Approver Tip: Reviewing Assets in the Online Approval Tool

Introduction

The Online Approval Tool allows you to review any PDF or JPEG 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.

How to Use the Online Approval Tool

The Toolbar

	Show Sidebar: Allows you to open or close the Sidebar on the left.
	Zoom In: Allows you to zoom in. If you have selected the Thumbnails view in the Sidebar, the part on which you have zoomed is highlighted.
	Zoom: Allows you to enter a zoom percentage.
	Zoom Out: Allows you to zoom out.
	Fit: Allows you to fit the complete artwork in the window in case you have zoomed in or out too much/too little.
	Rotate: Allows you to rotate the design to the left or to the right.
	Zoom: Allows you to magnify a selected part of the file. If you click, you zoom in, if you ALT + click, you zoom out.
	Mirror: Allows you to mirror the design.
	Pan: Allows you to pan across the artwork while zoomed in. To pan, hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse.
	Notes: Allows you to place annotations on the artwork. Displays additional notation tools to the right (see Annotations and Notes below).
	Densitometer: Allows you to measure separations.
	Measure: Tells you the distance between two points you have drawn. Displays additional measurement tools to the right (see Measurement Tool below).
	Detect Barcodes: Allows you to recognize and read barcodes. By drawing a rectangle on the barcode area, the type and the value of the barcode is read. Please click here to see the guide on detecting barcodes.
	Font Properties: Allows you see the type/size of fonts used throughout the document and in selected areas.
	Download Low Resolution File: Downloads a copy of the file.
	Download Notes Report: This allows you to download all the notes that have been added to the asset. It will convert comments into a PDF.

Sidebar

The sidebar displays the separations panel and allows you to select certain colours or hide certain separations.

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:

Change the separation name:

Select the pencil to open the separation parameter box.
Uncheck 'Color managed'.
Select the name to change it.
Select Save.

Change the spot colours:

Select the pencil to open the separation parameter box.
Uncheck 'Color managed'.
Change the colour by moving the colour picker or entering a different HEX value.
Select Save.
Please note: you cannot change the names of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black as these are base colours.

Change the opacity of the spot colours:

Select the pencil to open the separation parameter box.
Uncheck 'Color managed'.
In the Opacity field enter a new opacity percentage.
Select Save.

Changing the colour of the separation:

When changing the colour of the separation, once this has been changed and the approval has been complete, it does not save the colour. This will only show in the approval session.

What is distortion?

The approval tool will inform the user if the file is distorted or not.

Page Boxes

Here you can select which page boxes are displayed.
Select Show more... for more information about the page boxes.

Show inspection overlay: A red overlay layer will highlight areas in the artwork when specified characteristics are met.

Minimum Dot: the highlighted areas in the design have a lower ink percentage than the minimum percentage predefined in the First visible dot field.
Maximum Dot: the highlighted areas in the design have a higher ink percentage than the maximum percentage predefined in the Maximum dot field.
Total Area Coverage: the highlighted areas in the design have a higher total area coverage than the percentage defined in the Coverage field.
Overprint: the highlighted areas in the design show where ink is printed directly over another ink without any backer behind it.

Annotations and Notes

The annotation tool allows you to add notes to artwork; there are several types of notes.

	Note will create a note 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 this will then give you a range of different comment options which are in the table above.

Adding a standard note you will need to click on and this will then allow you to add a note wherever you like on the artwork. In order to save the note please click on 'Save Note' see the image below:

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.

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

To use the measurement tool, click on to then measure between two points. You can click-and-drag or hold down shift to keep the line at a 90° angle from the original point.

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.

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