Step 2: Creating a Publication Channel

This is step 2 of setting up a fully working Brand in Studio Server for everyday use in a standard workflow environment. (See a list of all steps)

In this step, one or more Publication Channels are set up. A Publication Channel defines the method in which the publication is published such as in print or in a digital format.

It is possible to set up multiple Publication Channels per Brand. This way, content of the same Brand can be used for publishing in print or web.

Note: A Brand needs to have at least one Publication Channel defined.

Step 1. On the Brand Maintenance page, locate the Publication Channel options.

Because no Publication Channels have been set up yet for the Brand, the list of Publication Channels is empty.

Step 2. Click Add.

The Publication Channel Maintenance page appears.

To continue, choose the type of Publication Channel to create. Here, a channel for outputting to print is set up.

Note: Per Brand, only one Publication Channel of type Print can be set up.

Step 3. In the Name field, enter a name such as 'Print' or 'Web'. This name is shown to users to indicate to which type of channel a file is or should be part.

Step 4. In the Description field, enter a description. This is for internal use in Studio Server only. Use it to describe the purpose of the channel.

Step 5. From the Publication Channel Type list, choose Print.

Step 6. From the Publish System list, choose Studio (this is the default setting which does not use a publishing system).

Step 7. The Suggestion Provider option is not used in Studio Server and can be ignored here (it has been removed in Studio Server 10.11.0).

Step 8. Click Create.

New items appear on the page:

• An additional property named 'Current Issue' appears below the Publication Channel Type property. Because Issues still need to be set up, we will come back to setting this option later in the process.
• Below the Publication Channel properties area, sections for adding Editions and Issues appear. We will add these now.

Figure: After clicking Create, additional options appear.

Creating Editions

Editions make it possible to create different instances of the same Issue. For example, a newspaper may produce a North City edition and a South City edition printed on the same day. The two editions can share much of the same content, but some stories or advertisements may be unique to the North City edition or the South City edition.

Step 9. Click Add Edition.

The Edition Maintenance page appears.

Step 10. Enter a name in the Name box such as 'Edition North', 'Edition South' and so on. This name is shown to users to indicate to which Edition a file is or should be part.

Step 11. (Optional) Enter a description in the Description box. This is for internal use in Studio Server only. Use it to describe the purpose of the Edition.

Step 12. Click Update.

The Publication Channel Maintenance page appears with the newly created Edition added to the Editions menu.

Step 13. (Optional) Add additional Editions as required.

Step 14. (Optional) In the Order box on the Publication Channel Maintenance page, enter an order number for each Edition and click Reorder. This will determine in which order the Editions are displayed for the users.

Note: We recommend using a unique order number in order to prevent technical issues when a search is performed.

Creating Issues

An issue is the actual publication such as today’s or tomorrow’s newspaper.

Step 15. On the Publication Channel Maintenance page, click Add Issue.

The Issue Maintenance page appears.

Step 16. Fill out the details.

Note: At the most basic level, only a name needs to be entered; all other options can also be set at a later stage by modifying the created Issue.

• Name. Name of the Issue such as 'Daily News 1 January 2021', 'My Magazine issue 1', and so on.

• Publication Date. Date (and time, if required) when the Issue needs to be published by.

• Deadline. Date (and time, if required) when the Issue needs to be finished by. Users will be notified at certain points when the deadline is nearing.

Tip: Instead of entering a date, enter the number of days, hours, and/or minutes before the publication date should be reached and click the Recalculate icon. This will automatically calculate the Deadline based on the entered Publication Date.

• Expected Pages. Number of expected pages.

• Subject.This feature is currently not functional.

• Description. Description of the Issue. This is for internal use in Studio Server only. Use it to describe the purpose of the Edition.

• Active. Use to deactivate the Issue. This will hide the Issue from the users without actually removing the Issue from the system.

Note: Any objects that are assigned to the Issue can still be found by searching on All Issues.

• Deadlines. (Only available when the option 'Activate Relative Deadlines' is selected on the Brand Maintenance page.) Displays the Issue Deadlines page. Leave this setting for now, it is covered in a later step.

Step 17. Click Update.

Finishing the setup

Step 18. Click the arrow at the bottom of the page to return to the Publication Channel Maintenance page.

Step 19. (Optional) Add additional Issues as needed.

Step 20. (Optional) In the Current Issue field, define which Issue should be the Current Issue. This way, users can assign a file to this issue without having to worry about which issue the current issue is.

Note: When making use of the Current Issue feature, make sure that each Issue has a unique order number so that the system can determine the correct Previous and Next Issues.

Step 21. Click the arrow at the bottom of the page to return to the Brand Maintenance page.

Step 22. (Optional) Add additional Publication Channels as needed.

Step 23. (Optional, only if multiple Publication Channels have been created) From the Default Publication Channel list at the top of the Brand Maintenance page, choose the default Publication Channel that should act as the default print channel used by InDesign or InCopy.

Note: In order for this feature to work properly, it is imperative that an order sequence for the created Issues is correctly specified on the Publication Channel Maintenance page. If this is not done (or not done correctly), Studio Server may not be able to properly determine the Previous and Next issues.

Figure: The Default Publication Channel list.

Step 24. Click Update.

Next step

Step 3. Creating Categories