Workspace vs. Workshop

[DCurry]

Has anyone made the leap to using Kodak's Prinergy Workspace in place of Workshop? I've just been informed that Workspace will not be supported in the future (don't know how long that means) and that we need to start getting familiar with Workspace instead.

[Joe]

I assume you meant that you have been informed that Workshop will not be supported in the future.

In that case. I sure hope someone is feeding you a line of BS. Kodak told me on several occasions that Workshop will always be an option because frankly we tried using Workspace and it never worked with either Prinergy 6 or 7 and support admitted as much. The way our flow goes is that 99% of our jobs are created within Insite by our customers. Unless something has changed recently you can't work on jobs in Workspace if they were created in Insite. Only jobs created within Prinergy via either Workshop or Workspace. I have to ask...were you told this by Kodak or someone else.

[DCurry]

Yes, I meant Workshop!

I was told by our guy who is directly responsible for all Prinergy/Insite activities and upgrades. He also mentioned that the big boss and he were talking and thought it best if I am the guinea pig if/when this transition occurs. Yay, me!

If what you're saying about the Insite issue is still true, then that will cause a problem for us, as well. While nowhere near your 99%, about a third of our jobs are created on Insite by the customer.

[Joe]

Just for kicks I'll install it again and see what happens.

[Joe]

Installed Workspace. Every job created in Insite still looks like this. Can't do anything with them.

[Joe]

Dan I contacted support to see what they say about your Workshop/Workspace question. They replied back:

Kodak will not stop supporting Workshop but in Prinergy 7.5, Workspace has limited capabilities.

And they sent me a link to read this:

Workspace UI of Prinergy Workflow

Workspace is a secondary user interface for Prinergy Workflow that is currently supported for the job types listed below. Workshop remains the main production interface for Prinergy Workflow.

Prinergy Workspace 7.5 is currently supported for:

Folded and flat work (double-sided and single-sided) commercial and publication jobs with single sections

Ganging, multi-section, and other complex impositions using Preps edits only

The Workspace client is not supported on Mac OS X 10.11.

Note: For a complete list of Workspace limitations, see answer 70194 on Partner Place.

Article 70194 on Partner Place states:

General workflow limitations in the Workspace UI of Prinergy Workflow 6.1

PDF File Editor plug-in is currently not supported in Workspace. Use it in Workshop.

Versioning—Layered PDF Versioning (LPV) and Legacy Versioning are currently not supported in Workspace. Use Workshop.

Archiving—archiving, purging, and retrieving can be initiated in Workspace. However, viewing of Archive state of jobs (online, offline, not archived) must be performed in Workshop. [PRINERGY-32647; PRINERGY-33854]

Incremental exports and imports are currently not supported in Workspace.

Spread Splitting doesn't work with the Workspace model of preparing files before refining them. Use Workshop, or a hot folder with a splitting refine PT set up prior to the Workspace job. [PRINERGY-33373]

OPI image search paths and font search paths must be defined per job in Workshop.

Workspace on Windows 8—you must install Java manually, or certain "Open file" and "Open dialog box" operations will not work.[PRINERGY-33522]

Digital Direct—the Plan for Press option does not work.

Workaround: Use Submit to Press, or use the Pending Submission Queue pane in Track. [PRINERGY-31851]

You cannot use the special character % in the name of a job that is intended for output on a digital press. [PRINERGY-36149]

which then lead to this article on Partner Place:

Imposition Limitations in Prinergy Workflow 6.1 through 7.5

Advanced Imposition and Layout Techniques for Workshop and Workspace

Some of the following items might be addressed using the full Preps software or an existing .job file or template.
   ▪   Multiple impositions per run list (in cases such as last-minute decisions to change the press, or when you need a different layout for the proofer than the one for the press) are not supported in Workspace.
   ▪   Multi-section per sheet are not supported (that is, two independent sections on a sheet; found on Dutch cut as well as other layout assemblies), and require editing in Preps (listed here to set proper expectation re: Generate Imposition's capabilities).
   ▪   Arbitrary gaps (for example, an 8-up with zero gap between pages, but with a gap in the middle of the sheet) require editing in Preps.
   ▪   Splitting a single part (for example "Inside Pages") across different presses that have different imposition/marks needs will need to either build each signature as a part (so a discrete scenario/Generate Imposition can be assigned to each one), or edit the job's imposition in Preps.
   ▪   Jobs that involve die cuts in finishing, including folding carton and flatwork: Use Pandora and Workshop.

Prinergy Signature Select Limitations
Prinergy Signature Selection works in Preps 5 mode. Therefore, there are a number of limitations related to working with Preps 6 or later.
Editing impositions
   ▪   It is not possible to edit come-and-go, cut-and-stack, and multibinding style jobs with Signature Selection. If you try to edit an imposition that uses any of these styles, the Use Prinergy Signature Selection option will not be available in the Edit Imposition dialog box. Instead, you will be able to select Use External Imposition Application to start Preps.
   ▪   If you create a come-and-go or cut-and-stack imposition using Signature Selection, and then edit the imposition using Preps 6 or later, a warning message appears, indicating that the job was produced in an earlier version of Preps. You can ignore this message.
Importing Impositions
   ▪   Signature Selection does not support import of Preps 6 jobs with come-and-go or cut-and-stack binding styles. When creating a new imposition, if you select Use existing Preps job and select a Preps 6 job with a come-and-go or cut-and-stack binding style, an error message appears. You have the choice of selecting a different job file or using external imposition software to create the imposition.
Creating Impositions
   ▪   When you create a new imposition, the come-and-go or cut-and-stack binding styles are available in Preps 5 mode only.
   ▪   Preps 5 and 6 differ in the way that they display cut-and-stack and come-and-go jobs. In Preps 6, cut-and-stack jobs are shown as multiple webs, and come-and-go jobs are shown as multiple sections. In Prinergy Workshop, such jobs are displayed in the Preps 6 format, while in Signature Selection, they are displayed in the Preps 5 format. This is just a difference in display. The page assignment is correct and the imposition will print correctly.


Auto Select in Prinergy Signature Selection

The use of Auto Select in Prinergy Signature Selection may produce different results from the use of Auto Select in Preps. Check that Auto Select produces the expected results.

If required, you can use Move Up or Move Down to adjust the signature order, or use Add or Delete to get the right signature.
To prevent the problem, edit the PrepsPrinergy.cfg and the PrepsPrinergy.cfg.template files to include the line:

AUTOSELECT_MINIMUM_PAGES:1.

I think I would stay far, far away from Workspace at this time.

[Joe]

I did ask them to clarify their first statement and they replied back with:

Prinergy developers will not stop supporting Workshop. Workspace in Prinergy 7.5 has limited capabilities.

[David]

so, workspace is all the rage, huh?


...picked a good day to quit smokin' heroin...

[DCurry]

Wow, that's a lot of limitations - thanks for looking into that! I'll definitely hang on to this info for future reference. I don't think we're looking into it anytime in the very near future, but it was mentioned as a "down the road" thing.

[Joe]

Kodak has been trying to get Workspace to work for a number of years now. All of the support people I've ever talked to about say to not use it. I think one of these versions in the future it just won't be there anymore.

[Mikie]

We tried to get it running a couple of months ago and it was a no go. When we contacted support we were privately told to let it go, it has so many bugs it isn't worth fooling with, and it didn't look like it was a priority anymore. If they ever did remove Workshop and Workspace is the only option, it's time to change vendors here. The first demo of it I saw at a GUA, and the very first question from the audience was, "Where is workshop?" and we were all told it wasn't going away.

[Joe]

It also uses Microsoft Silverlight which is reason enough to avoid it like the plague.

[Ear]

Silverlight SUCKS! Had to use it for early Netflix on the Mac OS.

[Farabomb]

I'm pretty sure I'm still running it on win7 and chrome for netflix. I also think it caps your streaming at 720. Honestly, it's fine for me and my slow ass DSL connection.

[DCurry]

Thanks for all the feedback - the plan has been aborted.