What Does Collate Mean When Printing?

To collate something simply means to place it in a specific order. To collate with regards to printing means to place pages in specific order. Here is a simple info graphic of what it looks like to collate pages.

Collate Tool for Placing Files In Order

Here at File Splice we have a simple drag and drop collating tool. Drag and drop your files to upload and then click to place them in the order you want. You can click a file multiple times to duplicate it in the build if needed. Once you have the order set simply click a button and you’ll get one file collated in your specific order.

The files can be multi paged or single paged and be different sizes. You can also mix and match file types to collate them together. For example you can merge a multi page PDF with a single JPG image. This is especially handy if you need a tool to create documents from multiple types of media. Case files for example, you might need to combine legal docs, photos, drawings, plans, contracts etc..

Why Would You Need To Collate Files For Printing?

There are several reasons why collating is necessary when printing. Most often and almost primarily it’s because it saves time. Collating is efficient. Think of a teacher creating a homework packet for 30 kids. A printer/copier that can collate 5 pages in a specific order 30 times will save countless minutes. Another example is a print shop that batch prints orders in large quantities. If the files are collated it makes sorting and finishing that much quicker.

If you are printing anything with variable data, collating again will save large amounts of time if the files are properly in order.

Collate Your Files Quickly and Securely Anywhere Online

File Splice is cloud based so there is no software to download when you want to collate and you can work from anywhere in the world. In fact you can work as a team and upload files from multiple locations to collate files as a team. 

If you have any questions as to what collating is with regards to printing or you have a project or workflow that requires collating let us know. We’re happy to help answer any questions you have and even walk you through the File Splice software and get you set up and collating away!