What is this website
This site is intended to be a small handbook in Spanish and English of the Enfocus PitStop action lists used to modify PDF documents related to graphic arts (especially printed ones).
This website is not related in any way to Enfocus, the manufacturer of PitStop, nor is this commercial firm related to this website. Automatizarpdf.com is a private initiative of one person who maintains other sites.
What are PitStop Actions Lists
An action list is a set of PitStop commands made to be executed sequentially on a PDF document to modify or check an specific issue.
Actions lists are specifically designed to be run with the server version of PitStop on large groups of PDFs, to check and modify them automatically without human intervention using the hot folder system, but they can also be used with the Acrobat Pro plug-in version of PitStop.
The action lists are divided into five main sections (selections, changes, checks, reports and configuration). Besides, there are several logical operators to link and modify complex selections.
The actions list handbook
The pages listed below are the handbook itself. Each page is a detailed explanation of each command available in the Enfocus PitStop action lists.
They are grouped under the main headings mentioned above, but in addition, each page also has tags that allow you to view the commands grouped by concepts such as "barcodes", "colour", "RGB", "DeviceLink profiles", etc:
- The whole list of all the actions of PitStop
- By kind of action:
"Debería ser..."
Below the action name in English sometimes, in the Spanish pages of this website, there is a phrase in Spanish saying "En español debería ser…" ("In Spanish it should be:"). If you are not using an Spanish version of PitStop, you may disregard it. It's just that some action names are translated in a wrong way into that language.
Some basic information to get started
If you have come this far, you probably have some idea of what PitStop is and how it works. Most likely you are looking for how to perform a specific operation.
If it is not so not (or even if it is), I recommend you to take a preliminary look at the following pages. Some of them are reference pages that explain settings or parameters that appear repeatedly time and again in many commands. Understanding accurately how they work can help you to use the actions better.
Not all of them are written down and I will add new ones as I see fit.
The program and its environment
Action lists and automation in PitStop
- What is an action list?
- Using an action list
- Making an action list
- The action list editor
- Sharing an action list
- Reports in PitStop Pro (and "Customizing a report in PitStop Pro")
- Variables in PitStop Pro
Colour, profiles and inks
- Colour management in Enfocus PitStop and Acrobat Pro
- Colour modes in PDF format
- The output intent in a PDF file
- Rendering intents in PDF
- Colour profiles
- Spot inks in PitStop Pro
- DeviceLink profiles and PDF format
Diverse subjects
- Page boxes in PDF
- Coordinates and offsets in PDF
- Structure of PDF documents
- The metadata in a PDF
- Action dictionaries
- Fonts in PDF format
- Scaling and rotating factors in PDF
- Layers in PDF
- Transparencies in PDF format
- Overprinting in PDF
- PDF/X standards (PDF-X1a, PDF/X-2, PDF/X-3. PDF/X-4, PDF/X-5 y PDFX/-6).
- The ISO 19593-1 processing steps in labels and packaging
- PDF and variable data (PDF/VT and PDF/VCR standards)
Some list as examples
These are examples used to explain how action lists are created. To understand the explanations, it is best to refer to these pages in the order in which they appear in this list, as they are incremental (they take for granted the previous explanations).
- Transforming a PDF into greyscale
- Making a PDF a two-inks job (Black and Pantone 300 C)
- Converting all pictures to cyan and black duotones
- Converting a PDF into a two-color process inks duotone
- Convert a PDF to duotone of black and one spot ink
- Adding bleed and trim marks to a PDF
- Convert a PDF/X-4 to CMYK
Comments, questions and feedback
If you have any question, comment of general feedback, I suggest you to contact with this website. I don't promise to answer and I may not know what the proper answer is (Enfocus PitStop is very complex and I am just a graphic designer doing this website in his spare time), but if you write reasonably and clearly, explaining your problem, I may try to help you.
In any case, I hope this little manual of action lists in PitStop Pro may be of help to someone.
Gustavo Sánchez (2024, November)