the following features:
- Selecting this tool automatically brings up a modal listing all the fonts and sizes used in the file.
- Highlight a section to bring up a pop up telling you the type and size of font used within that selection.
You can also view the all fonts used via the blue toolbar on the right hand side:
Tip: this is also visible in the Asset Summary page under the 'Text' tab.
Pallets: Braille Detection
Allows you to identify and inspect Braille elements on the artwork. Displays Braille dots to help verify their presence, positioning, and readability for accuracy and compliance. To use this, select the Braille Detection tool and drag over the required area in the artwork.
Densitometer
To use the Densitometer please click on and this will allow you to measure separations. The image below shows the exact spot of the artwork where the Densitometer measures the inks.
Measurement Tool
The Measurement Tool provides two options: Distance and Small Distances.
Click on the More Options (down arrow button) to view and select the desired measurement type. Once selected, the chosen option will be applied for use.
To use the Distance option, click on , then measure between two points. You can click and drag, but hold down Shift to keep the line at a 90° angle from the original point.
The angle of the selected measurement is also displayed, as shown below.
Small Distance Tool
To use the small distance tool, click on . This tool can be used to measure smaller items such as font height. Define a diameter in the box on the bottom left. Next, draw a circle in the file. The diameter of the circle corresponds with the diameter you have defined in the box. You can move the circle by dragging it to another position.
Detect and Read Barcodes
In order to use the Barcode Scanner, please click on the icon below from the toolbar:
This will allow you to draw a box over the area of the barcode.
If ProofScope detects a barcode in the area selected, it will display:
- Type
- Text/Number
- Character count
To move this into an annotation, you can copy and paste the text, and place into a comment in the notes tool.
Where multiple layers are detected by the barcode tool an error will be displayed at the top of the modal. Please ensure that technical inks are hidden before checking the barcode area.
Supported Barcodes
| 1D product | 1D industrial | 2D |
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| UPC-A | Code 39 | QR Code |
| UPC-E | Code 128 | Data Matrix |
| EAN-8 | Code 93 | Aztec |
| EAN-13 | Codabar | PDF 417 |
| ITF | MaxiCode | |
| RSS-14 | ||
| RSS-Expanded |
3 Dots Menu (More Options):
Within the toolbar in the top right corner, click on the three dots (ellipsis) icon to view more options, which include downloading the low resolution file, downloading the notes report, hiding or showing the sidebars, using Find, viewing the gallery, and changing the preferences.
| Allows you to download a smaller, compressed version of the file, which will be saved in PDF format. | |
| Exports all comments/annotations (notes) into a report file. Click here for more information. Downloading a Notes Report in the Online Approval Tool | |
| It is used to hide or show the left sidebar. | |
| It is used to hide or show the left sidebar. | |
| This will open the Find Pallette, click the link for more information Find | |
| User Preferences allow you to customise the viewer settings based on your needs, including language, annotation appearance, and measurement options. Click here for more information on Preferences |
Action/Ignore Annotations
Users have the right to dictate to the production studio, whether certain annotations should be actioned or ignored. To do this, follow the below steps:
1. Within the approval, click on the downwards arrow next to 'Summary' and click 'Action/Ignore'
2. Once you click 'Action/Ignore' you will be given the annotations in a list format and can select which annotations you wish production to action and which you wish them to ignore. See below example:
3. Once you are happy with your selections, press 'Save' the approval will refresh and you will be taken back to the asset in OAT.
Comparing Files
When a Compare session is open, use the the button from toolbar to bring up the following compare tools.:
| Represents the artwork selected in Version A | |
| Shows the ‘Delta’ (differences) between the two artworks in red. | |
| Flicks between A & B. | |
| Represents the artwork selected in Version B |
(Please see our guide on comparing assets in OAT).
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