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A reference assembly specifies exactly how pages should be assembled into documents. Like a reference layout, a reference assembly is used to debug a FlexiLayout. It lets you compare the way your FlexiLayout assembles pages into documents against an assembly that is known to be correct.

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Create a reference document assembly

1

Select the pages

In the Batch window, select the pages.
2

Open the Assemble to Reference Document dialog box

Right-click the selection and select Assemble to Reference Documents… on the shortcut menu.
3

Select how the pages must be grouped into documents

In the Assemble to Reference Document dialog box, you can either assemble all the selected pages into one document (select One document) or specify the number of pages in a document (select Group by page count and type in the number of pages in a document).
4

Specify whether the first page matches the Header element

Select First page of document matches Header if the Header element must be matched with the first page of a document. Do not select this option if no Header element is used to assemble documents (that is, a set number of pages is used instead) or if there is no Header element on the selected pages or it cannot be reliably matched.
5

Specify whether the last page matches the Footer element

Select Last page of document matches Footer if the Footer element must be matched with the last page of a document. Do not select this option if no Footer element is used to assemble documents (that is, a set number of pages is used instead) or if there is no Footer element on the selected pages or it cannot be reliably matched.
6

Click OK

The reference assembly will be displayed in Reference layout viewing mode: the beginning and end of the document will be indicated by blue markers in the corners.
You can clear the First page of document matches Header and Last page of document matches Footer options for individual pages (for example, if there is no footer in a document). The pages will still be assembled: the end of the document will be detected based on the Header element found on the first page of the next document.
1

Select the page or pages

2

Open the Change Reference Header/Footer dialog box

Right-click the selection and select Change Reference Header/Footer… on the shortcut menu.
3

Select or clear the options

Select or clear the First page of document matches Header and Last page of document matches Footer options.

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View the reference assembly

To view the reference assembly, activate Reference layout viewing mode by clicking the Reference layout viewing mode button button on the toolbar. To review the differences between the reference document assembly and the assembly obtained with your FlexiLayout, activate Difference layout viewing mode by clicking the Difference layout viewing mode button button on the toolbar. The corner markers show where the two assemblies differ:
  • Red markers – The beginning or end of a document specified in the reference assembly but not detected by the current FlexiLayout
  • Green markers – The beginning or end of a document detected by the FlexiLayout but not specified in the reference assembly

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Reference assembly columns in the Batch window

The Batch window shows information about the reference assembly alongside the corresponding information for the matched FlexiLayout. The letters H or F in brackets show whether the Header or Footer element must be matched with the page. Aim to create a FlexiLayout whose Matched Document Number and Matched Sequence Number columns coincide with the Reference Document Number and Reference Sequence Number columns of the reference assembly.